Photo: Alie Krohn, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Boys Like Girls are a pop-punk/emo band who were first formed in 2005 in Boston, Massachusetts. After touring with several other high profile acts in the scene within months of their formation, their self-titled debut was released a year later. Despite being hyped up as the next big success of the emo genre (which was at the peak of its popularity at the time), the album’s success predictions were not replicated in its sales which were rather low and thus failed to reach the Billboard 200. However, after they continued to tour to promote the record, it did eventually enter the chart which was helped by the release of the single “The Great Escape.”
Three years later they released their second album Love Drunk which was much more successful, getting to number eight on the Billboard 200. Three years after this they released their third and so far final album Crazy World which saw the band depart from their previously established sound in favour of a more country direction which was met with a mixed reception. Although the band have never officially broken up and are technically still in existence, they have remained inactive and have yet to follow this album up.
Boys Like Girls are a somewhat overlooked band of the 2000’s emo scene and as a result have become somewhat forgotten about due to their inactivity. This is quite surprising, as the sound that they developed went beyond that of the largely teenage fan-based genre and into a more Adult Oriented Rock sound that one would have thought would have found them more success with a wider audience. So here at Classic Rock we will show our readers what their ten best songs are which may help to get them some more recognition, which they do deserve.
# 10 – The First Time
Kicking off our top ten Boys Like Girls songs list is this track from third album Crazy World that was one of the three songs to be included on the promotional Crazy World ep. At this point it is very evident that the band are going in a much more mainstream direction with this song having a very radio friendly appeal to it. It would best be described as country pop and has definite nods to that of their one time collaborator Taylor Swift. It is also rather reminiscent of latter day Bon Jovi.
# 9 – Life of the Party
Up next is another of the songs taken from Crazy World that was featured on the promotional ep. Like all of the other songs on the album it is very pop-oriented and anthemic. As the title would suggest, it is a very upbeat number that has a lot of feelgood summer vibes to it. With this in mind, it is somewhat surprising that despite being released as a single it completely failed to chart. It would seem that the band were maybe trying to reach out to a more mainstream audience with the sound on this album.
# 8 – Be Your Everything
This is a single taken from Crazy World. Again, it shows the band go in a more pop direction and is particularly more “middle of the road.” This track was also included on the Crazy World ep . This was the album’s lead single which upon its release reached number eighteen on the Billboard Hot Scales Singles Chart.
# 7 – Heart Heart Heartbreak
This song was written by vocalist Martin Johnson along with Sam Hollander and Dave Katz who both work with the production team S*A*M and Sluggo. It was the third single to be taken from Boys Like Girls second album Love Drunk and was released in 2010. It entered the Billboard Mainstream Top Forty at number thirty-six and peaked at number thirty-one after seven weeks.
# 6 – Two is Better Than One
This is another single taken from Love Drunk and features none other than Taylor Swift. Swift and Martin Johnson both wrote the song together and it was the second single to be taken from the album. There was a version recorded without Swift which was sent out on some promotional copies of the album. The track was a massive success and reached number eighteen on the Canadian Hot 100 as well as the Billboard Hot 100.
# 5 – She’s Got A Boyfriend Now
This is the second single to be taken from Love Drunk. The album was recorded in both New York and Vancouver reportedly because the band felt that such a move would lead to more inspiration. The album was the most successful for Boys Like Girls when, as stated in the introduction to this article, it reached number eight on the Billboard. It was the last album to feature bassist Bryan Donahue.
# 4 – Love Drunk
Next we have the lead single and title track from Boys Like Girls second album. To date it is their second highest charting single, peaking at number twenty-two on the Billboard 200. The band first posted it their Myspace page and released it on iTunes before sending it to commercial radio in 2009. Upon its release it had a mixed reception, with some critics enjoying for its upbeat sound but some critics pointed out that the songs’ chorus has quite a strong similarity to that of The Killers “Somebody Told Me” which is very easy to see.
# 3 – Thunder
This was the third and final single from the band’s self-titled debut album released in 2006. Two years before it was recorded for the album, it was originally written as an acoustic song. Upon its release it was a radio hit and they soon posted a radio remix of it on their myspace page. It was actually the first song that Boys Like Girls ever wrote and is about Martin Johnson’s high school sweetheart. Although it was not as commercially successful as the album’s previous two singles, it still got certified Gold.
# 2 – The Great Escape
This was the second single from the debut album and was the first to chart on the Billboard 200 where it reached number twenty-three. It has been certified platinum and gold by the RIAA. The song is a coming of age story about graduating from high school. The song has its own music video and has been used in a number of soundtracks for video games, movies and television shows.
# 1 – Hero/Heroine
At the top spot of our Girls Like Boys list we have the debut single from the debut album. It was something of a sleeper hit as it did not chart when given its original run on radio as well having a music video made for it. It was not until the success of “The Great Escape” that they decided to re-release it and produce a new video which premiered on MTV’s TRL show in 2007. It got certified gold in 2009 and has been used in a couple of movies and reality tv shows.
Boys Like Girls Songs Ranked article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021
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