That time this gay ’80s pop icon reminded us what he knows about “The Crying Game”

1992's “The Crying Game” was Boy George’s last solo hit in the US.

Mark

Mar 31, 2024 - 20:01

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That time this gay ’80s pop icon reminded us what he knows about “The Crying Game”

Despite remaining an iconic figure beloved by many, as a singer, Boy George, 62, has struggled to repeat the commercial success of his 1980s heyday.

This mainstream lack of interest in his musical output has resulted in some gems falling by the wayside. For example, his 2013 album, This Is What I Do, should rightly have reawakened interest in him as a songwriter.

For anyone too young to remember, when Culture Club exploded in the early 1980s, George was huge. When the band disintegrated, things turned sour quickly. Not only was the singer dealing with a heroin addiction, but we now know that he and the band’s drummer, Jon Moss, were at the end of a volatile on-off love affair.

George’s solo career got off to a great start in his home country, the UK, with the 1987 number one single, “Everything I Own.” Originally by Bread, George’s take owed more to the Ken Boothe reggae version from 1974. The song sadly didn’t make much of an impact in the US.

Afterward, George struggled with his musical direction and with his record label. He was dismayed when it went ahead and released some tracks he’d made with the US producers, Gene Griffin and Teddy Riley. He didn’t think the songs worked.

George then threw himself into the UK dance scene that flourished around the acid house boom of the late ’80s. He took up DJing and released music under several aliases. If you’re unfamiliar with “Generations Of Love,” it remains one of the finest tracks he ever recorded.

The Crying Game

His last noteworthy solo success came in 1992. Like “Everything I Own,” “The Crying Game” was a cover. The original provided David Berry with a UK top-five hit in 1964. That version didn’t chart in the US but a 1965 cover by Brenda Lee hit number 97.

The original Dave Berry version, and Boy George’s reworking, both featured in the 1992 movie, The Crying Game, by Irish director Neil Jordan.

Critics loved The Crying Game when it hit movie screens. It went on to win Jordan an Oscar for Best Screenplay. An unexpected twist ending genuinely shocked audiences at the time, offering a rare example of a movie depicting a sympathetic trans character in a main role.

Jordan, in fact, has included queer themes in several of his movies, such as Mona Lisa (1986) and Breakfast On Pluto (2005). The latter features Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy in a trans role.

Boy George’s version of “The Crying Game” song was produced by Pet Shop Boys, marking their only collaboration with George. Neil Tennant features on backing vocals.

Lyrically, the singer is lamenting a heartbreak.

“I know all there is to know about the crying game, I’ve had my share of the crying game,” he sings. “First there are kisses, then there are sighs, and then, before you know where you are, you’re sayin’ goodbye.”

Pet Shop Boys previously wrote and produced the Dusty Springfield song, “Nothing Has Been Proved” for the 1989 movie, Scandal. That movie’s producer, Stephen Woolley, also worked on The Crying Game and invited the duo to oversee the soundtrack.

Tennant later praised George’s take on the song, telling the NME in 1993, “I think George sings that song really well, he sounds a bit like Roy Orbison.”

George brings a vulnerability to his take on the song. There’s an authenticity behind it: nobody doubts he knows all about heartbreak.

More tears, more drama

George’s atmospheric version of the ballad proved a hit. It went to number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 1 in Canada and number 22 in the UK.

To date, it was to be his last major chart success. George concentrated on his lucrative DJing career for much of the ’90s and ’00s, before 2013’s aforementioned This Is What I Do album. He reunited with Culture Club for 2018’s Life.

Boy George continues to make headlines, but sometimes for all the wrong reasons. He was arrested in Manhattan in 2005 and sentenced to five days of community service for falsely reporting a burglary.

In 2008, he was sentenced to prison in the UK. He and a male escort had got into an argument and George, high on drugs, briefly handcuffed the younger man to a radiator. The singer served four months on assault and false imprisonment charges.

Such mistakes and legal woes could easily end the career of any other ’80s star. George, inarguably, is a survivor. He knows there’s a time to cry, but also a time to pick yourself up and push on with life.

He’s continued to perform live, and mentoring on shows such as The Voice (Australia). He recently featured on the soundtrack of the movie, Argylle (on the song “Electric Energy” with Ariana DeBose & Nile Rodgers) and published a new autobiography entitled Karma. He’s currently appearing on Broadway in Moulin Rouge.