Was the song originally intended for the Go-Gos?
They performed the song early in their career as their producers at the time, The Paine Brothers, actually wrote it with them in mind. But when the Go-Go’s walked out on their production contract, The Paine Brothers gave the song to me. Did the the song derail your career? Absolutely. The labels were terrified of the controversy. If you had the chance to do it all over to do again, what would you do differently? Would you still have recorded the song? That’s always the question that stops me dead in my tracks. True, I was offered record deals based on me dropping the song. I turned the deals down and my career suffered. Would I do it again? Yes. However, I would change the way I handled the situation. I would stand up for myself now. Would you have become a more vocal gay rights advocate? I’ve always defended and loved the gay community. That’s why it was so hurtful when The Advocate and The Village Voice took the position they did towards me. Is today’s world ready for queer Johnny? I
