‘BIOLOGY' WAS ONE OF THE MOST EXPERIMENTAL SINGLES OF RECENT YEARS
Perfect chemistry
They may be part of a pop production line revolutionised by a sinister, high-waisted media mogal but Girls Aloud are making the best music around bar none says Doug Johnstone.
here's a lot of snobbery about 'iiiantilactiired' pop music. especially from cooler-than-thou music journalists. Well. they‘re all dickheads and (iirls .»\lotid are one ol~ the best bands in Britain at the moment.
Not one ol- the best girl bands. or pop hands. but one oi
the best bands. l'ull stop.
.v\|ong with Stigababes. (iirls .-\loud haye transformed pop music in the [K oyer the last few years. The way was payed. ol’ course. by the Spice (iii'ls way back when. but both (iil‘ls Aloud and Sugababes probably take more inspiration from the classic girl bands ol' the (ills Motown era than they do from Posh. Scary et al.
:\nd TUI' any" readers scol'l'ing at such a comparison. take a closer look. What we now consider the classic Motown sound ol’ the Supremes. The Ronettes and Martha and the Vaiidellas was. of course. considered to be disposable pop at the time. written by a production team illolland- Dwier-llollandl. turned out at an incredible rate and with ama/ingly consistent quality. and impeccably deliyered by beautiful women who could sing. dance and perl‘orni like stints.
Sound t‘aiiiiliar'.’ independent production team .\'eiioinania are responsible for all of (‘iirls .-\loud‘s hit singles. as well as notchiiig up successes with Sugababes. Kylie and a host of other quality pop acts. And it's not formulaic pop dross. either — the girls‘ ‘Biology' was one ol‘ the most innoy'atiye and experimentally arranged singles ol‘ recent years (seriously. ask any songwriter — it‘s nuts). lilsewhere. their third album. Clit’llllfll’)‘. l'eatures eyei'y'thing t‘rom t‘till-on rock to hard-edged electro. all ot‘ it thoroughly joyous. thanks at least in pan to .\'enomania‘s inspirational production and songwriting.
60 THE LIST :5 MA —8 chine .‘t‘tc‘it‘
.-\nd ol' course we know (iirls .-\loud can sing ('hrist. we saw them do it eyery week on teley ision in 3002‘s I’m/i Stars: The li’i'i'ii/s. And by (iod their sticccssliil a do/cn consecutiye Top Ten singles. three intilti-platintiin albums and now a tour playing at their biggest \eniies yet.
'We‘ye done loads of promotional sllliT recently. which is pretty boring. so it‘s good to be going on tour to haye a blow oiit.' says Nadine (‘oer. the Irish member ol‘ the band. '.ltist to be able to sing and dance. mess about and meet all the people who actually want to see its will be great.‘
(‘oy'le doesn't giy'e much away in interyiew. hardly surprising considering the shit her and the rest oi the girls get ti‘om the tabloids in this country.
‘l'm sure it you thought about the tabloids and got y'oursell‘ all worked tip. it would di‘iye you insane.‘ she says cheerily'. ‘but it you just go with it and don‘t really think about it too much. its line.‘
So what‘s the secret to (iii‘ls Aloud's success‘.’ There haye been plenty of pop acts constructed either on reality teleyision or behind the scenes by twats like Simon (‘owelL but most ot' whom haye quickly tallen by the wayside. ('oyle coiit'esses to not knowing what makes (iirls .-\loud dit’t‘ereni.
‘l jiist think we‘ye been really lucky.‘ she says. ‘With each other for a start. the lad that we all get on and don't want to kill each other. Plus w‘e‘ye been really lucky with the record company and the songs that we'ye been giyen. Plus we base been working our asses ol'l~ as w ell.'
SECC, Glasgow, Sun 28 May.
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