Colour By Numbers

Disappointing, especially considering that Karma Chameleon is on this album. All the songs sounded very similar and not good. DNF.

not my favourite

This album came out of the gate with the only song worth listening to as its first track. After Karma Chameleon I would suggest just moving on cause everything else is just 80's pop garbage. I can't in good conscience give this album a 1 start and lump it in with the other truly terrible 1 star albums so for Karma Chameleon alone this gets 2 stars.

Better than I expected. Nice voices but just not a pop fan I guess. 2/5

So sappy, so cheesy, so SO long. One hit does not make a great FIFTEEN song album. 2/5

Hated Boy George. But as a child of the 80's I grew up with this stuff and other UK new wave bands so a pleasant walk down memory lane.

I don't think anything comes close to Karma Chameleon but still a pleasant listen.

Le groupe à Boy George. C'est doux, ça fait très années 1980 rêveur. Du Michael Jackson soft

Karma Chameleon can't save this. Black Money and That's The Way kill any momentum side one had. Side two picks up with Miss Me Blind and Mister Man. It's ** overall but I would just listen to the second half.

Karma Chameleon and not a lot else

I always thought Church Of The Poison Mind was the best thing Culture Club ever did, by about 10 lengths. That single spent a lot of time on my jukebox. On the other hand, I couldn’t really stand Karma Chameleon - the fact that it was constantly being played probably didn’t help. But apart from those 2 songs & It’s A Miracle, an ordinary single, I had no recollection of anything else on this album. I always thought George had a great voice, but I find a lot of these tunes less than inspiring. Great to be reminded what a great voice backup vocalist Helen Terry had.

I would have been 12 or 13 when this album came out, and Culture Club were the biggest thing on the pop charts. And their cultural presence was even greater; I distinctly remember the 60 Minutes (Australia) interview with Boy George, which was BIG NEWS at the time. Everyone was talking about it.; what was he on about? Why did he dress like that? Was he (gasp!) gay? Watching it again now (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfo25Mry-ak), George is charismatic and funny, but delicately treading around issues that were highly controversial at the time, and hopefully less shocking now. Even though he pointedly and repeatedly dodged the question of his sexuality, Boy George was clearly queer coded, and he is important for being one of the first unambiguously queer presenting pop stars. I sure Boy George's very existence (not to mention his successes) meant the world to a whole generation of queer youth. And good on him for that. But, a musical level, it didn't do much for me then (when I was pretty firmly in the age demographic for mainstream pop music), and still does not much for me now. George's voice is a pleasant enough pop voice, but the songs and production are just... you know... OK.

I’ve been telling myself I need to be harsher with my rating, and I think this’ll start that. This is a two for me. I just don’t click with it. Maybe 80s new wave isn’t my thing? Cause despite the impressive commercial and critical reception of this album, I just don’t care for it. I like the guitar solo in miss me blind. And I like a lot of the lyrics. But for listening to? I just don’t care for it at all

Pop album not my deal

Assumed I would hate this but honestly it's got some bops. It needs some editing though. Too many songs and too many long songs. Overall I will never go back to this.

At least 'colour' is spelt correctly. 2 stars for that.

Bleh

Not my cup of tea

It's not really fair for me to evaluated since I'm not much of a fan of this type of thing. The standout track for me was not even on the original release: the Live version of Melting Pot...

“Karma Chameleon” was the perfect amount of fun, 80s, pep and they got the formula just right on that song. Unfortunately after this, every song lacks some aspect in one way or another which leads to an incredibly boring, lackluster, and forgettable album. Uninspiring music from the eighties and nothing else. 2/5

The definition of a one hit wonder.

Wasn’t really my vibe either. Slow ballads were shit

Ihan vekkulia rallattelua myös Karma Chameleonin lisäksi. Mitenhän toimisi jos tässä hetkessä julkastais eikä olis mitään historiaa pohjalla?

Pirtee, mut tavallinen

Not exactly my style, but gotta give Culture Club their flowers—Karma Chameleon is an all-time department store song, even if it’s like 3 minutes too long. I won’t go so far as to say it’s a good song (or that the album is good either) but that kind of longevity and widespread appeal is hard to do.

Quite repetitive, lyrically not my favourite

This album was released when I was 12/13 years old, so still a huge time for radio but MTV was ascendent, and a huge time for me as an adolescent. When you are young there are so relatively few albums that you've listened to. So some of these songs are deep-carved into my brain. I did not have this album and I had visceral reactions to some songs at the time. This will be an interesting listen. Ok, so when I was a kid I remember waking up to Karma Chameleon on my clock radio and disliking it viscerally. I thought it was vacuous, redundant and irredeemable. I don’t think that I’ve changed much on that front. An ear worm for sure, but in this case that is a bad thing. I dislike the excursions into faux gospel, of which there are a lot of them. Perhaps in a bid to give them more authenticity, they often have an emoting Aretha Franklin-type singer going ham in the background. She sounds much like the Dark Side of the Moon background singer, but here it doesn’t work for me, as it somewhat does there, due to the fact that it’s put in a gospel-lite setting rather than a contrasting one, like histrionic psychedelic prog rock. Changing Every Day is where I found some relief, having a jazzier chord progression brought forward by a nice sounding bass line. It kind of gave me slight Police vibes, which might not be too far fetched given the time and place they both were operating. In fact, the bass is the best part of this album. There are also some passably tolerable 80s funk disco tracks. But they are kind of tepid in both categories. Lyrically,musically this whole thing is a trifle. I suspect that any transgression was in the presentation. Which is cool, but really wish there was some music to match. It has its fair share of Time Capsule 80s benneton ad social justice cheese like Melting Pot. My favorite track might just be the instrumental full-candelabra and strings cinematic affair closer, Romance Revisited.

Tbh it’s another list clogger for me. This couldn’t be a more generic 80s pop album if it tried. I’m sure someone loves this, probably a square who was in high school when it came out, but not me!

Couldn’t make it very far. Would make great hold music, which is better than elevator music, but by no means does someone have to listen to this before they die. #clogger

I’d consider myself a fan of 80s pop, but man this was a slog to get through. I wasn’t ever in to Culture Club and this has absolutely confirmed that for me. Karma Chameleon is obviously a banger, Miss Me Blind is a great track, and I can even get down to Church Of The Poison Mind if I needed to, but besides that everything was so generic and boring. Probably closer to 2.5 stars when I factor in Boy George being a beautiful androgynous gay icon, but I still round down to 2 stars for the overall quality of music.

