“War Song” by Culture Club

Culture Club led off Waking Up with the House on Fire, their third album, with "The War Song" in September 1984, a song that takes aim at war itself. Lead singer Boy George later explained the thinking on BBC3: most people, he said, don't know much about politics, and everyone gets sold the idea that war is glamorous. He shares the writing credit with Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss, and Clare Torry adds background vocals.

It gave them their seventh top-five hit in Britain, went all the way to number one in Ireland, made the top 10 in Australia and Canada, and peaked at 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band played it live mostly in the '80s, though it came back for a New Year's Eve gig in 2011 and again in 2014.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.