Welcome to The Chronicles of Trevor, the only blog that doesn't want to spend its whole life just a-waiting for you.
Ahh yes, the '80s. A decade with decidedly great music. From U2's The Joshua Tree, to the entirety of the Flashdance soundtrack, you can't deny that the 80s had great bangers.
But we're not talking about those legends today. I'm talking about the 1983 rock song "Karma Chameleon" by British group Culture Club.
In my honest opinion, I HATE this song for many reasons. For one, it rips off "Walking on Sunshine" by the British rock group Katrina and the Waves.
You might be asking "How does a song from 1983 rip off a song from 1985?" The answer is that "Walking on Sunshine" was re-recorded in 1985 after getting signed to Capitol Records. The song first appeared on an album from 1983 titled "Walking on Sunshine", which was released only in Canada for some reason.
Artists have demos of their songs too, so it might have even been originally been performed as early as 1981 or 1982!
I'm sure someone at Culture Club overheard Katrina and the Waves at an amateur band concert, and thought, "Hey, maybe we should make a song in a similar style as theirs!" And as such, Karma Chameleon was born.
But they needed something to differentiate it from the soon-to-be hit, and GUESS WHAT THEY PUT INTO THE SONG?
THEY PUT IN A FRAKKIN' OUT-OF-TUNE HARMONICA!!
Way to plagiarize a great song, and also destroy people's eardrums in the process.
Those are two of the reasons why I hate the dumpster fire that is "Karma Chameleon".
But the biggest reason I hate it is because it played during a turning point in a romantic relationship.
May 31st, 2024. It started just like any ordinary Friday. I played Bingo with my friends and my then-girlfriend at the time, who I'll call A (names have been changed for anonymity purposes). She asked me out on February 6th of that year, and I gladly accepted.
Some people went out for an outing to Walmart in the morning, and I was one of the people that had to stay back, as my day program only allows 5 clients to go on outings.
After bingo ended, we had lunch. I had a turkey and cheese sandwich and chips. It was delicious. During break time, A asked her friend, who I'll call P, if he wanted a massage. P said "Yeah, stupid A, I'd love it!" I got angry, and said calmly "P, Don't call A stupid! A is not stupid, she's a nice, kind, sweet, and beautiful young woman."
After break time, we had a dance party. We alternate between dance parties and karaoke every Friday. During dance parties, A and I would dance together for the entirety of the party. Unfortunately, the staff wanted us to dance with others because it was becoming a distraction to other people.
I was expecting A to share the first dance with me, but instead, P took my chance with her. P, WHO CALLED MY THEN-GIRLFRIEND STUPID 35 MINUTES BEFOREHAND, STOLE THE FIRST DANCE WITH A!
That made me mad, especially considering my med levels were out of wack. No P, Dancing with someone else's girl is NOT "the rhythm of the night." (P and A were dancing to a remix of that Whitney Houston song)
Anyway, After acting up due to what happened with A and P, I heard the drums and out-of-tune harmonica of "Karma Chameleon", and I screamed at an almost Mariah Carey-esque pitch.
Due to my uncontrollable behavior, I had to be sent home by my mom.
Almost 2 months later, A broke up with me, but me and her are still close friends to this day.
So whenever I hear Culture Club's singular hit, I get transported back to that moment 8 months ago...
But hey, look at me now!
I've got Ashley in my life, and she's my everything!
If I were to choose between a song about moving around aimlessly on the biggest star in our sky, or one about the adventures of a wizard lizard, I'd choose the former, because Katrina and the Waves' song is just more upbeat and happy-go-lucky, just like my personality.
Now for what inspired me to make this post: 1510 AM (WMEX), the only AM radio station in my area playing music, played Walking on Sunshine and Karma Chameleon back-to-back. That's right. THEY LURED ME IN WITH "WALKING ON SUNSHINE" AND THEN PLAYED "KARMA CHAMELEON" AFTERWARDS! It might've been due to both songs being in the same key (Bb Major), and their very close tempos. But still, playing a song I love, and then playing trash afterwards? No way, José!
Thanks for reading this blog post, and have a wonderful day.
