Culture Club – Colour by Numbers

Explicit content warning

08/21/19 • 50 min

What do maketh a queer icon? Pop princess blighted by tragedy – tick. Indie darlings, misunderstood by their contemporaries but retrospectively lauded – check. Alexandra Burke – say no more, dot com.
How about an effeminate, sexually ambiguous teenager pulled from small town 70s England to front a reggae-influenced pop rock band who would go on to sell 150 million albums, and soundtrack wedding dance floors for decades to come? Boy George confused and bewitched men, women and everything in between, and in some ways, continues to do so.
Colour by Numbers is Aural Fixation's look at a fully-formed body of work, released at the height of Culture Club's success and reach, as we delve into what made the band resonate with so many mainstream listeners while impacting young and old queers alike. Boy George is a gay icon, a music icon, and a British icon, and we want to know why. Just don't call him gender fluid. Also, what does Dannii Minogue have to do any of this?
For further reading, check out “Back in bloom: How queer male pop reclaimed its star status” from The Guardian, and “Learning to love Boy George” from The Stranger.
Don’t miss this episode's companion playlist on Spotify and please feel free to slide into our DMs on Instagram at @auralfixationpodcast. Your hosts are @drew_down_under and @andrewdoyouthinkyouare.

Previous Episode

Carly Rae Jepsen – E•MO•TION

Let us take you back to 2011. Egypt is in revolt. The people of London are rioting. Earthquakes are wreaking havoc in New Zealand and Japan. Amy Winehouse is dead, for christ sake. Life is bleak.
But wait – what’s that we can hear in the distance? It’s a girl with a sugary voice. And it sounds like she’s... imploring a boy to... pick up the phone and... give her a call? Oh happy day mama, it’s Carly Rae Jepsen! Come to remind us all that there *is* joy in the world, through the twinned arts of addictive melody and sassy flippance!
And so after that, 2011 felt better for a spell. But as quickly as she swooped in, Carly seemed to disappear, destined to be banished forever to the dusty catacombs of early teenies one-hit-wonderdom. Right?
Wrong. Flashforward to 2015 and Carly was back with E•MO•TION, a juggernaut of solid-platinum pop. Except this time – she was here, she was queer, and she weren’t goin’ nowheer.
From the blaring trumpets of 'Run Away With Me' reminding you of the one that got away, to the rhythm of 'Warm Blood' made to match your throbbing heartbeat, to the multi-layered intricacies of 'Boy Problems', it’s no wonder the album has been so revered by the queer community since its release. And rightly so. But, girl... did you know about E•MO•TION: Side B?
Don’t miss this episode's companion playlist on Spotify and please feel free to slide into our DMs on Instagram at @auralfixationpodcast. Your hosts are @drew_down_under and @andrewdoyouthinkyouare.

We came across some superb articles by likeminded individuals which inspired this episode. We strongly recommend you read this Stereogum article by James Rettig, "Carly Rae Jepsen's Queer Rennaissance" by Michael Waters and "The Enduring Appeal of Pop Stars Who “Flop”" by Chris Stedman.

Next Episode

Janet Jackson – Control

Gimme a beat! This is a story about Control – Janet Jackon's Control, the 1986 album which quite literally birthed an entire genre (Siri, what's 'new jack swing'?), and placed the Jackson Five's little sister on a path to international stardom, selling 100 million records worldwide and directly influencing artists as diverse as Britney, Beyoncé and, erm, Heidi from the Sugababes... according to Wikipedia.
At just twenty years old, Janet set out to cast off her family's astronomical shadow, while repositioning her image and sense of self as firmly in Control – control of her sexuality and relationships, control of her independence, and control of putting out complete and utter bangers. Teaming up with bubbling-under songwriting and production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for the first in a long, fruitful partnership, Control birthed five US top five singles in succession, a feat superseded by Ms. Jackson herself on her next album, and not touched until Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad.
Join Drew and Andy as we work out what's up with this album, do we really like it that much, and what has it done for us lately, while journeying through a glorious eighties pop masterpiece and the genesis of many a female popstar's mission statement of independence. Aural Fixation episode 14, if you're nasty.
As ever, we've compiled a companion playlist on Spotify which follows this episode's journey, and showcases the best of Control and beyond. Please feel free to slide into our DMs on Instagram at @auralfixationpodcast. Your hosts are exceptional Virgo @drew_down_under and iconic Scorpio @andrewdoyouthinkyouare.