Stems – She’s Fine ….Powerpop Friday

The Stems have a great overall sound and it’s too bad their popularity is mostly in Australia. They range from dirty garage rock to power pop tracks like this. The amazing part to me is they pumped out these songs in the 1980s when this music was not high on charts. 

This song didn’t show up until the 2003 compilation album (Mushroom Soup: The Citadel Years)… a collection of all the band’s singles, songs from their debut EP, Love Will Grow – Rosebud Volume 1, and previously unreleased demos and alternative song versions. I can’t find out much about this song but it seems to be an outtake from the 80s. 

The Stems were a garage punk band formed in Perth, Western Australia in late 1983. They were hugely popular in Australia. The band broke up in 1987 and reunited in 2003 and are still together. They still have three of the original members. Dom Mariani, Julian Matthews, and David Shaw.

The band broke up in 1987 but reunited in 2003 and when this album was released. They went on until 2009 and broke up and reformed in 2013 and are still together. 

They are very popular to this day in Australia. Their debut single “She’s a Monster/Make you Mine” reached the top of the independent charts and also sold 500 copies in England. The single was to be the 2nd highest selling independent single for Australia in 1985, second only to the Hoodoo Gurus.

Leader Dom Mariani’s earliest influences included The Beatles, The Raspberries, Badfinger, and Big Star…and it shows. 

She’s Fine

She’s good and she got soul
She’s in trouble
And she don’t show
Profile on her head
’cause she’s not blue and she’ll never be red
She’s fine
She’s so fine
She’s fine
She’s so fine
She’s fine
She’s so fine to me

She’s good and she got soul
She’s downtown in the traffic flow
And my girl don’t you slow
She’s got a heart and a head that’s so
She’s fine
She’s so fine
She’s fine
She’s so fine
She’s fine
She’s so fine to me

She’s fine
She’s so fine
She’s fine
She’s so fine
She’s fine
She’s so fine to me

Such a good thing
To do
To do

While governments gain
All money can buy
Trash means cash
In any country
But I just want
To be with you
Our flesh feels fresh
And that`s the beauty

It`s a good thing
Such a good thing
We do
We do

It`s a good thing
Such a good thing
We do

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

25 thoughts on “Stems – She’s Fine ….Powerpop Friday”

  3. Pretty good tune, very retro sounding (and like Deke says, a bit like Canada’s Sloan too). I’d heard of them, but I think only because someone – probably Obbverse – mentioned them before. They didn’t hit the radar on Cdn. alt radio back then, which might be a shame.

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  4. Thanks for the post about an Australian band I never knew about.
    Have you heard the songs from Jeff’s latest article on the ‘Art Block’ EP? They are stupendous.
    I hope Bayley, his girlfriend and your family are in good spirits and health.

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  7. Nice tune, Max. I also like their debut single you called out – the Stems have cool sound! I also dig another tune I’m currently listening to: “At First Sight”, which like “She’s Fine” is more power pop than garage rock. “At First Sight” by far is their most streamed tune on Spotify – not that this matters, but I became curious when I saw that.

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    1. Thanks Christian! I’m glad you like them. Yea this is the 3rd song I’ve posted of them…I’m probably a fan now lol. I do like them and wish I would have heard them in the 80s. Their style hits all around.
      I’m posting a real garage band Sunday that came from New Jersey I believe.

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