Diversity Rules Magazine

August 2011 Chattin’ With Pussycat Babylon An Interview With Josie Cotton By Jim Koury, Editor Josie Cotton crashed onto the world stage in the 1980’s with her hit “Johnny Are You Queer.” It prompted a meteoric rise in Cot- ton’s career but also led to her fall from fame just as quickly due to the controversy related to the song and its title. Her latest CD entitled “Pussycat Babylon” has been released and is co-produced by legendary punk keyboardist Paul Roessler. It’s modern electo pop sound should prove to be a hit. Diversity Rules Magazine wel- comes Josie Cotton! JRK: Before we get into the interview, why don’t you give DR readers an idea of who Josie Cotton is, your background and how it’s all led up to where you are today. JC: It’s amazing you ask because I just recently learned Josie Cotton is actually a computer program developed by Swedish researchers in a social experiment having something to do with the mating habits of rats.. Other than that I’m just a died in the wool singer/song writer who came to California with stars in her eyes that pretty quickly turned to ice picks in my binoculars. After about a year of living out here I decided Hollywood was never going to accept me as an artist and within a few days my girl- friend and I sublet an apartment in Paris . We were leaving in 2 weeks when I literally met someone in a bank line at the corner of Sunset and Vine who would change my life forever. He had written a song I would eventually re- cord called “Johnny Are You Queer?”. To me it was quirky and timely and a great pop song but it created such an unbelievable controversy it was ultimately banned in Amsterdam, at- tacked by the Catholic Church, demonized by the religious right, completely misunderstood by the gay press and so spurned by corporate America it eventually included my own record company dropping me. At the same it was an international dance sensation, hailed as an anthem by the gay community at large, con- sidered the epitome of punk rock and a testa- ment to pop art. It brought people out of the closet and it brought people together. Turns out it was an atom bomb. I always wondered how different my life would be if I hadn’t walked into the bank that day. JRK: You came onto the scene in the early 1980’s with the con- troversial hit “Johnny are you Queer?” Why do you think it initially made such a huge mark on the charts at the time? JC: Bottom line it was a great song at a perfect moment. It was so shocking to hear that word in polite society that you couldn’t help but laugh or gasp. JRK: The controversy surrounding the song didn’t stop you from continuing your career in indie outlets. How did you deal with the back- lash from the song and the attacks from the homophobic right-wingers? What were your “lessons learned” from the controversy? JC: Well I did leave the music business for a long time. That was how I dealt with it. I con- tinued writing songs and recording records be- cause that’s what I do but to enter that arena again was something I avoided like the plague. As soon as it was time to release a record I had just finished I would just start a new one. It took a while for the radiation burns to heal. At some point I started putting out records that people could actually hear and buy if they wanted to but they were more conceptual re- cords. It wasn’t until Pussycat Babylon that I made a conscious decision to make something remotely recognizable to my fans. The only thing I learned was that odd things happen to me. JRK: The word “queer” historically has had negative connotations. However many in the LGBTQ community perceive the word as an acceptable term to describe their orientation and are now embracing it. Because of this greater acceptance of the word “queer” do you think “Johnny are you Queer” would have re- ceived a different reaction today? JC: It’s so important to own highly destructive words like that, to de-sensitize them and re-de- fine them for ourselves. But the political atmo- sphere in this country is so ultra PC now, that without a “Johnny Are You Queer?” to forge Four

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