No jaa, tosi kasari kevyiden juhlien albumi. Tyhjänpäiväistä. Rallattelua. Kuitenkin hyväntahtoista ja sydämellistä, joten ei voi vihata. Fade taas kaikkien biisien lopussa, eli ei osata lopettaa biisejä.

Onneksi tämän äänimaailma on kehittynyt suoraan soulista, eikä esim. jazzista. Harmittava puoli on se, että hittibiisi ei sytytä minua, ja ainoa joka herättää tunteita on Miss Me Blind.

A couple of fun songs but nothing beyond that for me

Boy George and, by extension, the rest of Culture Club were one-hit wonders. Anyone who has listened to Colour By Numbers will know exactly why. While Karma Chameleon was charming enough with it's dreamy lyrics and earworm chorus, rarely does Culture Club land that same plane twice. Of course, it's worth discussing the cultural phenomena of Boy George. While the New Romantic was playing with androgyny, Boy George seemingly embraced it. There's a lot of ambition in embracing a more feminine look than even David Bowie. There was even rumblings of homosexuality, though Boy George would pull the bisexual card for a while as a sort of rockstar "fuck anything that moves" play. Turns out he was just gay. There's not much else to say about Culture Club. Colour By Numbers was truly unremarkable.

woof. karma chameleon is a classic but the rest of this album is filler. terrible lyrics, boring music, strange but uninteresting instrumentation... just a big resounding meh across the board. come to think of it, karma chameleon isn't even that great of an 80s song either considering what it's up against... favorites: karma chameleon

Eh. Only "Karma Chameleon" is really worth listening to. 5/10

Does the thing where it opens with it's best number, only this one is more a flukey hit than a good piece of music.

One or two good songs here (Karma Chameleon being a classic), but most of it is just cheesy 80s new wave.

Was looking forward to a good fun record but besides Karma Chameleon, boringly thrown right at the beginning, an omen that the rest of the album is filler, it’s just an album full of filler. To Boy George’s credit, wittingly or not, he’s recorded an anti-money laundering anthem in Black Money.

Leuk die hitjes, maar was nooit helemaal mijn ding. Ook best wel gedateerd

Yeahhh this is precisely the kind of 80s pop I do not like at all. Goofy and cheesy and upbeat in a way I don't enjoy. There's one song I only really remember from childhood birthday parties and school discos... It's that one song that they'd always play without fail, despite the fact this was in the 00s, not the 80s. So it was Karma Chameleon, Cheeky Girls, Mambo No. 5, the Macarena, every single time. I don't know, maybe Karma Chameleon will be my favourite by way of nostalgia alone, in the sense of, I remember it, I don't have any particularly good or bad memories tied to it. Everything else just seemed quite filler-ish. Kinda cool how Boy George was confidentally embracing androgynous fashion all the way back in 1983 though, so that's a plus. Favourite: Karma Chameleon

2.5

Went downhill fast after Karma. Couldn't finish it

really??

Boooooring, few songs are ok. Nothing special.

Respect Boy George for being so unapologetically himself and giving representation to queer non-binary weirdos who defied societal norms by daring to be themselves at a time when the world wasn’t very kind about that. He does have a lovely voice too. Karma Chameleon is a song I’ve always enjoyed. But the rest of this album is underwhelming filler at best.

Karma chameleon that’s it. That’s the whole album. Everything else is lame 80s pop that sounds like it could’ve been played before an AIDS event. This is another album that goes into the list of questionable albums on this list. Not the worst album but one song doesn't make this album. 4.9/10

The 80's were weird times

I'll say something that might offend a lot of British people, but to me these guys are a bit of a one-hit wonder. Yeah, I know "Karma Chameleon," we all do. It's a fun, cheery pop song, but that charm doesn't exactly carry me for an album. Supposedly they have others hits (according to Wikipedia at least), but there's not much here that I'd return to. Their style of bright new-wave pop, whatever you want to call this, it just feels cheesy, to the point that I'm kind of put off from "Karma Chameleon" too. I'm probably being too cynical here, but these guys lack a discernable edge. I did really like "That's the Way," but that track feels and sounds like a departure. Can't say this is bad, but it's not moving the needle for me. Favorite tracks: That's the Way, Karma Chameleon. Album art: Really bright colors, and a fun, creative twist on a band photo, isolating the gang into what could be high school yearbook shots. I don't know anything about Boy George, but that's him on the right, right? Odd bloke, that one. Cool cover though. 2.5/5

Very basic

nah

Very much early 80s pop music. Like the soundtrack for a cheesy 80s movie which doesn’t seem to specific of a definition cause that could be any cheesy 80s pop but it’s just that you could swap it with any other and not notice

The album has 1.5 great pop tunes (Karma and Church of...) but is filled out with a lot of song that Wham! cold have covered a bit better. Never a fan of this style of 80's pop ballads but a nice album.

If I've ever heard Colour by Numbers before, I've forgotten. Culture Club was a definite force when they were played on the radio, and I have solid memories of three of the tracks, but the rest of the album left little impression. The album is too soft for me. New wave ballads mixed wiht music that would be appropriate in the elevator or the background noise at a mall. Not music to get upset over, but not music to be excited about. Although "Karma Chameleon" might come back for a re-play for nostalgia's sake, the rest of the album feels like an easy "no".

This is of poor, cheesy, schlock quality. Feels like a middle school production and he's not that great a singer.

Some of it is decent, but there is a lot of shit here, boys

Wanted to love it, but I'm pretty so so. There are catchy little parts, but a lot of it feels dated and stale.

Oh god no.

Some of these songs are borderline unlistenable (looking at you "Black Money"). I can appreciate this as a funny, silly thing that exists, but I don't respect it. Glad when it was over.

Another album that opens with a banger and then drops off quickly in quality. Definitely can't say it was all that great.

I added a star for karma chameleon.

A very, very mildly catchy, weak sauce semi-hit + half an hour of bland, nameless 80s pop. Not every band that had a hit in the UK needs to be included here, at least in my opinion. Shame the author didn't share it. Update: lucky I listened to the end, cause the last song was easily the best on the album. 2/5.

