Former members include Brooke Challinor (2006-10).
The best pop music happens during the worst of times. The upside to a depressing recession, global conflict and five year-olds mugging you for your mobile, is the return of music that’s bright (in both senses of the word), brash, slightly deranged but irresistibly catchy. We believe the big papers are calling it ‘wonky pop’. The Dolly Rockers themselves would probably call what they do ‘drunk disco’, but we’re not sure that’ll catch on.
Three girls who are as likely to snog you as happy-slap you, Dolly Rockers belong to the generation who want pop back on their own terms. A generation who make no distinction between Spice Girls ‘Wannabe’ and Blur’s ‘Girls & Boys’; both classic and defining pop records that, in their own way, said everything to you about your life, but with a tune you could sing when you got pissed with your mates.
Sophie (20 years old, northern, tiny): “We don’t feel we have much in common with manufactured girl bands. Pop music to us is Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, Mark Ronson…”
Lucie (20 years old, southern, insomniac): “I loved Blur and Pulp when I was younger. At the time it was called ‘indie’, but it really was just pop music.”
Brooke (20 years old, northern, lairy): “The Spice Girls were great too. I hate bands that are just clones or puppets, who do what they’re told. I like bands that are outspoken.”
Musically, Dolly Rockers pilfer from the past with glorious, post-mashup, pre-clubbing anthems with enormous, instantly hooking choruses (and a healthy amount of amazing, whizzing electro noises.) Lyrically, Dolly Rockers take on ‘orange girls’, the z-listers and the WAGs, on songs littered with chips, energy drinks and the frustrations of living at home. All topped off with a very knowing take on pop music from the last 30 years – Human League to Funboy Three, Depeche Mode to Propaganda, Spice Girls to Shampoo; Dolly Rockers are the perfect distillation of intelligence and fun for this gloom-laden world. A modern-day Bananarama when they were scruffy drunks, giggling on Saturday morning kids TV and not giving a fuck… before they became a gay cabaret affair.
The band have no time for fillers or soppy ballads. ‘Je Suis Une Dolly’ is their in-yer-face, tongue-in-cheek theme tune (though we’re not sure whose cheek). ‘Gold Digger’ is an inspired collision of Kid Creole and Tom Tom Club with a vicious lyric about the kind of girl who’s all “refurb tits and turned up nose”. ‘How Did I End Up With You’ tackles domestic abuse and falling for married men. And ‘North Vs South’ is a roaring celebration of the Midlands (no really), updating the Britpop blueprint with a song that sounds like Alex Turner’s kid sisters.
There’s no room for the fake American accents that other girlbands sing in. The Dolly Rockers are a celebration of Britishness in all its regional glory; blunt, honest and bullshit-free…
Sophie: “I went to of one of the roughest schools in Leeds. I knew if I stayed I’d just be hanging round the same places with the same people for the rest of my life.”
Lucie: “I went to a posh boarding school but was expelled when I was 14 because I passed out in assembly. It was from the night before so technically I wasn’t drunk at school. But I didn’t want to become a snob so it’s a good thing they kicked me out.”
Brooke: “You see, we’re only young so we’ve not got any heartbreak stories to tell you, we’ve just got stories about nights out in pubs.”
Lucie: “And we sing in our own accents because we’re singing about our own lives. Our songs aren’t about love, more about snogging. We write songs about the things that happen to us and the things we talk about.”
But isn’t it inevitable that when Dolly Rockers become successful, they’ll all end up in gossip mags with footballer boyfriends and cosmetic surgery?
Brooke: “We hate glamour models. It’s unnecessary and makes girls look cheap. No footballers! That’ll be a t-shirt slogan for Dolly Rockers.”
Sophie: “Listen to our songs. ‘Champagne Shirley’ is about girls like Jodie Marsh: “She thinks she’s fit with her new fake tits & her liposuction / She hires limousines making massive scenes just to go the pub in”.
Lucie: “I don’t like boobs. I think girls look nicer when they have no boobs. And nowadays, you can be famous for falling out of Chinawhite, drunk. We don’t want to be celebrities, it’s meaningless. But maybe it’s changing. Maybe people who actually do something can be stars again.”
The Dolly Rockers aren’t some media-trained, goodie-goodie, won’t-put-a-foot-wrong bunch of stage-school starlets sitting on the conveyor belt of processed pop. There’s no Disney-schmaltz or slick svengali at work here. Dolly Rockers are reality writ large and unashamed, telling it like it is and ready to fight for their right to be heard. They’ve come to kick the world of pop, glamour and celebrity firmly where it hurts and then gleefully jump up and down on it in cheap stilletos. Forget Gucci and Chanel, this is Primark pop and council chaos… as they sing on ‘Champagne Shirley’:
“She comes from Hull but she talks like the queen / She wears haute couture, what the fuck does that mean ?!...
She says she works in Selfridges, head of the clothes department / but we’ve seen her on the tills in Home & Bargain”
The Dolly Rockers aren’t doing things in a conventional manner – currently in the midst of a tour of shopping malls, they’ll soon be playing Butlins before touring schools (God help us!), gay clubs and meat-markets. But alongside that they’ll be putting on shows in the likes of Hoxton Bar and Grill and titillating the cool crowd with their knowing, hard-edged club-aware pop music. The Doll Revolution starts here!
In summer 2008, they created a DIY video for "Je Suis Une Dolly", which some think was an inspiration for a mobile phone company's advertising campaign, a couple of months later.
