» 2000s, Rock » Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Girl
Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Girl
Editor’s note: “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” is not a one-hit wonder. It’s just an example of multiple songs using the same “boom boom boom” beat.
Popular music has a way of repeating itself. And today’s earworms are perfect examples of how what’s old is always new again.
In 2003 “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet was HUGE. It was everywhere and this little Australian band was looking like the “next big thing.” To my ears, the song was a massive rip-off of Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life” from 1977.
Same beat. Same guitar riff. Different vocals.
But when it comes down to it, the distinctive beat of Iggy Pop’s song was really just a blatant rip-off of Diana Ross and The Supreme’s original version of “You Can’t Hurry Love” from 1966.
Just don’t confuse The Supremes’ version with Phil Collin’s version of “You Can’t Hurry Love” that hit #10 on the Billboard charts in 1982.
Or the Dixie Chicks version of “You Can’t Hurry Love” from the Julia Roberts and Richard Gere popcorn flick, Runaway Bride.
Listen to them all. No matter which song or version you prefer, any and all of these songs will get stuck in your head for weeks at a time. My favorite remains “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.”
Listen to “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet
Jet - Are You Gonna Be My GirlListen to “Lust for Life” by Iggy Pop
Lust for Life - Iggy PopListen to “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes
The Supremes - You Can't Hurry LoveListen to “You Can’t Hurry Love” by Phil Collins
Phil Collins - You Can't Hurry LoveListen to “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks - You Can't Hurry Love
Written by Michael Waterman
I'm an obsessive music collector, cataloger, commenter and trivia nut. Sometimes I'm even a listener. One-hit wonders have always been a guilty pleasure.
Filed under: 2000s, Rock · Tags: 1966, 1977, 1982, 2003, Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Diana Ross, Dixie Chicks, Iggy Pop, Jet, Lust for Life, Phil Collins, The Supremes, You Can't Hurry Love
The Phil Collins version of “You Can’t Hurry Love” always reminds me of one of the best games of basketball I ever played in my life. This would have been in Junior High for me, probably 8th grade, and I was playing in a night league at the Tustin Boys Club. After the my stellar game — a game in which for 60 minutes I somehow morphed into a superhero-hybrid of Michael Cooper and Magic Johnson — I tried to figure out what happened… what was different? Why this particular game? The only two things I could put my finger on was: 1.) I ate an orange about 15 minutes before the game started; and 2.) Phil Collins’s “You Can’t Hurry Love” had been the song playing on the car radio right before I got out of the car to enter the gym, and the tune was stuck in my head for the entire game. As I dribbled up the court, defended, shot the ball, etc. I literally had the drum beat and bass line of You Can’t Hurry Love thumping in my mind, accompanied by the mellifluous strains of Phil’s tin-ny voice.
So I tested my hypothesis for my next game. I recorded the song over the radio onto a cassette tape, and listened to the cassette in the car on the way to the gym whilst eating a juicy orange. The result? Terrible game. No Magic Johnson. No Michael Cooper. I played like Phil Freaking Collins. What’s worse, I had to play that miserable game with his shitty song stuck in my head. (It could have been worse though… could have been Sussudio.)
I realize now I should not have tempted fate by recording the song myself… had I been a little wiser I would have realized that the Phil Collins Gods both giveth and taketh away.
The “You Can’t Hurry Love” era marked a sad transition for Phil Collins. He was originally in a group that was arguably near the forefront of interesting things being done in music (Genesis early era – And then there were three…, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, etc.). They transitioned through the sappy era with songs like “You Can’t Hurry Love”. He was then ultimately reduced to essentially writing songs for Disney cartoons. It’s really kind of sad.
Great story. It has all the makings of an ABC after-school special from the mid-1980s.
Here’s the TV Guide summary: Boy eats orange, listens to Phil Collins and becomes a hoops star. Success goes to his head and he alienates friends and learns important life lessons at school during the next ballgame. Soundtrack by Phil Collins and Toto. Wednesday, 3:00 – 4:00 pm, ABC.
any time I hear this song it makes me want to go play Rock Band…
One more for the “Hey-you-bastards-stole-that-drumbeat-from-The-Supremes” Club:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx1kFCYb0eY
Mik, nice addition to the list. The drummer at Motown must be very proud of his work and influence. I wonder if his family receives residuals from his patented “bum-bum-bum (pause) bum-bum-ba-bum” beat?
Great web-log, I rarely find blogs that I like these days, articles like yours remind me of the fact that my browsers has bookmarks!