Meh! There are so many better albums from the 80s.

Da man keine 2,5 Sterne vergeben kann, bleibt es bei zwei Sternen. Hatte nicht mehr auf dem Schirm, welch' gute Stimme Boy George eigentlich hat. Songs sind so la la. Im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes.

As an aside: this was America's first real glimpse of gender identity. There was quite a debate about what sex "Boy" was. This is pretty standard 80's fare. Boy has a great voice and the music, for the time, was pretty good. But I hate "Karma Chameleon" with a passion and the rest of the album is just meh.

Not a classic

Karma Chameleon is a fantastic song, and there were a couple of other fun songs on here (It’s a Miracle and Church of the Poison Mind were two other highlights) but otherwise it’s a pretty forgettable and unimpressive album

Iguana song

Dull, slightly cringey lyrics with an admittedly youthful lack of self-awareness, generally a bit warbly and unstructured. Karma Chameleon is obviously a classic but can't carry this amount of filler. Very 80s cheese throughout, a half hearted attempt to get some gospel in the background that didn't quite pay off. Not for me

Some good vocals but it's also typical fluff pop that's just a bit too staid for my taste

Jeez man that sucked

Very throwaway 80s, doesn't have any enduring appeal so not sure why it's on the list

Very eighties. Too radical for Stock, Aitken & Waterman, maybe, but not by much.

😬

Nah, not very good. Not actively painful, but pretty bad.

Before I rail into this album, I want to say that I always thought Boy George was pretty cool. When this band launched, I was a bit confused by the outsized shock people seemed to have about this man dressed as a woman — or androgynously, or whatever — he always seemed pretty genuine to me. I was way more shocked/confused the first time I saw a greasy long-haired metal-head wearing a Poison t-shirt. But I digress... So good on BG for bringing alternative sexuality and lifestyles to the fore. But to elevate this band, or this album, and suggest this was some sort of milestone in music? Really? It sounded dated the month after it left the charts. The deeper cuts are middling to forgettable (to annoying), the arrangements are clunky, lyrically it often teeters on embarrassing — I don't care how much you love "Karma Chameleon," the lyric is better suited for The Muppets. I remember everyone gushing... "Boy George has SUCH an AMAZING voice!" He's got a fine voice, but a singular, "drop everything you need to hear this!" voice? Take a look at the other artists on the top of the charts at the time... Pat Benetar, Sting, Lionel Richie, Donna Summer, Steve Perry... there were lots of incredible vocalists out there. And while Wham! was not my cup of tea, George Michael has that voice. I always took that as people feeling the need to explain why they liked this band — like they needed an excuse. In 1983, this was fine. Let a catchy, nonsensical song like "Karma Chameleon" play on the radio. There's a place for it, enjoy it for what it is. But to try to suggest this is something important — musically? It doesn't hold up.

Boy, that cover is the most Eighties thing that ever Eightiesed. This album did nothing for me. I tried to put my hatred of '80s production behind me, but so much of this album just sounds like the stuff you hear in dentist offices. Plus, on several songs, I felt like that backup singer was oddly mismatched to not only the music but she overpowered Boy George on several occasions. Still, a couple of songs were OK. And I certainly don't hate this music. I just find it very Eurovision. But thumb's up for Boy George pushing gender nonconformity 40 years ago.

I like Boy George as a person but always found Karma Chameleon, and Culture Club's musical output annoying as a kid. That hasn't changed. Obviously never listened to an album. The female singer with prominent backing vocals on a few tracks is the best bit. Reminds me of that Simply Red album I had to listen to in places. Most of the other stuff isn't as annoying, (although some of it is) and is fine I guess but it's not for me.

J'avais oublié que les arrangements de Karma Chameleon sont dégueulasse. Je m'attendais donc à pire de cet album, mais finalement c'est pas si mal quand on est pas trop dans les sons 80 qui vieillissent vraiment mal. Le refrain de Karma Chameleon est un ver d'oreille réussi, mais c'est la seule pièce avec cet effet. J'ai été frappé par la voix qui sonne comme celle de Dryden Mitchell d'Alien Ant Farm qui est pourtant dans un tout autre style. Album à connaître, mais sans plus.

I've heard Karma Chameleon so many times. You could put a gun to my head and I couldn't name one other song by Culture Club. I was not born when this album came out so my first thought is that they're a one-hit wonder but maybe I'm wrong. Someone that was a teenager when this album released maybe heard several different Culture Club songs on the radio. After listening to the album it just reinforces my thought that they're a one-hit wonder. It's bland.

A slice of it's time that doesn't really hold up today - despite the best efforts of the much over-played opening track.

yet another totally unremarkable album that makes me think the listmaker just grabbed a few albums he had heard of from various genres that he doesn't know anything about (I am from the generation that made "Karma Chameleon" a hit, it's a fine song, but the idea that I must hear this album before I die is laughable)

Enjoyed it more than I expected but each song and the album definitely over stays it's welcome. Wouldn't listen to it again.

Sorta light and poppy as I remember. Backing singer is out of tune a lot.

Karma Chameleon is ridiculously fun, and reminds me of mornings before school watching pop up video. The album had a steep dropoff in quality after the opening track, I was looking to bail (probably from the experiment, possibly from this earthly plane) after That's The Way's depressing notes but then Church of the Poison Mind popped up and suddenly all was right with the world once again. The disparity between the energetic pop and sorrowful ballads is so interesting to me.

You wouldn’t think an album with such a dayglo cover would be so dull. Reminds me of Wham! which is not a compliment.

too pop for me, did not like it

karma chameleon carries the album so hard, most other songs are mid

Eh. It was fine, but didn't do anything for me. I didn't hate it, but I'd never choose to listen again. 2.25/5

The only song I know is, of course, Karma Chameleon and though it is an earworm, it's honestly quite boring. And that does for the rest of the album. A fine 80s pop album that's just sounds like a dull version of Michael Jackson. Highlights: It's A Miracle

Karma Chameleon is good, but the rest is soft bad 80's pop. Nah, dude.

Meh

Soild 80’s pop but not to my taste

Not in 1001, in my opinion.

