Karma Chameleon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Karma Chameleon"
Single by Culture Club
from the album Colour by Numbers
B-side "That's the Way (I'm Only Trying to Help You)"
Released September 1983 (UK)
November 1983 (USA)
Format 7", 12"
Recorded 1983
Genre New Wave
Length 4:12 (album version)
3:51 (single edit)
Label Virgin
Writer(s) George O'Dowd, Jon Moss, Mikey Craig, Roy Hay, Phil Pickett Alfie Malone
Producer Steve Levine
Culture Club singles chronology
"Church of the Poison Mind"
(1983)		 "Karma Chameleon"
(1983)		 "Victims"
(1983)
Music sample
"Karma Chameleon"

"Karma Chameleon" is a hit song by British New Wave band Culture Club, featured on the group's 1983 album Colour by Numbers. The single spent three weeks at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984, becoming the group's biggest hit and only US #1 among their many Top 10 hits. "Karma Chameleon" was also a huge global hit, hitting #1 in sixteen countries worldwide, and the Top 10 in several more. The sleeve features work from the photographer David Levine.

In the group's home country of the United Kingdom, it became the second Culture Club single to reach the top of the UK Singles Chart (after "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"), where it stayed for six weeks in September and October 1983, and became the UK's biggest-selling single of the year 1983.[1] To date, it is the 31st best-selling single of all-time in the UK, selling over 1.4 million copies in the UK.[2] It has sold over 5 million global copies making it one of the best-selling singles of all time worldwide.[3]

In an interview, Culture Club frontman Boy George explained: "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."[4]

The song won Best British Single at the 1984 Brit Awards. The group performed the song as a finale when they appeared in the 1986 episode "Cowboy George" of The A-Team.

Contents

Music video[edit]

The music video, directed by Peter Sinclair,[5] is set in Mississippi in 1870. It depicts a large group of black and white people in late 1800s dress, including some dressed in red, gold, and green (as George sings in the song). Boy George is dressed in what would be known as his signature look; colourful costume, fingerless gloves, long braids, and a black derby.

A pickpocket and jewellery thief is seen wandering through the crowd, stealing from unsuspecting folks. The band and other people board a riverboat, "The Chameleon", as Boy George continues to sing. The thief is discovered cheating at cards, and is forced to return his ill-gotten gains and walk the plank at the points of ladies' parasols. As the video ends, day has turned to evening and the party continues on the boat as it cruises down the river. "Karma Chameleon" was filmed at Desborough Island in Weybridge during the summer of 1983.

Charts and certifications[edit]

Chart positions[edit]

Chart (1983-1984) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 1
Austrian Singles Chart 3
Belgian Singles Chart 1
Canadian Hot 100 1
Denmark Singles Chart 1
Dutch Top 40[6] 1
European Hot 100 Singles 1
Finnish Singles Chart[7] 3
German Singles Chart 2
Irish Singles Chart 1
Italian Singles Chart 4
Japan Hot 100 1
New Zealand Singles Chart 1
Norwegian Singles Chart 1
Swedish Singles Chart 1
Swiss Singles Chart 1
UK Singles Chart 1
US Billboard Hot 100 1

Sales and certifications[edit]

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[8] 2× Platinum 200,000^
France (SNEP)[9] Gold 720,000[10]
United Kingdom (BPI)[11] 2× Platinum 1,470,000[2]
United States (RIAA)[12] Platinum 2,000,000^
Total available sales: 3,390,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Cover versions[edit]

  • In 1998 Izam, star of the Japanese visual kei band Shazna, covered "Karma Chameleon" among other Boy George songs on the album IZAM presents the Best of Boy George & Culture Club.[13]
  • In 1999, the song was re-recorded by Boy George at Abbey Road Studios, London, for the homeless charity 'Message Home' as part of a fundraising and awareness campaign by BT, with the help of 100 competition winners providing backing vocals. Winners were selected from 18,000 entries in the 'Kiosk Karaoke' competition, which involved wannabe singers singing down the phone in BT call boxes, some of whom were then selected for auditions nationwide and finally whittled down to the last 100. The version was never commercially released and only the 100 competition winners hold copies of the pressed 1-track picture CD, the cover of which contains all of the names of those featured in the recording.[citation needed]

Trivia[edit]

The prominent harmonica part was played by Judd Lander, who had been a member of Merseybeat group The Hideaways in the 1960s. The song was originally to be called "Cameo Chameleon". The band was recorded in interviews in mid-1983 stating this was to be the title of their next single.[14]

Likely because of the lyric "I'm a man without conviction," and the chorus, which includes the word chameleon, "Karma Chameleon" has been used by several politicians in political ads. In 2006, Britain's Labour Party used "Karma Chameleon" as the theme song for a series of political advertisements against Conservative party leader David Cameron in the 2006 UK local Elections.[15]

Also, during the 2010 U.S. senate race in Pennsylvania, Republican Pat Toomey used the song as backing music for his video "Happy Anniversary Arlen Specter!" as a way to criticize a sitting Senator from Pennsylvania and recently turned Democrat Arlen Specter.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Culture Club - "Karma Chameleon" notes". EveryHit.com. Retrieved 2008-10-14. "The biggest-selling single of 1983." 
  2. ^ a b Ami Sedghi (4 November 2012). "UK's million-selling singles: the full list". Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2012. 
  3. ^ Bodrero, Eric (2005). "The Culture Club - Greatest Hits Review". anti music. Retrieved 2012-11-08. 
  4. ^ song facts: Karma Chameleon by Culture Club
  5. ^ "Culture Club - "Karma Chameleon"". mvdbase.com. 
  6. ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40, week 42, 1983". Retrieved 2008-02-24. 
  7. ^ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3. 
  8. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Culture Club – Karma Chameleon". Music Canada. Retrieved 1 April 2012. 
  9. ^ "French single certifications – Culture Club – Karma Chameleon" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 1 April 2012.  Select CULTURE CLUB and click OK
  10. ^ "Les Singles en Or :" (in French). Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 1 April 2012. 
  11. ^ "British single certifications – Boy George & Culture Club – Karma Chameleon". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 April 2012.  Enter Karma Chameleon in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Click Go
  12. ^ "American single certifications – Culture Club – Karma Chameleon". Recording Industry Association of America.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  13. ^ "Izam Presents the Best of Boy George & CultureClub". 
  14. ^ The Rock Yearbook 1984. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-68786-9
  15. ^ Dave and Labour's bad karma chameleon. The Times. April 19, 2006.
  16. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZel6TKsydo

External links[edit]

Preceded by
"Red Red Wine" by UB40		 UK Singles Chart number-one single
24 September 1983 - 29 October 1983		 Succeeded by
"Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel
Preceded by
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes		 Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
4 February 1984 - 18 February 1984		 Succeeded by
"Jump" by Van Halen
Culture Club
Albums
Compilation albums
Singles
Related articles
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karma_Chameleon&oldid=560364989"