When they weren't penning a string of hits in the 1980s, Jim Babjak and the Smithereens were writing for other artists and projects, but sometimes, those worlds collided.
When the band adopted A Girl Like You, which would become one of their biggest hits, Babjak knew his go-to Gibson SG didn't have the bite needed to make it work, and he bought the guitar used in its place without even playing it.
He tells Guitar World that the song was originally destined for the silver screen and Cameron Crowe’s teen comedy drama, Say Anything… “In fact, that's why Pat [DiNizio, The Smithereens' lead singer] sings, ‘I'll say anything’ at the end,” he reveals – but when it went unused, they brought it back home.
“Pat came up with the opening riff, but I helped him out on some of the chords,” Babjak details. “There's an F chord in there, but I don't know what it's called, and I do a sort of unorthodox thing with the E minor.”
It was a driving rock sound, perhaps a result of the band chasing the sonic recreation of teenage angst and lust in keeping with the film's spirit. While it wasn't far from the band's wheelhouse, it did pack a little more venom. The overdrive dials were cranked, with edge-of-breakup SG and Rickenbacker tones making way for something a little hairier.
“We were definitely going for a heavier sound, and I needed something even tougher than my SG,” the guitarist confesses. “I said, ‘I gotta get a Les Paul.’”
But his approach to E minor chords wasn’t the only unorthodox thing in the writing and recording process...
“I've never been one of those guys who will go into a guitar store and start playing Stairway to Heaven,” he expands. “I was always kind of embarrassed by that sort of thing.
“We were recording in California, so I went with one of our assistant engineers to a used-guitar shop by the studio. I pointed to a Les Paul and said, ‘Can you plug that in to see what it sounds like?’ He did, and I said, ‘Okay, I'll take that one.’”
They’re words that might send shivers down a gear snob's spine, but though he never placed his hands on the electric guitar until after he’d paid for it – finally digging into the axe while in the studio – his ignorance proved bliss.
“It was a 1975 Les Paul,” Babjak continues. “I put it through my Marshall, and it sounded great. I still have it – I don't want to give it up.”
Released as the lead single from their third album, 11, it peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and was the first time the band broke the top 40 of the Hot 100.
The story goes that the song was cut from the film because its lyrics were too revealing of its plot – its producers wanted something a little more subtle. So, the hard-hitting track ended up becoming a Smithereens staple. Safe to say it was quite the twist of fate!
The guitar store incident isn't the only time one of Babjak's close collaborators has come to his aid. One of his guitar techs once tried to introduce him to his guitar idol, Pete Townshend, but he was too scared to meet his hero.
Babjak's full interview features in the June 2025 issue of Guitar World. Copies can be ordered from Magazines Direct.
