Roger Daltrey Honored by U.K.

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On December 31st, Who frontman Roger Daltrey was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire, joining ranks with recent honorees Eric Clapton, Sting and Ray Davies. In addition to his accomplishments in the classic-rock band, Daltrey is being honored for his charitable work for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The Who singer began organizing shows to benefit the foundation in 2000, creating bills with rock heavyweights Coldplay, Oasis and Eddie Vedder, and raising more than $4.5 million to date. "So many stars out there have such a great respect for Roger that they can't refuse when he asks them to take part in the show," says trust spokeswoman Lucy Shure. "It's really great to be honored by my country," said Daltrey. "I feel undeserving."

This story is from the January 27th, 2005 issue of Rolling Stone.

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Song Stories

“Karma Chameleon”

Culture Club | 1983

Boy George has said this song was about standing by what you believe in. However, at the time, he was involved in a secret affair with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. "Now people can understand the songs better," he said. "They were written about my relationship with Jon, and they were also written about being a gay man in a homophobic world." The lines "If I listen to your lies, would you say/I'm a man without conviction/I'm a man who doesn't know how to sell a contradiction," described his life at the time, he said. "I was selling this big lie."

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