Boy George, long hair and makeup included, was a huge cultural phenomenon. No doubt about it. The music, however, was always mediocre.

Not a bad album, but not a good album either. Just very very meh. "Karma Chameleon" is a classic track, though very overdone as a meme and I'm over it. Nothing else really stands out to me on the album.

This isn’t my kind of music at all. At the time I absolutely hated it, but now I can appreciated Boy George’s voice, however it’s still not something I’d want to listen to.

This is a pretty superfluous album. Ubiquitous 80s pop, and not of the remarkable sort. There are a couple of decent tracks but not enough to make this an album you MUST listen to. Boy George’s pioneering fashion seals a two star verdict.

An album I would argue that is carried by the first song. Song is infamous but really doesn't do it for me but I would still rank it high than most of the other songs. 1. Mystery Boy (Suntori Hot Whiskey Song) 2. Stormkeeper 3. Karma Chameleon

Ja fanar hårt me viben men de va int otroligt bra tbh

Reminds me of school discos... I hated school discos

A pretty standard 1980s pop album that has a couple of pretty good tracks, but ultimately just blends in sonically with the rest of what came out at that time. 2.5/5

Dull

Are we just reaching for that 1001 number at this point? Okay, not painful to listen to, which is how I dictate what gets a 1, but not much fun either. It's just mediocre. Mediocre voices, mediocre backing instrumentals, mediocre lyrics. I suppose they all match each other nicely that way. Is this the kind of music you put on for your kid to entertain them? That's what the first song felt like for sure.

Not for me. Sounds like every stereotype of the 80's in a bad way.

Karma chameleon delivers but all of the other songs feel a bit empty

karma chameleon and the next song were great, rest was ehh to bad

TBH it's pretty inoffensive lightweight 80s pop (though I am a miserablist) Not a big fan of the main backing singer whose tones grate on me. The lyrics are all a bit simple/banal. 4 hits though and I rather like (bit OTT, and orchestral) Victims which finishes it all off...2.5

2nd May 2022 Listened in the morning on the way to work. Met Gareth and Ben to watch Liverpool Villarreal champs league semi where we won 2-3. Quite enjoyed this, but not as much as Cyndi Lauper. Had some good tracks but felt a bit lightweight for me. 2.5 if I could.

There's some solid hits on this new wave album led by Boy George, however I will be an infrequent re-visitor to this one. The vast majority of these tracks are emotional, and meant to evoke similar feelings in the listener; it feels a bit put-on and cliche. Got pretty bored while listening to be frank. There is some good incorporation of strings at times and synth-y beats, but overall I do not operate on the same wavelength as this album. Fave tracks: Karma Chameleon, Black Money

Eehh wasn't super into this. I didn't find it to be necessarily bad, just not really my thing. The music was a bit too upbeat and twinkly-sounding for me. Reminiscent of foggy dream sequence in a movie with a lot of lens flairs or something, not sure how else to describe it. Karma Chameleon is definitely a classic tune though, and I'm glad this album is included, if only for that. Fav Tracks: Karma Chameleon

This is fine.. feels too long. But maybe I listened to an extended version.

Eh, it was better than I though. But not great.

Apart from the obvious hits I didn't really enjoy this.

1983. Karma Chameleon

Meh new wave

Didn't care much for it, karma chameleon though is a classic

Didn't need a re-listen. It annoyed me when it was released, just as annoying now. Still a very solid album, just a little to "uppy" for me.

This is... The blandest pop so far

New wave albums tend to coast through my ears, but the fakeness of the instruments in Karma Chameleon balanced out my familiarity with the single. There are a few highs elsewhere, but they are packed at the end and the whole thing is just a touch too fun for its own good. Not a bad listen, but bad for the list.

Nothing extraordinary. Upbeat eighties pop including karma chameleon. Nice harmonies but basic/kitschy lyrics.

Karma chameleon

Radio music from the '80s. Competent, but uninteresting album.

One hit and filler.

This is absolutely not for me. I didn't enjoy a single minute of this, apart from "Church of the Poisoned Mind", which almost came together for me before falling apart, which is even worse than just not coming together at all IMO. The only reason this is 2 stars instead of 1 is that it is definitely a competent album; well played, well written, well produced, and you can tell they are having fun. I just didn't have any fun with them lol.

It's tempting to make a crack about this music being by the numbers, but it's just not true. Colour By Numbers is easily identifiable as 80s pop no doubt, but Culture Club is very much its own thing. It's definitely not punk and it's not new wave. It's unabashed, pure pop. It's slick and heavily produced, but the synths are mostly in the background. It avoids instrumental textures that smack of darkness or depravity--cotton candy all the way. The vocals by Boy George are...oh, no! Is that supposed to be...soul???? Good Lord. Okay, there's a long history of non-black performers who attempt soul vocals and they sound like anything but. That doesn't mean that they're terrible, they just kind of accidentally create a new genre. And that's what's happening here. The tipoff is the background vocals by Helen Terry, who halfway kinda pulls off soul shouting. Colour By Numbers is kind of hard for me to evaluate. I wouldn't listen to this music on my own initiative in a million years--I generally don't like pure pop, and pseudo-soul-pop even less. But I'd be lying if I said that the arrangements, performances, or production were incompetent. You also can't fault the catchiness of Karma Chameleon. Do I hate it? Yes. I find Colour By Numbers tasteless and disposable. But on the level of craft, it isn't bad at all.

One Banger and then a load of bang average filler. But I dare you not to wear out your carpet dancing to Karma Chameleon. I bloody Dare you! 2/5

5/10

80s pop that came and went for me. Not much I would go back to on here, not even the hit single. Favorites: It's a Miracle, Changing Every Day

2 stars. A few OK tracks but nothing to write home about. Not entirely sure why it’s on this list?

Give Boy George credit for being a trans gender pioneer and having a sweet pop voice. But this album is just too sachrinne sweet for me and not my jam.

I can't believe I had to listen to a whole Culture Club album just to realize that "Karma Chameleon", the first song and their biggest hit, was the best.

Reconheci um hit dos anos 80

Het doet mij erg weinig. Lijkt voor mij op George Michael meets club tropicana.

A decent 80's pop album. Certainly a product of it's time and something that doesn't sound great going to listen to it now, but I can see how it was popular. Some of the songs could just get annoying and repetitive.

