Tom Petty Heard the Song and Said, ‘Wow!’ Jett Talks About How ‘Will You Be My Girl’ Was Made | Culture

Nick Cester, singer-songwriter

We weren’t signed when I wrote the song. Nobody knew who we were. We were playing in bars around Melbourne and nobody was coming. The Strokes or the whole music scene hadn’t really hit it big yet and people weren’t interested. I had a little shed in the backyard where I would sit with an acoustic guitar and write. I would pitch my ideas to the band and we would flesh them out. Everything about Get Born, our first album, was written there.

The impetus for “Will You Be My Girl” was the Strokes’ release of “Last Night.” It was great to hear another rock and roll band do the same song. “Last Night” was a rock song that you could dance to. The beat reminded me of Motown—songs like “You Can’t Hurry Love.” At the time, I was fascinated by the dynamic that The Who used on “My Generation.” I remember playing the song live when they first came out. There were about twenty people there. I didn’t have any lyrics, so I was just mumbling nonsense that sounded like lyrics. It worked because the sound system at the venue was so bad.

The first draft of the lyrics was very negative. I had a bad experience at a nightclub and ended up going home by myself. During one of the musical breaks, I said, “She’s just like any other girl.” I showed it to the band and they said, “Man, she’s so negative. What about ‘Will You Be My Girl?’” It was a good idea, so I went home and wrote the whole thing in about 30 seconds. It’s a basic song, but I think that’s also why it resonates. It’s very direct in its delivery. There are no gimmicks.

When the song came out in 2003, the iPod was new and Apple wanted to use the song as part of their promotional campaign. The imagery for the advert looked a lot like our music video – I always wondered if it was related. The early 2000s were an exciting time. Before that, electronic music was all the rage. Suddenly, the kind of rock and roll we were making was hot: the old felt new in a way.

Twenty years later, “Will You Be My Girl” has stood the test of time. I remember listening to the song before we recorded it. We were flirting with producer Rick Rubin, who told us he’d heard it with Tom Petty. Tom said, “Oh my God, that’s something you don’t hear every day.” Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

Cameron Munsey, lead guitar, backing vocals

The whole garage rock scene was very egotistical. There wasn’t a big gap between the band and the audience. You’d go out and drink with the fans after the shows and have a good night because everyone was on the same wavelength.

I remember Nick bringing the song to rehearsal and saying, “I have a rhythmic idea. It’s like a hymn.” We built it piece by piece, starting with the tambourine, then the bass and the drums. Once you got that big melody going, you could just go. We’ve always had an overall sonic aesthetic: Kinks-like, harmonic guitars, nothing too heavy.

I don’t know how the iPod commercial happened, but our managers wanted to do everything they could to make the song a hit. We said, “This isn’t punk music, this is all for business.” But they convinced us, and history will probably vindicate them. There was a wave of acceptance, and once enough people heard it, it took on its own momentum.

Obviously Are You Gonna Be My Girl was a really good album for us. I feel like we – to some extent but not completely – avoided the traps of being a one-off hit band because our first album had other big songs. The fans of the band love the album, not just that one song.

People talk about how it’s like Lust for Life. It has that beat – but so does You Can’t Hurry Love and Town Called Malice. But I’m not bitter. You have to be able to handle that. As for the lyrics, they may not be deep lyric poetry, but they serve the beat. And if the song does that, that’s good. Lyrically, Are You Gonna Be My Girl is completely innocent. It’s more like I Want to Hold Your Hand than WAP.

Jet Tour of the UK From October 4 to 12