| "Girls & Boys" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byBlur | ||||
| from the albumParklife | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | 7 March 1994 (1994-03-07) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | ||||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Stephen Street | |||
| Blur singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Girls & Boys" onYouTube | ||||
| Audio sample | ||||
"Girls & Boys" is a song by the Englishrock bandBlur, released in March 1994 byParlophone andFood Records as thelead single from the group's third studio album,Parklife (1994). The frontman of Blur,Damon Albarn, wrote the song's lyrics with bandmembersGraham Coxon,Alex James andDave Rowntree, whileStephen Street produced it.
Charting at number five on theUK Singles Chart, "Girls & Boys" was Blur's first top-five hit and their most successful single until "Country House" reached number one the following year.[7] In the United States, the track reached number 59 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart and number four on theBillboardModern Rock Tracks chart, becoming their highest charting song in the US.Kevin Godley directed its accompanying music video, depicting the band performing among documentary footage of people onClub 18-30 package holidays. "Girls & Boys" was named single of the year byNME andMelody Maker and was nominated for best song at theMTV Europe Music Awards.[8][9][10]
"Girls & Boys"? Four notes. And the chorus is "Boys, Girls, Love". That's quite a universal message, isn't it?
Damon Albarn was inspired to write the song while on holiday inMagaluf,Spain, with then-girlfriendJustine Frischmann, lead singer ofElastica. According to Albarn, the city had "really tackyEssexnightclubs" and a rampant sexual scene among visitors, with "All these blokes and all these girls meeting at the watering hole and then just copulating. There's no morality involved, I'm not saying it should or shouldn't happen." The music has a convergence of various pop and dance styles, summed up by bassistAlex James as "Disco drums, nasty guitars andDuran Duran bass."[11] DrummerDave Rowntree admitted that he is not playing on the track, being replaced by adrum machine he programmed. He said it was his favourite song onBlur: The Best Of (2000) because he "isn't really in it. It's cool not being in your own song."[12] The vocals were recorded with a demo featuring only the keyboards.[13] This song is written in the key ofG minor.[14]
ProducerStephen Street felt that while "Girls & Boys" was not like Blur's previous songs, "I thought it would be Top 5 – it was so downright basic. I felt the way I had when I producedthe Smiths: that as long asMorrissey was singing on it, it would be the Smiths. It was the same with Blur: they could put their hands to anything, and it would still sound like Blur."[15] The song indeed reached number five on theUK Singles Chart, Blur's first foray into the top 5. Despite the band having big expectations for the single, guitaristGraham Coxon said "going top five was a bit of a shocker", and Albarn confessed to having his firstpanic attack shortly after the single entered the charts.[11]
AllMusic editorStephen Thomas Erlewine described "Girls & Boys" as "undeniably catchy" and "one of the best (songs) Blur ever recorded", praising the band for making the song "feelexactly likeEurotrash", and stating that the chorus was "an absolutely devastating put-down of '90s gender-bending, where evenambi-sexuals didn't know whose fantasy they were fulfilling."[16]Larry Flick fromBillboard magazine wrote, "Alternative band takes a detour into clubland with an amusing, word-twisting ditty fleshed out with atrance-like synth energy and a hard, syncopated beat, courtesy of thePet Shop Boys. Way-hip single's primary selling point is the brain-numbing refrain "girls who want boys who like boys to be girls who do boys like they're girls who do girls like they're boys." Try saying that three times fast. A good bet for dancefloor action, track should also get a crack at pop/crossover radio."[17]
Troy J. Augusto fromCash Box felt that "this track will light up dance floors first, withtop-40 and even some experimentalurban radio stations close behind. Not what we've come to expect from this quirky guitar-pop combo, which is part of the appeal here. And don't be surprised ifRuPaul records a cover of this tasty gem."[18] Chuck Campbell fromKnoxville News Sentinel wrote in his review ofParklife, "That great song, 'Girls & Boys', is a twisting, slapping, lusty and instantly satisfyingneo-disco track featuring Graham Coxon's teasing guitar and Damon Albarn's endearing vocals." He added, "Those who allowParklife to continue playing after the conclusion of 'Girls & Boys' will be disappointed initially, because nothing else on the album is so acutely infectious."[19] Steve Hochman fromLos Angeles Times praised it as a "delightfully sly single".[20]