Very 80s as expected. Kind of cheese but not super awful.

A šta ja znam, moglo je definitivno bolje. Zaboravljiv album više manje. Ne želim biti pregrub, al tako je. Već sam tako nešta čuo, vrišti 80te ali ne i kvaliteta. Prva i zadnja pjesma su dobre, prva je klasika od pjesme, a zadnja je fin završetak.

This is a fun album. I probably will never listen to it again, but I dig it.

Why do people like this. Why do people listen to this. Why. Why. It's still incomparably better than something like Wu-Tang Clan or Bob Marley though.

Not for me it i see the value here

Not my jam

I was really hoping this wouldn’t be an entire album of Karma Chameleon clones..... and that’s basically what this is. So incredibly cheesy and utterly bland that it honestly was hard to get through. Glad I at least heard the orchestral piece at the end, because that made the suffering a little more worth it. Favorite Track(s): “Romance Revisited”

Pure 80’s cheese...and not the good kind.

Good music but not for me.

There are some pretty snappy numbers on this but also some terrible ones.

80s style music. Karma Chameleon definitely the most famous song. Boy George sure seems like a character

Heute hab ich etwas gelernt, was ich eigentlich nicht wissen wollte. Ein Lied, dessen Band ich bewusst nie nachgeschlagen habe. Musikalisch durch nichts überzeugend. Der Gesang ist kein Teil der Musik, sondern ein Sprachkanal. Der Text wirkte auf mich stellenweise dümmlich. Keine gute Mischung. Sound of the 80s? Klingt mir zu fröhlich, aber ich kann mir vorstellen zum Rhythmus mitzuwippen, wenn es im Radio liefe. Deswegen höre ich kein Radio. Moving on!

Super boring

Cheesy and annoying

Corny as hell. Best track: Miss Me Blind

👎🏼nepatīk

I feel comfortable giving this a 1 as I haven't done it often and truly didn't enjoy this. Still feels rude but hey what the hell

First album I didn't actually want to finish. Karma Chameleon is such an iconic song but the rest was a painful listen for me.

Boo

Culture Club were a favourite of my ex-wife so no surprise what I think of this album. Even leaving aside that woman’s infatuation and if I was coming at the album anew there would be no way on earth that me and it (the album!) could have a relationship. That’s it really. Pity bad memories were reignited by today’s selection. And there’s me hoping that the divorce would at least prevent me from enduring Boy George again. 1/5 20/7/26

First track is a classic but the rest is meh. Unworthy of being on this list.

Deze heb danwel had ik op LP. Gekregen in een batch platen gekregen van m'n peetoom. Ik kan hem alleen even niet vinden, dus Boy George en kornuiten hebben geluk en kunnen eind deze maand rekenen op €0,066 van Spotify, namens mij. Ik ben waarschijnlijk iets te zuur, want dit album is schijnbaar ongelofelijk vaak verkocht, maar ik hoor een album met 1 megahit en daarna een hoop matige opvulling. New wave bandjesmuziek met uiteraard wat neppe elementen (digitale instrumenten) die wat slecht ge-aged zijn, wat mij betreft. Het komt van disco af en wil voorzichtig een beetje doorevolueren naar housemuziek ofzo, maar het is allemaal nog wat te vroeg in de jaren '80 daarvoor. Er zijn vast allerlei dingen te noemen die vóór dit album pleiten, maar ik kan er toch maar weinig mee. Zeker de tweede helft blijft maar duren terwijl de geest dan echt wel uit de fles is. 15 tracks waarvan er 1 blijft hangen, dat is gewoon karig. Anderhalve ster naar beneden afgerond van mij. Te gedateerd en te lang, dodelijk is dat.

WHAT?!

Damn, I came in wanting to like this, for all the positive impact of Boy George as sociocultural icon, but I’m finding it borderline unlistenable. Hollow, cliched lyrics and painfully cheesy synths - George’s voice deserved better.

i actually really like Karma Chameleon, but i went into this with low expectations. it underperformed those, unfortunately, having little flavor outside of the big hit. sounds like it was made with the intention of padding a single into an album. deserves to be one of the 1001? ehh nah

Nah, not for me.

Went into this one with an open mind and was disappointed. Nothing but wall-to-wall New Wave tripe. Over-saturated with the kind of trite lyricism that's more interested in the word 'LOVE' than love itself. Probably popped off on radio in the 80s but it probably should have stayed there. Fav tracks: Man-Shake

Karma Chameleon is iconic, but the rest doesn't do it for me. Romance Revisited isn't bad.

As a kid I absolutely hated this band and all forms of New Wave... as an adult I am completely changed. I am more open minded and accepting, I have started to enjoy more New Wave, and I expected that my taste of Culture Club would be refined. Nope, I still don't like it.

Like that scene in The Clockwork Orange except they're making me watch Cocomelon and those baby sensory videos with the dancing fruit I will put some respect on Boy George for his bravery. Nothing else. God help me

Wow who knew that the singer of San Marino's 2026 Eurovision entry used to make horribly synthetic pop tunes

wow I hate this. Boy George, thanks for combatting the gender stereotypes, but I cannot thank you for making this music.

Colour by Numbers is yet another project I never had any intentions of covering before, but thanks to the lovely 1001 albums to hear before you die list, I was forced to listen to this very of its' time New Wave album. I am sorry but a majority of the New Wave albums this album chose to represent the genre are dog water and have aged like shit. The color palette of this album cover perfectly matches the wacky and bright nature of this album, but again it feels too fantastical and upbeat for me to give a singular damn about it, like I get what they are trying to do here but it comes off childish. Even with the hit Karma Chameleon, it just feels like a children's song catered to adults. I tried to enjoy Colour by Numbers as much as possible but it is just too much for me. Sorry not sorry.

