Mike Skill shared:

What I Like About You’ was an idea that we developed as a band. I came up with the guitar part. We usually wrote songs using just three or four chords in a sparse, straight-ahead, MC5 way. I wanted a guitar hook that was along the lines of [Van Morrison/Them’s] ‘Gloria’ or [The Kingsmen’s] ‘Louie, Louie.’ I could always come up with something when Jimmy was playing the drums. We grew up together and started the group. Jimmy also sang the lead vocal on ‘What I Like About You.’

We wanted to convey the simplicity of ’50s music and also throw in the influence of The Animals, The Beatles and the Stones. We were one of the first bands [of the new wave era] — along with Tom Petty — to use Rickenbacker and Gretsch guitars over here. When we got signed, we switched to Hiwatt amplifiers, which have a sound that’s similar to Fenders.

After we developed the groove and I added the guitar intro, Jimmy came up with some lyrics. I wanted to add a few ‘Heys!’ along the lines of The MC5, and as The Yardbirds had done in ‘Over, Under, Sideways, Down.’ I also liked the way Chuck Berry used ‘Uh, huh!’ in ‘Back in the U.S.A.,’ so we threw that in there, as well.

Before we knew it, the album was out and ‘What I Like About You’ was a huge hit.