Jennifer Nine fromMelody Maker said, "The one reprised here is the simultaneously fey and yobbish, clever and incredibly ugly sounds ofRoxy Music/XTC/Gary Numan/anything with keyboards worked up to sound deliberately mechanical and ironic and unpleasant."[21] A reviewer fromMusic & Media viewed it as a "comical pastiche on '80s 'new romantics'."[22] Martin Aston fromMusic Week gave it a score of four out of five, complimenting it as "an irresistibly feisty pop bite and, as such, a probable Top 10 hit."[23] John Kilgo fromThe Network Forty described it as an "outstanding, infectious" tune.[24] Ian McCann fromNME named it I'm as Surprised as You are, Sheer Chutzpah Single of the Week, adding, "The tongue lolling, deliberately camp-yobbish, mindless delivery and drooling lyrics defy categorisation. The rinky-disco beat is whereSparks meetGiorgio Moroder in hisSon of My Father era, the phased guitar adds a rock noise to the mess, and that chorus! Surrender now, it will beat you in the end."[25] Paul Evans fromRolling Stone felt it's "echoing '80ssynth pop".[26]
Miranda Sawyer fromSelect said, "This is a really ace record. [...] A record that makes you laugh and think of mirror balls is a work of genius in anyone's book. Fan-ruddy-tastic."[27]Sylvia Patterson fromSmash Hits also gave it four out of five, writing, "An organ-grinder of synth pings and guitar perks which sounds just like Elastica (whose singer Damon snogs). It is the sound of Now! (ie 1982) which was a good sound so that's all right. Sort of."[28] AnotherSmash Hits editor, Mark Sutherland, named it a "mad disco romp".[29] Rob Sheffield fromSpin described the song as "a scrumptiously sleekDuran-gänger, sounding exactly like the Fab Five circa 'Planet Earth' and 'Hungry Like the Wolf'." He added, "Over aEurodisco bass line, vocalist Damon Albarn croons about a beach full of teenagers stewing in their own auto-erotic juices: "Nothing is wasted / Only reproduced / You get nasty blisters / Du bist sehr schön, but we haven't been introduced"."[30] James Hunter fromVibe called it a "brilliant turn onnew wave disco that boasts the year's best bent guitars. They bounce all this into a great English, um, blur."[31]
The music video for "Girls & Boys" was directed by English singer, songwriter, musician and music video directorKevin Godley and produced by James Chads for Medialab.[32] It was released on 7 March 1994 and features Blur performing intercut with increasingly surreal images.[32] In the video, the band performs in front of abluescreen backdrop of documentary footage of people onClub 18-30 package holidays. Godley branded the video as "Page 3 rubbish", while Blur found it "perfect". The front cover of the single was taken from a pack ofDurex condoms.[11] The video was later made available onYouTube in 2009, and restored in a 4K version in March 2023 as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of theParklife album, having generated more than 65 million views as of November 2025.[33]
The song is included on two compilations albums:Blur: The Best Of (2000)[34] andMidlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur (2009). In 2003,Radiohead frontmanThom Yorke confessed onBBC Radio 1 that he wished he had written the song, jokingly calling Blur "bastards" for writing it first.[35][36] In 2004,Q magazine featured the song in their list of "The 1010 Songs You Must Own".[37] In 2010,Pitchfork included the song at number 26 on their "Top 200 Tracks of the 90s".[38] In 2017,Stopera and Galindo fromBuzzFeed remarked the song was "a great reminder of just how brilliant Blur was throughout the '90s."[39]
Pet Shop Boys, who provided a remix of the track for the single release, later covered the song during their Discovery tour in 1994. Their remix was also included on the Japanese version of theParklife album. "Blurred" byPianoman features the chorus (sampled from the Pet Shop Boys 12-inch remix) as its key lyric. The single peaked at number six on theUK Singles Chart in 1996. The song was covered by French singerMélanie Pain on her 2009 albumMy Name. Americanalternative rock bandthe Get Up Kids performed a version of the song in July 2011 forThe A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover series.[40]
All music was composed byAlbarn,Coxon,James andRowntree. All lyrics were written by Albarn with the exception of "Maggie May", written byRod Stewart andMartin Quittenton.
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Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[78] | Gold | 15,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[79] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[80] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 7 March 1994 |
| [81] | |
| Australia | 18 April 1994 |
| [82] | |
| Japan | 11 May 1994 | Mini-CD |
| [83] |
| Australia | 23 May 1994 | Remix CD |
| [84] |
| "Girls & Boys" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byVandalism | ||||
| Released | 4 January 2005 | |||
| Label | Vicious Vinyl | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Vandalism singles chronology | ||||
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"Boys & Girls" was covered by Australian dance bandVandalism and released as a single in 2005.
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[85] | 80 |
| Australia Club Tracks (ARIA)[85] | 8 |
| Australia Dance (ARIA)[85] | 11 |
| Country | Release date | Format | Label | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 4 January 2005 | CD single, download | Vicious | VG12029CD |
The nu-disco lead single from Blur's Parklife, "Girls & Boys" might have been a sonic outlier...
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