Karma Chameleon

Boy George explained in The Billboard Book of #1 Hits by Fred Bronson, "The song is about the terrible fear of alienation that people have, the fear of standing up for one thing. It's about trying to suck up to everybody. Basically, if you aren't true, if you don't act like you feel, then you get Karma-justice, that's nature's way of paying you back."

Phil Pickett, the former keyboardist of the '70s UK band Sailor, helped write this song. He contributed keyboards and backing vocals to Culture Club and did some songwriting with the group.

Songwriting in Culture Club was mostly a group effort, with Boy George writing the lyrics. Many of his words were inspired by his relationship with the group's drummer, Jon Moss, who had an affair during the height of the group's fame. George admitted that their first single "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" was about Moss, and their difficult lover-professional relationship was the inspiration for the line "You're my lover, not my rival" in "Karma Chameleon." The relationship was hidden to the public and Jon never admitted it during the '80s, so in a way Boy George was communicating with him through their songs.

This was Culture Club's biggest hit in the UK, where 1,405,000 copies were sold, making it the biggest-selling single of 1983. It also won the 1984 Brit Award for Best Single.

In Canada this topped their charts for 7 weeks and was the first single by a group to sell a million copies.

This was featured in the 1997 film Romy And Michele's High School Reunion.

Culture Club were sued for alleged plagiarism in this song by the writers of "Handy Man," a 1960 hit for Jimmy Jones. Boy George admitted, "I might have heard it once, but it was certainly not something I sat down and copied. We gave them ten pence and an apple."

Boy George was a very colorful character, and he was a fixture on MTV in the early '80s before American artists began regularly making videos. The video for "Karma Chameleon" was directed by Steve Barron and shot on a Mississippi steamboat. Barron also directed the videos for "Money For Nothing" and "Take On Me."