If you caught the sex-ed episode of Glee on Tuesday, then the news that watchdog group Parents Television Council labeled it as “appalling” comes as no surprise. Dan Isett, the group’s director of public policy, singled out the scene when Gwyneth Paltrow’s Holly Holiday character treats the Glee club members to a performance of “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah),” saying, “Real-world teachers don’t lap dance with their students.”

Of course, Glee‘s suggestive choreography aside, “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah),” written and released by Gary Glitter in 1973, doesn’t concern puppy dogs and rainbows. It’s about sex. Over in the UK, where Glitter is more well known (the song was a #2 hit there), some are decrying its use in a (fictional) classroom context, since he’s now a convicted pedophile.

Glitter’s original single didn’t dent the U.S. charts, so “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)” is instead associated with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, who covered the song as their third single. It was also the group’s third consecutive cover, following “I Love Rock And Roll” and “Crimson & Clover.” “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)” peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 25, 1982, and it’s Jett’s version that inspired Ryan Murphy and his Glee team.

In elementary school at the time when “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)” came out, I couldn’t get enough of it. I remember impatiently waiting for school to end so I could come back home and play my 45 again. (My family had just gotten a new compact stereo, too, so some novelty was also in the mix.) Like “Centerfold” before it, the meaning of “Do You Wanna Touch Me” was largely lost on me. (Have I mentioned I attended a Catholic grade school?)

As the son of an obsessive record collector, my music geekery (and chart watching) began early. Rarely did my parents weigh in on the content of the 45s I wanted, preferring instead to reserve an occasional comment on the quantity of my purchases. Even after watching Tipper Gore present the PMRC’s “Filthy Fifteen” on Donahue in the mid-’80s (together, I must add), my mom never asked me to turn over Cyndi Lauper’s ode to self-love, “She Bop,” or Sheena Easton’s “Sugar Walls.”

Several years later, however, after catching an episode of Oprah, my mom was roused to take action against Ice-T. After a quick inquisition, she was relieved to hear my music collection was “Cop Killer”-free. I much preferred to spend my money on songs like “Do You Wanna Touch Me.” Even back then, it was clear: I’m a lover, not a fighter.

Purchase Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – “Do You Wanna Touch (Oh Yeah)” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.