Boys Like Girls – Boys Like Girls • Page 2

You can't be serious...

 

completely agree. they opened for +44 the first time i saw them and it was just as memorable as travis barker playing with one hand.

in that same boat of more memorable opening acts is rozwell kid, without question. they overshadowed the very forgettable 'you blew it' set by a mile.

we need it back.

good read. thanks @Craig Manning

 

I used to travel miles to see this band if they were playing as an opener or headliner, but by now I haven't heard anything other than their s/t. Probably won't listen because now all the songs are rushing back to me and I'm realizing they're really not great

 

More catchy pop punk has come out in 4/6 of 2016 than in the last 5 years combined. Not sure what you guys are smoking.

 

Why not? Saying State Champs won't blow past BLG in relevance and popularity is kind of absurd.

 

Pop punk isn't mainstream like it was in 2006. For State Champs to get on BLG's level, I'm thinking pop punk as a whole would have to be brought back to prominence. I guess 5SOS did it, but they're pretty much a pop/boy band.

 

I agree with TFT87. Pop punk as we enjoy it doesn't make it to the public anymore. It's hard to find it other than through word of mouth, music sites, or festivals. At least MTV2 used to play some good videos to help people discover it and big tours had some roots in it like Honda Civic Tour.

 

I mean, I listened to the first State Champs record before it even came out and thought it was promising, but not great. I've probably revisited it a dozen times since then and I still can't recall what a single song on that album sounds like. I thought the second album was a step down and was boring and not at all creative. I also didn't think it was catchy. I don't like Pure Noise, but I thought their roster was pretty poor even before the JJR scandal.

I don't know if I've ever seen an opener that outshined the headliner for me, unless I went to a show specifically to see an opener. I've had better luck recently though. Around 2009/2010, I saw maybe three or four decent openers.

Thanks for reading, btw!

Happy to hear some recs. I agree it's been a better year for the genre than a lot of past years, but most of the catchiest pop punk records I've heard have come from older bands.

I think you're failing to recognize:

1) How big this band was back around 2009, and
2) How few bands from this scene have ever had that kind of crossover success, before or since.

Unless State Champs do a major stylistic shift in a much poppier direction, they will never get on the radio, have a gold record, or get the kind of collaborative opportunities Boys Like Girls had. It is not absurd to make this claim: it is logical.

In 2009, I could walk around and talk to people who didn't care about music at all and they knew who Boys Like Girls were. This band was the act my university chose to bring to campus in the fall that year and it sold out a massive Broadway-sized auditorium. State Champs are one of the bigger bands in the current pop punk wave, but they are still a niche band. There's just honestly no comparison.

 

You clearly have no idea how popular BLG were. They had multiple singles on the radio. State Champs will never crack the radio.

 

I'd love to have this band back.

 

I've finally decided the type of music you like, Craig, and that is extremely earnest music. Like, music that is unabashedly unafraid to be itself and embrace the genre it's in.

Love drunk was a dive into the pop realm, all those alt-country artists pull no punches. Just really great, earnest and honest music.

 

Not just singles on the radio, even. They had legit top 40 hits on that album. Like, "The Great Escape" went to number 8 on the Top 40 chart. They were a pretty huge band for a few years there.

Haha, this is absolutely true, and I like the way you put it. Earnestness is definitely not seen as "fashionable" or "cool" by a lot of listeners or publications, but it's definitely what gets me.

 

This record is a stupid good pop rock listen, so so catchy

 

They won't sell, combined in their entire career, the amount of albums BLG sold with their debut. So, yeah ... there's no way. Also, after your disgusting transphobia in the other thread, and now this Pure Noise shit, I'm done given you warnings.

 

This record earned its spot in my desert island albums based off of its hooks alone. I agree with a lot of the points raised here. That being said... I think Love Drunk is an absolute train wreck. Also, I feel TWY (since they were brought up as a band that doesn't write massive hooks) doesn't really try to write songs like that and their style really works for them. Soupy's voice isn't necessarily made for it. But we do need a Martin Johnson type back in the scene.

 

Won't lie, I had no idea until just now that this album sold so much. Over here in the UK it wasn't quite the same. But my main thought was that State Champs have gotten into the 5SOS market, which will only expand if they continue down a poppier route.