Kicking off with funny horn (?) is a surefire fasttrack to my heart, and considering how blocked that path is with arterial plaque, that's one-ah powerful-ah horn-ah!! (Say with racist Italian accent). Everybody has heard Karma Chameleon and wondered, why would life be easy if you were the same colour as the singer's dreams? What the fuck does that even mean? Also, are people's dreams in colours other than just regular colours? Like the colours of the horrifying monstrosities that assail me in the darkest corners of the domain of Morpheus seem to match hue with my expectations. Maybe I'm an idiot and these musical types are on an elevated plane. You've got that stupid Pearl Jam song where the singer burps out "She dreeeaauhhhheems in Reeeehuhhd." Must be a theme. There was a funky beat here, but also white reggaee. I need a percentage of albums (especially British ones) where we get a white guy making a Jamaican Jerk-Off (Thanks, Elton) of himself. I think you'd be shocked. 1 HIGHLIGHTS: I dream of Gee Knees, athletic balm

Album 176. Colour By Numbers (https://open.spotify.com/album/51NPMfa9QfxsYtqzcB2VfY?si=UhIgouryRC23_KlAfoxfDQ) — Culture Club (1983) Oh no, 1 banger and 14 bad 80's pop/new wave/disco songs. karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleoooon It was interesting culturally, but basically a waste of time. Strange world, David Bowie (not just him) inspired that guy. He has even tattoos with Bowie and Marc Bolan on his hands. Boy George is the fucking original of the Verka Serduchka version. 1/5 Liked: — Karma Chameleon

The video for Karma Chameleon is one of my earliest musical memories. The rest of the album is just meh.

Nope. Not wasting my time.

Karma Chameleon is firmly in my top 10 least favourite songs and giving it anything higher than a 1 wouldn't sit right with me.

excited for this one bcs i love karma chameleon and tbis might be the first fucking upbeat/pop album on here 😭 its all been country/folk and the dullest rock it’s a miracle sounds so michael jackson love miss me blind the synths(?) sound so modern i don’t have the heart to rate this any higher. i need to learn to stop looking forward to albums based on their best song

As colorful and ahead of his time as Boy George looked when this album came out, that colour did translate to the music he made. The music found here is dated and cheesy. 'Karma Chameleon' is a guilty pleasure. Everything else is forgettable. The opening melody of 'It's A Miracle' sounds like something you would find on a Kunt and the Gang song. The saxophones on this album sets the instrument back years as something you would associate with tacky eighties pop music. Adding soul singers does not mean your music has soul. This is vapid pop music. The hooks are repetitive, and Boy George isn't a compelling vocalist or lyricist. This is mercyfuly short and it is inoffensive enough to not get irritating. The band lack both the bite and innovation that you could find in other new wave bands.

Dodgy 80s pop.

I actively hated listening to this

1/2

I hate Karma Kameleon. Couldn’t get through the first three songs

Albums that are one good single should not be on this list.

So much better music from this era. Dated and downright cheesy at times. 1 - doesn't belong on this list

1001 albums that would make you pray for the sweet release of death. Absolute garbage.

Ни разу не слышала музыку этой группы сознательно, возможно, только на квизах. Поняла из рецензий ребят, что Карма Хамелеон - хит до сих пор. Но полагаю, что сейчас просто никто не может продраться дальше первого трека на альбоме. Ретро Европоп - отдельная форма пытки для меня, а обложки Culture Club - отдельный ор.

Meh

Didn’t like this when it came out. 40 years on it’s even worse than I remember. Some points but it’s the production that really lets it down. Even a great song like church of the poisoned mind has really weak production - it’s needs to punch and it doesn’t.

Bad then, worse now. 1

Cheesy over-polished pop rubbish. Didn’t even make it to the end.

Terrible

favs: karma chameleon miss me blind stormkeeper rating 1.5/5

Told myself I never wanted to hear this again, went to the kitchen to get some water and karma chameleon was playing on the radio. Fml

Look, I hate karma chameleon, always have, the naff rhythm, the silly synth the weird breathy backing vocals, the annoying colour refrain, almost everything about it. So it's a bad start to this album. I'm hoping I like some of the other bits... I don't. It all carries on in a similar vein, I'm not taken by any of it and I'm not into the 80s pop production. "That's the way" started a bit better, but I don't like the backing vocals and it didn't really do anything else. My brain drifted off at one point and then I realised and hoped it was over. It wasn't. But they did hit a gong. At least it's short, although with everything else all the versions have extra tracks dragging it out. Screw that.

Somehow even worse than I thought it would be, and I set the bar low. One star.

Just no. Almost non-existent lyrics. The melodies are so whatever.

Yikes

Bailable jsajasa. Me gusta la onda del cantante. Es un pop bien ochentoso con sus baterias reverberantes. Un sonido kinda minimalista, limpio. Son como bailables pero soft, no son punchy. No me molesta escucharlo pero me aburre, no me llama. Side A ninguna cancion. Side B: Victims -

1 good song, lots of filler.

New Wave music sucks. These guys get classified as blue-eyed soul and reggae in Wikipedia, truly anyone can edit those pages. Karma Chameleon is the hit off this album and it is awful. Each song sounds the same and is uniquely New Wavey garbage. That's The Way is the blue-eyed soul...it would be better without Boy George and just the backup singer doing her thing. There is nothing redeeming about this album and Mister Man hits a true low point in music. On the plus side, the album is short.

Haaaaaaaate the first song. Always hated it. Still do. A lot of this is the kind of music I think of when I think about hating the music of the 80s. This album is a little better when it gets soulful, but it's not enough to save it.

Yikes

I can't believe that I listened to this whole album. 'Milquetoast' came to mind when listening. I felt like i was sitting in the dental chair at the orthodontist involuntarily listening to the radio circa 1994. I bet the dental assistants loved Culture Club. Why was the last song on this album an instrumental number? Weird.

Not my type of music Bit repetitive

Karma chameleon is fucking trash as with the rest of this album.

I hate this album so much, I cannot believe I listened to the whole thing. I hated Culture Club in 1983, and I hate them even more now.

As a whole, even worse than Boy George's USA accent. Unforgivable drivel

Gay

Not a fan

Didn't like it when it came out. Don't like it now. Nothing's changed.

slop

Gag! It's Culture Club. If their first big hit "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" didn't make you want to hurt them, then this album certainly will. It's a saccharine sweet lightweight vapor of an album dressed in a little bit of Blue-Eyed Soul. Karma Chameleon was a hit amongst middle schoolers new to MTV but serious club goers despised it. Church of the Poisoned Mind, while an MTV hit was repetitive and lacking any real substance. But how do I really feel?

