This article is part of Noisey's newest series 'Nice Song, What's It About?,' where they revisit old greats and go deep to get the stories behind them. To see the column's archive, click here.It starts with a cough. The sound of someone clearing their throat before tambourine, a rumbling bass line and a guitar riff, that yes, does sound an awful lot like Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life," kicks in.As far as bombastic and boisterous rock songs, it doesn't get much bigger than Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." With hooks, handclaps, and hokey lyrics about girls with big black boots and long brown hair, it distilled the style and swagger of 60s rock acts like The Who and The Rolling Stones into three-and-a-half minutes. It's a song that made a lot of people happy, a lot of people annoyed, and it made Jet superstars.Of course Jet wrote other songs over their career but "Are You Going to Be My Girl" is the track that put the Melbourne four-piece on the musical map and has since been played everywhere from bucks nights, football stadiums, video games, television commercials and recently again on stage as Jet reunited for a number of Australian dates opening for Bruce Springsteen.Recorded at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles with US producer Dave Sardy and released in October 2003, Jet's debut album Get Born went on to sell 3.5-million copies worldwide. Co written by guitarist Cameron Muncey and vocalist/guitarist Nic Cester, "Are You Going to Be My Girl" was the first single from the album, released in 2003 in Australia and the United Kingdom, and in 2004 in the United States.The song and accompanying black and white video, that featured the band performing with fringes, flares, and swaying silhouettes, came to represent Australia's contribution to the early 2000s rock resurgence lead by The White Stripes, The Strokes and The Hives. The song was also used as part of two major worldwide advertising campaigns, for Apple's iPod, iMac, and for Vodafone.We caught up with Nic Cester, who now lives in Como, Italy, to find out more about the band's signature song.Read the rest on Noisey.
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