"Church of the Poison Mind" is a 1983 hit single for the British pop band Culture Club. It was the first single to be released from their second album Colour by Numbers.
The song is characterized partly for its Motown feel; indeed, the opening of "Church of the Poison Mind" sounds similar to Stevie Wonder's hit, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)". The harmonica solo was played by Jud Lander. The subject of the song is an attack on the attitudes of certain churches and faiths on homosexuality.
The song reached #2, being kept off the top spot by David Bowie's "Let's Dance". It was a Top 10 hit in Canada and the United States. In the latter it was still climbing the charts when "Karma Chameleon" was released elsewhere, and subsequently became a huge hit. This prompted Epic Records to release "Karma" ahead of schedule. "Church of the Poison Mind" actually reached its peak position the same week "Karma" debuted on the US charts. In many countries its B-side was the heavily-percussive street song "Man Shake" and in some others, such as the United States, it was the song "Mystery Boy". Both songs were on the 12-inch in many countries, except Canada, where it was issued with an extended version of previous hit "I'll Tumble 4 Ya".
In this single, Helen Terry became famous as the female backup singer with such a powerful voice.
Famous quotes containing the words church of the, church of, church, poison and/or mind:
“It is time that the Protestant Church, the Church of the Son, should be one again with the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of the Father. It is time that man shall cease, first to live in the flesh, with joy, and then, unsatisfied, to renounce and to mortify the flesh.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Baseball is the religion that worships the obvious and gives thanks that things are exactly as they seem. Instead of celebrating mysteries, baseball rejoices in the absence of mysteries and trusts that, if we watch what is laid before our eyes, down to the last detail, we will cultivate the gift of seeing things as they really are.”
—Thomas Boswell, U.S. sports journalist. “The Church of Baseball,” Baseball: An Illustrated History, ed. Geoffrey C. Ward, Knopf (1994)
“This is what the Church is said to want, not party men, but sensible, temperate, sober, well-judging persons, to guide it through the channel of no-meaning, between the Scylla and Charybdis of Aye and No.”
—Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801–1890)
“I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art.”
—Hippocrates (c. 460–c. 370 B.C.)
“The great danger of conversion in all ages has been that when the religion of the high mind is offered to the lower mind, the lower mind, feeling its fascination without understanding it, and being incapable of rising to it, drags it down to its level by degrading it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)