YFGY

Wow, turns out handcuffing that fella to a radiator was only the second worst thing Boy George ever did.

First song brought back memories of being stuck in a car with my mom as she smoked cigarettes while I couldn’t get away from that smell in early 2000s brought back bad memories musically it’s fine just the emotions from memory push my rating

It's never a good sign when you have to check to see how long an album is. How much of my life do I need to spend enduring this nonsense? 38 minutes for the core album, or 57 minutes if I want to listen to the reissue bonus tracks. 38 minutes is long enough thank you very much. This very much signaled the beginning of a dark age for popular music in the early to mid 80s. Top of the Pops, dry ice, synthesised drums, bad miming, New Romantic fashion, nasal crooning and warbling, and frenetic dancing to the beat. Culture Club were front and center during all of this cringe, and this album brings you viscerally back to all of that with a shudder. Nope. Not for me.

Still dumb

The wrong kind of 80s pop. Culturally relevant Olaf the time but I’m sorry the music and production is terrible.

boring. I hated 80s music, it was empty, a very lite copy - as though fisher price made it

They have more than that one song? I didn't get through the album. Schlock.

I really don't see how this is significant in any way -- sure, "Karma Chameleon" is a one hit wonder, but it's a mediocre one at that, and the rest of the album is just incredibly dated tosh.

First time listen! I do know the first song for sure.

I‘d rather listen to all Throbbing Gristle albums simultaneously for 30 hours than to one more song of this terrible plastic karaoke masquerading as new wave, reggae or whatever

Rubbish

Really disappointing, considering how much I like Karma Chameleon

I can’t

tough listen

Horrible. Not my style at all.

Not sure this should be in the list. Pop music from my childhood...

No

Yeah, this was simply awful. I thought Karma Chameleon might be enough to save it from the ignominy of a one star rating, but to be honest, unless I'm three beers in at a party or wedding I have zero interest in that irritatingly pointless song either. I was really relieved when this one ended and never want to hear it again.

Pretty forgettable.

Meh. Cheesy got moldy

Talentless twat! And that backing vocalist sure can shriek.

Aggressively mild in every way possible, complete with cheesy 80s sounds. I’d rather not listen to anything than this.

Really really hard to get through. Karma chameleon is a highlight, and I hate that song.

Bloody awful singing over bloody awful muzak. I appreciate its massive cultural merit, but with almost zero musical merit it should be nowhere near this list.

I'm guessing that the reason this album is on the list is that it's an example of music with absolutely no redeeming qualities. Unlistenable.

I could see how this made a big enough cultural impact to validate its inclusion but yeah this could've just been a 7-inch single instead of the whole thing. Rating: 1.5

An example of the worst 80s music had to offer: just a horribly synthetic and over-produced sounding record. There’s some nice singing on this, but this was too long with few redeeming qualities for me; just not a fan of this at all.

“Mom, can we have Prince?” “No, we have Prince at home.” Prince at home:

Everything that's wrong with 80s pop music in 57 minutes. Awful.

awful

Very inoffensive and goofy. Not memorable except for the famous track.

I love reggae. This is an abomination.

For a band with an image filled with so many colours and eccentricities in, their music is boring to an unbelievable point.

Not for me. 1/5

Just a gimmick album.

putrid

No thanks

Sorry, absolutly not music for my ears.

Generic 80's garbage.

"Colour By Numbers" from Culture Club, I MUST hear before I die? Seriously? I go on and on about music from the 80's, how there was a lot of great music, punk, new wave, LA, Minneapolis, Athens, Boston, college alternative rock, but most of it was outside the mainstream. Commercial radio and MTV showcased some of the worst music of the decade with Culture Club near the top of the list. If a couple of manufactured hit singles and a bunch of filler is considered an essential record, this list is whacked! I'll be honest, I disliked CC then and now and I'm still haunted by their dreadful music on commercials and TV and movie soundtracks. This is the go-to music for fun loving, free spirited, flaky 80's inspired characters who have a passion to wear face paint and dress like a sensitive clown. I have nothing against Boy George, but to me Culture Club represented everything I hated about the 80's...again there was some good music in that decade, but not here.

It reminded me of that cheesy music you hear in the background of some "B" 1980s movie. It was very lackluster, lacked real instruments, and the singing was unbearable at times. Favorite song: "Karma Chameleon".

I threw in the towel so fast on this one, you'd think I was working in a laundromat. 1 precious hour of my life saved by not listening to this album out of 5

Liked song 1 and 2, turned it off when I heard he’d chained someone to a radiator and beat them.

Not for me. Did not enjoy.

Horrible

This is an easy one for me to review. Karma Chameleon is catchy as hell really didn't like the rest.

Couple ok songs

I'm an 80's music fan, I enjoy bands such as Billy Idol, Echo & The Bunnymen, Corey Hart, The Smiths, and the Cure. I even enjoy spanish 80's rock such as Soda Stereo and the pop band Timbiriche not to mention other mainstream acts of the decade. I mention all this to say that I did not enjoy Culture Club's Colour By Numbers. I understand it's more pop but even then I don't consider this a top 1000 album.

Pedophile anthems

Stuff me full with Stilton and cheddar, but this is too much British cheese to handle.

Trökigt

Two songs in, contemplating quitting. Four songs in, quitting.

mig 9 gange efter jeg Karma Chameleon: "lyder som en værre version af Karma Chameleon?" ekstremt uessentielt album at have på listen

Altså. Jeg er ikke engang særlig vild med Karma Chameleon, og det var objektivt set den "gode sang" her. Fair nok at de gerne vil finde plads til noget 80er pop på listen, men jeg kan altså nemt komme i tanke om mere inspirerede valg end den her.

Kaaaarmakarmakarmakarmachameeeleeoooonnnn - Banger! Men nej.

Nothing here that I enjoy and a lot that I dislike.

Уууу, обложка впечатляющая [ще хуевая]. Я уважаю главного чела. До сих пор заигрывания с гендером встречаются аудиторией натянуто, а сорок лет назад? Да, Боуи вытворял там подобные штуки и того раньше, но факт остается фактом. Моя проблема с альбомом состоит в том, что 8 из 10 основных песен имееют самую отвратную структуру, которая может быть в поп-песне. Ко всему к этому припевы, которые повторяют одну и ту же строчку, не всегда такую уж впечатляющую, по двадцать три тысячи раз подряд - это рак поп-музыки. Не мое. Лучшая песня - Karma Chameleon.

