Australian rock band Jet released their debut single, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”, in 2003, and the groovy tune catapulted them to the 2000s mainstream for a bit. It was a Top 20 hit in Australia, Canada, and the U.K., while in the U.S., it broke the Top 40 on the Hot 100. It’s twice been named an Australian staple song, but an initial draft of the lyrics had a very different vibe.
“The first draft of the lyrics was quite negative,” vocalist Nic Cester told The Guardian in 2024. “I’d had a bad experience at a nightclub and ended up walking home alone. In one of the music pauses, I went: ‘She’s just like every other girl.’“
It’s hard to imagine Apple choosing “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” for its 2004 iPod commercial, given its negative vibe. The fact that the rest of Jet disagreed with the first draft possibly saved the song from obscurity.
“I showed it to the band, and they said: ‘Dude, it’s so negative. How about, ‘Are you gonna be my girl?’” Cester continued. “It was a good idea, so I went home and wrote everything in about 30 seconds flat.”
Jet’s Defining Single Started May Have Out Negative, But Its Strokes-Inspired Groove Made it an Undeniable Hit
Nic Cester rewrote “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” in record time, creating Jet’s cool, danceable hit we know today. Listening to the song in retrospect, Cester’s inspiration to write it makes a lot of sense.
“The catalyst for ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ was The Strokes releasing ‘Last Nite’,” he explained. “‘Last Nite’ was a rock song you could dance to. Its rhythm reminded me of Motown—songs like ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’.” Cester also named The Who’s “My Generation” as an influence on the start-stop style of “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”.
“It’s a basic song, but I guess that’s also why it resonates,” he said of Jet’s single. “It’s very direct in its delivery. There are no tricks.”
Meanwhile, guitarist Cameron Muncey described Cester initially describing the song as “like a chant” when he brought it to the rest of the band. “We built it one brick at a time, starting with the tambourine, then the bass and the drums,” said Muncey. “Once that big riff kicks in, you’re off. We’ve always had an overarching sonic aesthetic: jangly, Kinks-y guitars, nothing too heavy.”
Jet cemented that aesthetic with “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and continued with their familiar sound through the years. While the song constantly drew comparisons to Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”, it was stylized much more after the common Motown structure. But, apparently, that’s what Iggy and David Bowie were doing too.
Lyrically, Muncey explained that it’s nothing groundbreaking, even calling it “quite innocent.” But that was kind of the point, anyway. It was more about creating a feeling through diction than lyrics.
“As for the words,” said Muncey, “They may not be deep lyrical poetry, but they serve the rhythm. And if a song does that, it’s fine.”
Photo by Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic
The post This 2003 Jet Hit Could’ve Had a Totally Different Meaning if This Original Lyric Made the Cut appeared first on VICE.
