Culture Club - Church Of The Poison Mind

What this video is

Released on 1 April 1983 in the UK as the lead single from 'Colour by Numbers', 'Church of the Poison Mind' arrived at the apex of Culture Club's commercial ascent and the broader Second British Invasion of American pop culture. The single reached #2 in the UK, held off the top spot only by David Bowie's 'Let's Dance', and cracked the US Billboard Hot 10. It marked the mainstream arrival of New Romantic androgyny…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of New Wave's soul-pop crossover moment, the video demonstrates how British post-punk acts leveraged MTV's emerging broadcast infrastructure to conquer American markets. Culture Club's genre synthesis — fusing new wave, R&B, gospel energy, and androgynous performance — is…

The director

Chris Gabrin is a British director and photographer active primarily in the early 1980s UK music scene. His directorial credits include music videos for Madness ('It Must Be Love', 'Shut Up'), Culture Club ('Time (Clock of the Heart)', 'Church of the Poison…