Absolutely terrible. Shouldn't be anywhere close to a top anything list.

I love 80s music. I grew up in the 80s. This isn’t it

1.5

Achterlijke kanker herrie

Not for me…

I dig the first track well enough but by the end you realize it’s pretty formulaic and bland. I didn’t mind his voice at first but I grew to almost hate it.

Hard to get through

Brutal. Don’t like the singles on here and the rest is garbage.

Not even Karma Chameleon could save this from all the other naffness

cant stand these guys

As it turns out, 40 years doesn’t change a thing. I hated this in 1983 and still hate it in 2023.

To much 80’s glitterpop..! But of course som classic songs.

Listening to ‘Karma Chameleon’ for the first time and wondered why everyone would make a fuss over such a busy, repetitive track. Rest of the album nosedived from there into pure 80s excess, with way too much going on and yet nothing meaningful being conveyed. All pomp and no circumstance, should’ve left this back in the awful decade it came from.

Not for me

They broke America and got a guest appearance on the A-Team out of this?! Karma Chameleon is a good pop record. I was hoping there would be more to the rest of the album. Some underplayed gems. Nope. Just a continual drone of 80s ness. It not a good sign when you’re googling the name of the backing singer (who’s not even featured on the cover) because they’re the most interesting thing on the album.

cheesy

If we’re interpreting the name of the book/list literally as albums you need to hear, in contrast to albums you need to know about because of their cultural significance, then Culture Club does not belong on this list. This album is boring as hell. It’s all watered down reggae and world music and gospel. It’s offensively bland. For someone who made such an impression with his image— I mean, I was really young so maybe I’m wrong here, but Boy George was an outlier in the cultural landscape at the time— the music is surprisingly nondescript. It sounds like something my mom would enjoy. I’ve heard Contemporary Christian Music artists who make edgier music than this.

Brani Preferiti: - "Karma Chameleon" Note: Il brano di apertura è probabilmente il brano migliore di questo album e non è per dire che sia il migliore... ma il meno peggio, grazie al coro. Non sono stato in grado di ascoltare tutto il disco per la sua scarica qualità, dovendo saltare parti di canzoni nella speranza di trovare un qualcosa di piacevole.

So much pain.

seriously?

It started off decently, but "Black Money" made me realize how little I could really understand the vocals. The singing style and the mix made them blend in with the rest of the music and everything was just dull. From them on, it was a struggle to find the will to finish the album. 1/5

For me this was somewhere between George Michael and Simply Red. I didn’t enjoy any of it apart from a couple of the bass lines. If found the style grating and the lyrics were repetitive. I didn’t like the singer’s voice and it didn’t blend well with the backing singer. The ad libbed vocals by the backing singer in some songs were very over the top and annoying, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I have no idea why this is on the list, the album had one big hit and the rest was a forgettable cheese selection.

So very 80s formulaic pop! I hated it when it came out and it got so much radio play at the time. Listening to it now I can’t believe how simple and repetitive it is. My immediate reaction was a 1. A negative 1. Odd reaction: the tempo of Karma Chameleon is way faster than I remember. It’s as if my memory slowed it down to mellow it out or something. And then the real song sounds to me like it’s being played back at 1.25x speed. But a few songs were better than I thought they’d be and showed a glimmer of talent (like That’s the Way). Nah, it’s still a 1.

Not only did I not like this… I did NOT like this. Boy George’s voice annoys me to no end. I cannot understand how someone would find that voice attractive. It always sounds off, like we’re at this creepy community theater show. I can’t place why exactly I was repulsed by this album. But I think it’s 85% Boy George. The other 15% is when, on half their songs, they have an actually good gospel singer in the background doing mindless “hey, heyyyy” sounds that serve no purpose. I hate it when people do that. I hate-listened twice. One star. 1/5

Aan die single heb ik al sinds de jaren 80 een hekel, de rest is ook verschrikkelijk. Klote band die alles wat kut is uit de jaren 80 vertegenwoordigt.

hahah karma chameleon från the office.. idk about dis, 80tal är svårt för mig.

Not much good unless you want to include Karma Chameleon

Garbage

This album reminds me why I hate 80's music.

"Colour By Numbers" was released 40 years ago. "Aladdin Sane" came out 50 years ago next week. Boy George and David Bowie cultivated androgynous makeup wearing personas in the 70s and 80s. Yet here we are, in 2023, with states passing laws targeting drag shows that are so restrictive they seem like they would prevent any performance by Culture Club or David Bowie, let alone trans performers like Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! or Rainbow Kitten Surprise's Ela Melo. If the 80s could handle Boy George (though I'm sure acceptance of Boy George was far from universal and I'm sure he experienced intolerance and discrimination), why have we not progressed more in the last 40 years? While I fully support Boy George's freedom of expression, I can't stand this album. "Colour By Numbers" is filled with incredibly repetitive songs. Each track is almost all chorus, with 4-5 words repeated until you can't help but hit the skip button. If the music behind the lyrics stood out that would be one thing, but there's nothing here to maintain interest in.

Everything I don't like about the 80s.

hate it 2* - I like this kinda music but this is just annoying

Elevator music that's only bearable if you're going from one floor to the next. In other words, everything that's dead wrong about the eighties in one album. And the tunes are not even memorable (apart from "Karma Chameleon"). Which might be a good thing, come to think of it, because they fortunately don't get stuck in your head for hours, at least. I have a lot of sympathy and respect for Boy George's character, by the way. He's not always had an easy life, and I can only praise him for reaching the sort of success he reached at a time when prejudice was still everywhere. But I don't care at all for the artist that he is, or for that band he was part in. If really Culture Club wanted to reenact the schmaltzy vocabulary of the fifties and sixties in a more contemporary frame, the least they could do was to take a page from Eurythmics or Soft Cell--to mention somewhat close acts who had their faire share of the spotlight around 1983. Those acts knew how to make their mix of influences sound *vital*, at least in their great singles. In comparison, Culture Club's tunes sounds thin, stale, and hackneyed. Next! Please... Number of albums left to review: 631 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 182 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 85 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 109 (including this one)