Wow! It's a Culture Club reunion, at 75% capacity. The only one missing is Jon Moss, the one I found bewitchingly hot.

Newsflash: 1983 was 30 years ago. A baby born the day "Rebel Yell" was released could be a balding dad of three by now. Quite easily.

Looking back, that year seems to be a sweet spot for great pop music, perhaps in part because I was about 14, which was when I was really intensely caring about music, especially anything Casey Kasem told me about.

What follows are my picks for the ultimate, defining pop singles of 1983. Let me know if I missed any! I focused on U.S. singles with a few U.K. tossed in for good measure, and tried not to include a song if the bulk of its life as a single was really in 1982, yet I did include some that were released in '82 but were huge in '83. (I tended to skip any songs that were released in Decemvber of '83.)

Enjoy the flashback...

These adorable schoolkids perform a version of Madonna's "This Used to Be My Playground," and darned if their video doesn't rip off Boy George just like Madonna's did (ha)...

Boy George has changed his diet.

Three girls three

Rosie O'Donnell & wife Michelle Rounds welcome Baby Dakota.

Village Voice music ed launches her own music-mag app.

Doug Spearman joins Old Dogs & New Tricks.

You better twerk: Learn how from Purple Crush.

OOPS! O picked another anti-gay rev for inauguration.

PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford dies.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis quits.

Boy George on sex, drugs & David Bowie:

That cute, hip Miu Miu ad you may have seen floating around the past several weeks, the one starring what appears to be a group of baby Natalie Maines look-alikes crossed with some Robert Palmer (R.I.P.) girls? Apparently, it was "directed" by Madonna, and Miu Miu only thought to get this news out there now.

Allegedly, Madonna showed up on set for Mert & Marcus and wound up directing the girls' moves—for free! Some of the moves are pretty transparently Madonna-inspired, so it's not hard to swallow. But the free part is as shocking as hanging off a cross or kissing Britney Spears.

Even more shocking...the music is the old chestnut "Generations of Love," by Madonna's BFF WEE (worst enemy ever), Boy George.

Video after the jump...

This juxtaposition of Marilyn Monroe at her peak in 1954 and Loni Anderson not at her peak at age 64 from Globe (June 21, 2010) brings to mind Boy George's nasty quote about Madonna and the back end of a bus. 

From the book When Cameras Go Crazy—Culture Club (St. Martin's Press, 1983) by Kasper de Graaf and Malcolm Garrett, Boy George with his (apparently anatomically gifted) brother Gerald. 

The premium version of Celebration (distinguished by its more black-and-white cover) is up for grabs on iTunes now for $29.99. With it comes the Benny Benassi Remix of "Celebration" as well as the long-lost, never-heard tune "It's So Cool" from the American Life (!) sessions. It must have been hard coughing up something people haven't already heard with all the leaks that have occurred in the past few years. It also comes with 30 music videos.

More importantly, the "Celebration" video is (temporarily) FREE now at iTunes.

I want you, the wrong way.

My read on this is it's mostly another bullshit video, though one of her better bullshit videos, if only for that sexy dancer whose images I'll sprinkle throughout. I really love how she looks and don't get why some have objected to the (rather amazing!) Balenciaga Balmain dress, which shows off her body perfectly or even the (rather good, unlike the one from "Jump") wig. Madonna looks about 15 years younger than her age and incredibly beautiful—I think people have warped expectations of what 51 looks like if they think she looks "old" in this.

Would've been a better lead, but Jesus works.

I like some of the dancing but wish it had been more choreographed, which might have elevated this in the way simple videos like "Vogue" or "Human Nature" are not just about dancing about gaily. Instead, it's just "better than 'Give It 2 Me.'"

It's a shame that one of the most interesting '80s artists, one who is openly gay, is such a nasty embarrassment as a human being, but I have to say it appears Boy George is going to get what's coming to him. After his continual drug fuck-ups, his charges for imprisoning a hustler certainly rang true—his defense was completely unserious and almost mocking, joking that the handcuffs he used were no big deal. Now he's guilty and he's likely to serve prison time. I know it's harsh, but I for one will not miss him while he's gone. 

It's sad that gifted icons like him and George Michael are so troubled in their personal lives, but it's worse to ignore it and act like they're okay (Michael even once railed at an interloper who caught him cruising for sex in a drug-induced stupor that this was part of how the gay community is).

It makes me appreciate that the worst that can be said of my own personal favorite artist is that she lists toward pretentiousness, is occasionally uninspired in her work (or too directly inspired by too-obvious sources) and can't be counted on to smile and sign autographs if you bump into her at the airport.

Basically, comparing Boy George with Madonna is like comparing Raquel Welch with the back of a bus...