I’ve almost written this song up on numerous occasions so I thought I would finish it because it’s been in my drafts for a while. Great power pop from this band.
The Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band combining elements of power pop, Beatleesque harmonies, psychedelia, and grungy garage rock. Guitarists Dave Faulkner, Rod Radalj, and Kimble Rendall were joined by drummer James Baker when the band formed in Sydney in 1981.
I Want You Back” was the final single to be released for the band’s debut album, Stoneage Romeos. The band’s debut Stoneage Romeos, full of garage punk songs and pop references, was named Australian Debut Album of the Year and was released in America where it stayed at number 1 in the Alternative / College charts for 7 weeks, becoming one of the most played albums for the year on the college network. Their next two albums also reached #1 on the Alternative College charts.
This song was played alongside The Replacements, R.E.M., and other alternative bands at the time throughout America. They were not well known to the masses here but in Australia they were huge. In 2007 were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame.
They have released 10 studio albums and the last one, Chariot of the Gods, was released last year in 2022.
I Want You Back
I can still recall the time
She said she was always mine
Then she left as people do
And forget what we’ve been through
It’s not that she’s gone away, yeah
It’s the things I hear that she has got to say
About me and about my friends
When we, we’ve got no defense
That’s her, I’ll never believe her again
She might have deceived all my friends
I know they will see in the end
What it all means when she says, yeah
(Ah, ah) I want you back
(Ah, ah) I want you back
I, I, I want you
She says (she says)
She says (she says)
She says (she says)
She says, yeah, yeah
But what’s worse, she thinks it’s true
But that’s just her, she always was a little bit confused, and
She’s not worth the time I had to lose
That’s her, I’ll never believe her again
She might have deceived my friends
I know they’ll see what it means when she says, yeah
(Ah, ah) I want you back
(Ah, ah) I want you back
I, I, I want you
She says (she says)
She says (she says)
She says (she says)
She says
She says (ah, ah)
She says (ah, ah)
I want you back
She says (ah, ah)
She says (ah, ah)
I want you and only you (ah, ah)
She says (she says)
She says (she says)
She says (she says)
She says
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
This is very easy to like. I don’t recall hearing it on the radio here, and I was listening to the university/alternative stations all the time.
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Great song, great band! I’ve been a fan since they first came out (high school Freshman in ’82) and FINALLY had the good fortune to see them live in San Francisco about a month ago. They’ve still got it!
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Oh cool…glad you got to see them live.
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This one I heard at the time in Nashville on the alternative channel I listened to…I guess it was a regional thing…yea it’s catchy right away.
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Video unavailable for me but that’s probably a Canadian issue. Can’t say I ever heard them.
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I hate when it does that… I’ll try once more and thanks for reading…
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That worked, hey that’s a great tune!
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a new song but not band to me. I heard several singles of theirs in the ’80s on CFNY and occasionally would see a video on MuchMusic, I liked all the ones by them that I did hear . “What’s my Scene” was the one which I remember the most. Another one of the groups who sounded good and given infinite time and money, I would have definitely tried to get to know better.
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Yea this is the one I always heard the most…must have been a regional thing. They do sound good and reallly commercial in a lot of ways.
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Very nice musical progression which keeps it fresh throughout but still holds on to the center. Neat video also. Surprised I never saw it on MTV.
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Nice pick, Max. I immediately recognized the name but couldn’t place the Hoodoo Gurus. So I did what I usually do in this situation: search my blog!
It turned out I included them in a three-part series about music from down under in Feb 2020. I picked another great tune, “Show Me Some Emotion,” off their 1995 sophomore album “Mars Needs Guitars!” Love the jangly guitar sound on that song, which is kind of a blend between the Byrds and R.E.M.
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Oh I like that one!
Yea man it’s such a likeable song right off the bat…both of them!
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I like this band a lot, and this is one of their most accessible tunes. I was reading Shayne Carter, of Straitjacket Fits, biography recently, and he was saying that he thought of this band as very establishment and boring, and went to their shows to boo at them.
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Good song Max. I’ve heard of The Hoodoo Gurus, but not this song.
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