Culture Club‘s music video for “The Medal Song” is available to watch on YouTube for the first time since its 1984 release. The characteristically plotty, glamorous, and playful video arrives on the platform in support of the release of Boy George & Culture Club, a new documentary on the British pop group directed by Alison Ellwood.
The documentary follows Culture Club lead singer Boy George’s ascent into a pop icon and the broader cultural influence of the band, incorporating both archival material and new interviews Ellwood described as “unusually candid.” It arrived on streaming earlier this month after premiering at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival last year. Ellwood has built a career chronicling pop history on screen, with past projects covering the Go-Go’s, the Laurel Canyon music scene, and Cyndi Lauper.
Culture Club formed in London in 1981 and quickly became one of the most recognizable pop acts to emerge from the era’s New Romantic scene, merging new wave with American soul, reggae, and more. The group has sold over 50 million records globally and picked up a Brit Award along with the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1984, the same year “The Medal Song” came to be.
“The Medal Song” first appeared on Culture Club’s third studio album, Waking Up with the House on Fire, released in 1984. Following the runaway success of “Karma Chameleon” and Colour by Numbers, the band had a high bar to reach after their prior commercial triumphs. “The Medal Song” peaked at No. 32 on the UK chart; the album’s top-performing single, “The War Song,” climbed to No. 2.
The arrival of the music video for “The Medal Song” follows the recent YouTube premiere of the video for 1983’s “Victims,” another underrated classic within Culture Club’s discography. The song, which appeared on Colour by Numbers, was only issued in five countries, and peaked at No. 3 on the UK singles chart.
Shop Culture Club’s music on vinyl here.