But as I said, I didn't realise how much this sold to be honest.

 

TWY were the band I was thinking of on that list that I was thinking of when I said they don't really try to write hooks. I think that's to their detriment, to be honest. There are a decent number of good hooks on TGG, and that's probably why it's stuck with people longer than NCTH, which was kind of lacking in that department. I'm not necessarily saying they should (or could) go full "pop," but I would appreciate melody being more of a focus.

I kind of feel like 5SOS have already started to fade over here. I could be wrong about that, but their second album seemed to land a lot more softly than their first. I think if State Champs are going to get to stardom (which I don't expect will happen), they are going to have to get there with something other than 5SOS's coattails to ride.

 

TWY are my absolute favourite band, so I'm obviously biased, but I would disagree that it has been to their detriment (at least artistically, it has definitely been a detriment in terms of popularity). That being said, I would be totally cool with a more pop-focused version of the band on a future record! They do seem to have hit capacity with their current sound, even with the darker tinged stuff on NCTH.

 

I meant for me personally and for their popularity, not necessarily for their loyal following. It's weird: I either want them to completely go for unorthodox song structures like they did with "Cigarettes and Saints," and do a very narrative-based record, or I want them to bring the hooks and anthems.

 

Hey, I'm down for both of those ideas too! We can hope they'll make some artistic leap on their next record. And yeah I got what you were saying with your earlier post, just clarifying my thoughts. Back to BLG, though - thanks for the review of this record, it's cool to see it still having an effect years later.

 

A narrative based album with a mix of both would be ideal. If they put two or three straight up anthems in and played around with the remaining 7-10 songs I would be super happy.

I always felt like Suburbia was an attempt at doing a more "complete" album, and it's by far my favourite thing that they've done.

 

I know a couple people already touched on this, but that's not really a fair comparison. BLG's *first* album was on a major label, they were on MTV, had radio play, etc., whereas that's virtually nonexistent for pop-punk bands right now. State Champs had to work their way up on a label with limited reach. MTV and MTV2 also still played some pop punk and power pop in 2009.

I agree State Champs can't touch BLG's catchiest songs, but that's not why they're less popular than them. If that were a logical argument, why did so many of the catchy Myspace neon pop bands (like Big Time Crush and Boys Will Be Boys) never get big? Even some of the artists Martin co-writes with--Betty Who, for example--have a modest following and can only make the low spots on Billboard.

 

I think they've always had elements of that. And the Aaron West album is a narrative. I just think if they went for an actual "rock opera" approach, they could do it pretty well. I'm sure not most people would agree with me on that, but I'd be interested.

Oh, they absolutely had an advantage. There's a decent bit of luck involved in the reach that bands get, and BLG ended up getting the right push and being in the right place at the right time. Still, I'd argue that with the same push at the same time, State Champs (and most other pop punk bands) would not have had the same effect, because they didn't/don't have the same crossover potential. On the other hand, with the right push, I think Betty Who could be a household name, and Martin's hooks would be a big reason for that.

 

BLG had pop co-writers on every album and played a different style. I don't doubt Martin's songwriting abilities, but I'm sure those experiences helped him learn a lot. State Champs would have better songs if they tried to sound closer to power pop / pop rock and had that kind of outside help.

Also, keep in mind their self titled was hardly considered groundbreaking at the time.
Boys Like Girls - Boys Like Girls | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic
This review is a good example:
"But unlike similarly styled bands, Boys Like Girls are largely lacking much of anything that could either separate them from the pack or, at the very least, give them more substance to appeal to more than just the teenaged girls who will be singing along enthusiastically at shows while secretly pining for the shaggy-haired, boyish clan."

I thought the album was solid and sold enough copies to be considered a staple in the genre, but that didn't make it any less derivative.

I agree about Betty Who, though. I think the problem with her reception has been people viewing her as a dollar store version of Katy Perry, even though only most of her songs don't sound like that.

 

Revisited this album today and decided to read this retrospective. Going through these comments and laughing at the argument where someone thought State Champs had any chance of ever being as big or bigger than Boys Like Girls. @Jason Tate, you think there's still time for me to be proven wrong?