Is She Really Going Out With Him?

It's difficult to pinpoint the most important line in pop music, but we all have our favorites. For me, it's a line that has traveled through music for four and a half decades. Starting with legendary girl-group The Shangri-Las in 1964, the line "Is she really going with him?" starts off the ultimate teenage death song, "Leader of the Pack". In this instance, the line is a reference to the girls asking Betty if she's really wearing Jimmy's ring. And guess what? It turns she is and bikers hang out in candy stores. Over time the line has made it's way to the beginnings of punk rock, far from its girl group origins, with the Damned on the song "New Rose," a song that goes in the opposite direction of undying love and takes it towards getting out of there before things get too serious, and with The Boomtown Rats writing the happiest song about Hitler ever (unless you count Prussian Blue). Then we have Joe Jackson. 'Nuff said there. Oh, and now we have have MTV to thank for a new show that borrows the line for its title and finally drives its greatness right off the cliff. Poor Jimmy.

The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack

Damned - New Rose

Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him?

The Boomtown Rats - (I Never Loved) Eva Braun