Site: Discogs, MusicBrainz, Wikipedia, YouTube and http://theDollyRockers.com
Gold Digger
Dolly Rockers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Thinks she's got everything but she ain't got nothing
Well she was real plain, had no brain and had no dough
But now she can roll in it and watch her boobs grow
All the boys will pay whooa ooow
When she's out for prey if they're straight or gay
She wont end up alone
If looks could kill they probably will
Chorus
There's a brand new girl that's going round
Turning the boys upside down, Gold Digger
She's an only child that's been away,
Now she's back no-ones safe, Gold Digger
It's all very well if you kiss n tell to get ahead
Fit blokes don't count for much unless they got money
They pay for the glitz and the refurb tits
And turned up nose
Maxes their credit card and then it's heave ho
All the boys will pay Waoo-o-o
When she's out for prey if they're straight or gay
She wont end up alone
All the boys stand still Waoo-o-o
If looks could kill they probably will
Chorus
There's a brand new girl that's going round
Turning the boys upside down, Gold Digger
She's an only child that's been away,
Now she's back no-ones safe, Gold Digger
Stick on nails & plastic hair
Gucci bags and Prada shoes
Girl goes clubbing every night
Get a fright when light comes on
Dj... Gold Digger
Chorus
There's a brand new girl that's going round
Turning the boys upside down, Gold Digger
She's an only child that's been away,
Now she's back no-ones safe, Gold Digger
The Dolly Rockers' Gold Digger is a song that sarcastically celebrates a young woman who is using her looks and charm to manipulate and exploit wealthy men. The lyrics paint her as a gold digger who flaunts her sexuality, plastic surgery, and expensive accessories to attract wealthy men who pay for her lavish lifestyle. The line “Thinks she’s got everything but she ain’t got nothing” highlights the emptiness and desperation of her materialistic pursuits. Her “refurb” breasts and “turned up nose” symbolize her willingness to modify her physical appearance to fit into the stereotypical WAG (wives and girlfriends of famous athletes) mold.
The chorus emphasizes the power dynamic between the gold digger and the men she manipulates, with the boys “paying” for her attention and the possibility of a relationship. The use of “straight or gay” shows that the gold digger is willing to take advantage of any man who has money, regardless of sexual orientation. The line “If looks could kill they probably will” points to the danger of getting involved with the seductive and devious gold digger.
The bridge highlights some of the fake qualities of the gold digger, with her stick-on nails, plastic hair, and designer bags and shoes. The mention of how she “gets a fright when the light comes on” suggests that she’s not as perfect and glamorous as she appears, and that her lifestyle is built on a foundation of insecurity and superficiality.
Overall, the song portrays the damaging effects of materialism and the objectification of women, while simultaneously highlighting the seductive allure of youth and beauty.
Line by Line Meaning
So there is a WAG in every mag that you all know
There is always a WAG (wife and girlfriend of a footballer) that you can see on the magazines.
Thinks she's got everything but she ain't got nothing
The WAG thinks she has everything in her life, but in reality, she is missing a lot of things.
Well she was real plain, had no brain and had no dough
Before becoming a gold digger, she was a plain woman with no money or intelligence.
But now she can roll in it and watch her boobs grow
Now that she has a wealthy partner, she can spend money and focus on things like body augmentation.
All the boys will pay whooa ooow
All the men will spend money on her.
When she's out for prey if they're straight or gay
She doesn't discriminate, she will prey on men regardless of their sexual orientation.
She wont end up alone
She has a lot of men around her, so she won't be alone.
All the boys stand still Whooa ooow
The men are mesmerized by her beauty and status.
If looks could kill they probably will
If she could physically harm the men, she probably would.
There's a brand new girl that's going round
There is a new gold digger in town.
Turning the boys upside down, Gold Digger
She's making the men who fall for her go crazy, as they spend all their money on her.
She's an only child that's been away,
She was the only child in her family, and she was away from the scene for some time.
Now she's back no-ones safe, Gold Digger
Now that she's back, no man is safe from her gold digging tactics.
It's all very well if you kiss n tell to get ahead
It's common for women like her to use their sexuality to gain money and status.
Fit blokes don't count for much unless they got money
Being physically fit is not enough to impress her, she wants men who are wealthy.
They pay for the glitz and the refurb tits
They pay for her luxurious lifestyle and surgeries.
And turned up nose
She also pays for cosmetic procedures like a nose job.
Maxes their credit card and then it's heave ho
Once they max out their credit cards, she moves on to the next wealthy man.
Stick on nails & plastic hair
She uses fake nails and hair to enhance her beauty.
Gucci bags and Prada shoes
She spends money on high-end designer products.
Girl goes clubbing every night
She spends her nights at the club, looking for potential wealthy partners.
Get a fright when light comes on
She gets scared when the lights come on and reveal her true appearance.
Dj... Gold Digger
The DJ announces her arrival, calling her a gold digger.
Contributed by Aria W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
karen williams
Love this
Willow
Here in 2019, after re-watching Waterloo Road
Charlotte H
SAME
Tomas Joel Beramendi
The video for the song is not on Youtube anymore?
BadLactose
Is it possible that one of the random passersbys featured in the video sued?
Bananadiva1
@Tomas Joel Beramendi yeah probably. It's a bit stupid of Parlophone to remove the video but leave the song on here. Also the video for Je Suis Une Dolly is still on here.
Tomas Joel Beramendi
@Bananadiva1 probably legal reasons :c
Bananadiva1
I tried to upload it again twice and it was removed. Would love to know why. It's a great video.
ツGemma
@duranduran97 its a mystery lol ;D haahaaaaa<3.