Just a Girl

Number 38, we have our second new entry of the week.

This is No Doubt with a song called Just a Girl.

Let's have a clip.

Juliet punches the air, so I suspect she has much to say about this.

You just heard Just a Girl by No Doubt, new entry at number 38 this week.

And it's a debut on the charts for No Doubt, who are a pop-slash-rock-slash-scar-slash-punk band from Anaheim in California, formed in 1986, so they go back a long way at this point.

They consist, at this moment in time, of the frontwoman Gwen Stefani, her older brother Eric Stefani on keys, Tom Dumont on guitar, Tony Canale on bass, and Adrian Young on drums.

just a girl is the lead single from technically their third studio album called tragic kingdom their first self-titled album had done pretty well in the states back in 1992 and then something called the beacon street collection had come out early in 1995 and that had been self-recorded after the band's label had effectively blocked them from making a formal second record um Gwen Stefani and the bassist Tony Cannell had been in a relationship from very early on in the band's career up to 1994 when their split basically very nearly broke the group up as well.

616-451-0105.

When you look back at growing up, who was the woman that you just admired their beauty, wanted to be like them, or even admired them as a woman? Gwen Stefani, for me, was because she was flipping off men at her concert singing Just a Girl.

See, it started for me at a very young age.

I

She'd been in an all-guy band, and apparently Dad gave the boys freedom, while Gwen got the call-me-when-you-get-there treatment.

So she wrote Just a Girl dripping with sarcasm.

Then MTV got ahold of it, and suddenly Gwen's bathroom scene, platinum hair, and red, white, and blue thrift store outfit were everywhere.

The song crashed into Clueless, Romy and Michele, and later Captain Marvel, and became the soundtrack for a generation discovering that sarcasm could sell 10 million albums.

Here is No Doubt.

This is called Just a Girl, vinyl on chrome.

Take this pink ribbon off my eyes I'm exposed and it's no big surprise Don't you think I know exactly where I stand? This world is forcing me to hold your hand 'Cause I'm just a girl But little do they know me Well, don't let me out of your sight Oh, I'm just a girl Already I'm 14 So don't let me have any rights Oh, I've had it up to here The moment that I step outside So many reasons for me to run and hide I can't do the little things I hold so dear 'Cause it's all those little things that I fear 'Cause I'm just a girl And I'd rather not be 'Cause they won't let me drive late at night Oh, I'm just a girl Guess I'm some kind of freak 'Cause they all sit and stare with their eyes Oh, I'm just a girl Take a good look at me Just your typical prototype Oh, I've had it up to here Oh, am I making myself clear? I'm just a girl I'm just a girl in the world That's all that you'll let me be Oh, I'm just a girl Living in captivity No ruler, phone makes me worry some Oh, I'm just a girl What's my destiny? What I've succumbed to is making me numb Oh, I'm just a girl Suck it up on the teeth What I've become is so burdensome Oh, I'm just a girl Lucky me Tweet or die, there's no comparison Oh, I've had it up to Oh, I've had it up to Oh, I've had it up to here

hereSo do you remember when MTV could take a British new wave band, throw a dreamy video on the screen, and suddenly America cared? That's what happened with the Psychedelic Furs and Love My Way.

Mm-hmm.

The, the famous song Just a Girl, what that's talking about.

You know, that was powerful, that man.

I, you know, I wonder how many, how many women saw that as a rallying call and were like, you know, fucking, yeah, you can be in a band and you can do this type of thing.

We'll say that.

It had hits on it like Just a Girl, Spiderwebs, and Don't Speak.

Hit number one on the Billboard albums chart.

Sold over 10 million copies in America.

One song.

Just A Girl.

Okay.

Yes.

Started out as the lead singer and songwriter for the band No Doubt.

They had hits Just a Girl, Don't Speak, It's My Life.

Now, that was a Talk Talk song.

She didn't write that.