Boy George Opens Up About Surprising Legacy Of Culture Club’s Biggest Hit

Boy George got candid about "Karma Chameleon" and how the hit song has lived on as a "guilty pleasure" since its release in the '80s.

"The first time I sang it to the band, they all hated it," the Culture Club frontman told PEOPLE on Friday (June 26). "So, I had to almost strong-arm the track onto the album because we were going in a soulful director, and the boys, I think, preferred that. But me being me, I like to throw a spanner in the works."

The "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" hitmaker admitted that he knew "Karma Chameleon" would become popular.

"I knew that song was going to be a hit," he revealed. "I mean, I was absolutely adamant it was going to be No. 1, even though I really had no experience to base it on. It was like a sort of guilty pleasure, that song."

Culture Club released the hit song as a single in 1983, which would ultimately reach the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984. It also became the United Kingdom's biggest-selling single of 1983.