"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" is a song by Australian rock band Jet from their 2003 debut album, Get Born. It was released as the first single from the album on 18 August 2003 in the United States and on 1 September 2003 in Australia.
The song peaked at number 20 in Australia and reached the top 20 in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it their first top-40 hit and their highest charting single; it also peaked at number three on the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart and number seven on the BillboardMainstream Rock Tracks chart. The single has sold 1.3 million copies in the United States since 2012.[3]
Chris Cester responded to media commentary regarding the similarities, stating in a 2009 interview that the beat was taken from Motown, referring to a meeting between Pop and himself:
It's funny because I asked him point blank about that. He said I was crazy. He said that when he and David Bowie were writing "Lust for Life", they were ripping off Motown's beat. It's funny that he said that to me because we also thought we were ripping off Motown more than "Lust for Life". To be honest with you that kind of annoyed me a lot, because I always thought it was really lazy. People just go well Lust for Life is more well-known so that's what they go for, but if you listen to a song like "You Can't Hurry Love" (The Supremes) I think you'll find its closer to "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" than "Lust for Life" ever was. And that's what Iggy said as well.[10]
Background
Nic Cester wrote an early version of the song sometime between the ages of 17-19. The original lyrics were about being rejected by a girl - with the original hook being "She's just like every other girl".[11] The song was fleshed out by Cameron Muncey, who also convinced Caster to make the lyrics more positive, so he changed the hook to "Are you gonna be my girl".[9] The cough was an accident in the demo, but the producers thought it should be in the final mix. Nic refused to fake the cough, so they copied it from the demo and put it in the final mix.[9]
Music video
The music video is shot in black and white, and shows Jet performing in a blank studio. As they play, black ink starts pouring out of their equipment and forms a landscape resembling the cover art on their album Get Born, the Beatles album Revolver and silhouettes of dancing girls. The video was shot at Vinopolis, London. Cameron Muncey can be seen wearing an AC/DC shirt.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Release history
Release dates and formats for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
↑Get Born (Australian CD album liner notes). Capitol Records. 2003. 5942002.
↑Heather Phares. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl review on Allmusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 July 2013. 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl?' is one of the most immediate – if not creative – singles to come out of the garage-rock revival of the early 2000s.
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