My Girls Aloud Top 10

Great Britain churns out girl groups the way Starbucks churns out cappuccinos. Whereas the popularity of girl groups in the U.S. seems to go through cycles and dips in popularity, The U.K. truly believes in the power of the Girl Group and this was especially true during the late 90s and 00s. The Spice Girls in a lot of ways kick started the modern era for British Girl Groups in the late 90s and they ended up conquering the world, if only for a brief period. In the immediate wake of The Spice Girls sudden breakout success many other girl groups came out such as B*Witched and All Saints, who also became huge in the U.K. and Ireland but only had minor success in the U.S.

By the early 00s the Spice Girls, while still huge in their homeland, had disappeared from the U.S. charts as had acts like All Saints & B*Witched. All we seemed to have by that point was Destiny's Child, but that wouldn't last for much longer once Beyonce went solo. Yet, over in the U.K. girl groups continued to thrive and dominate the British Charts and tabloids, but if you didn't live over there you probably had no idea who The Sugababes, Girls Aloud or The Saturdays were. I know I was oblivious to these acts as were all my peers in high school and college. Remember this was all before streaming and even YouTube since YouTube didn't really take off until 2006.

That all changed for me and some of my friends when we studied abroad in London in early 2007 during our Junior year of college. Of course, we hit the pubs while there, because we could legally drink at 20 and that's when I realized how much more popular the music video was in England compared to the U.S. Every pub we went to didn't just have a jukebox, it had a music video jukebox and music videos were played on every screen in every pub we attended unless a soccer game was on. Even in McDonalds and Pizza Hut they were playing music videos on multiple monitors! What we started noticing as we saw all these music videos was that the U.K. really had a thing for Girls Groups who were POP in all caps. This is how we first saw and heard the Sugababes and Girls Aloud. In fact, I remember at one gay club we went to we danced to the music video of Girls Aloud's cover for Jump on a dance floor that lite up different colors.

That said the girl group that caught all our attention more at the time was The Sugababes thanks to seeing their music videos for Round Round, Easy and especially Push the Button. I ended up buying the Sugababes greatest hits on CD and let me tell you there were some drunken dance parties held in the kitchen of our flat that were soundtracked by The Sugababes. I know someone, somewhere still has video footage of me at age 20 singing and dancing to the Sugababes while drunk. I know there is an old photo of me on Facebook of it as well. I'm wearing a blue shirt with a bird on the front.

Still it wouldn't be until years later that I finally got into Girls Aloud. I was going through a Spice Girls phase again and started listening to All Saints and the Sugababes again too and I started looking up countdowns of the best British girl groups. One countdown had Girls Aloud at # 2 just behind the Spice Girls and the music video they attached was for a song that hit #1 on the U.K. charts in 2008 (So one year after I had been in London.) I watched the music video and I fell in love with the song upon first listen, which was called The Promise. It was an homage to classic girl groups of the 60s and it had so many different hooks and melodies throughout. I loved the song and soon I started digging deeper into Girls Aloud.

I found a documentary about their entire career on YouTube and that's when I really learned everything about them. I learned that Girls Aloud was originally formed through a British Talent Show called Popstars: The Rivals. It was kind of like American Idol but with a slightly different hook, which was that girls and boys competed to be part of either a 5-person girl group or a 5-person boy band. Then once the 2 groups had their finalists the girl group and the boy band would compete against each other to see who was the group that audiences loved more. Another twist on the formula was that the final song was going be NEW and written for the groups specifically. Then after performing the songs live, the songs would be released on CD single to buy and they would compete for #1 on the U.K. singles chart for Christmas week. Now in the U.S. we might not realize just what a big deal it is to have the #1 Christmas single in the U.K. Every year it's a well-publicized race to reach # 1 on the U.K. singles chart during the holiday season and whoever gets there the week of Christmas gets their song played on Top of the Pops on Christmas Day, which everyone across the country watches. In the end Girls Aloud won the U.K. #1 single with Sound of the Underground and went on to huge fame for the rest of the decade while the boy band broke up shortly after the series ended.

Sound of the Underground was written and produced by Xenomania, which is mostly made up of Brian Higgins and Miranda Cooper. They had first struck success with Cher's Believe and they had also contributed Round Round for the Sugababes. Xenomania would write and produce half of the debut album for Girls Aloud and then they wrote and produced every single song Girls Aloud did after that. As I listened to more music by Girls Aloud and read more about Xenomania I became just as fascinated by Xenomania as I was with Girls Aloud. Listening to Girls Aloud'd music I could tell quickly how savvy and knowledgeable Xenomania were of pop music history. I could hear influences ranging from early 60s surf music, mid 60s Motown, late 70s Disco, 80s Alternative, 90s Electronica and more! Listening to Girls Aloud's music felt like being taken on a kaleidoscopic journey through 50 years of popular music where different genres and eras were mixed and matched in fresh new ways and hooks & melodies ruled the day. That's the other thing too, Girls Aloud songs are PACKED with hooks and melodies. You can tell that Xenomania makes sure all their songs are as catchy and as ear grabbing as humanly possible and they don't settle for less.

As a huge music nerd who is fascinated by the history of pop music from the 50s through now and is first and foremost a lover of western European melody, I was becoming a full-blown Girls Aloud addict really quickly in 2013. I was sharing their music with all my friends who had any interest in pop music whatsoever and it didn't take me long to convert them to Girls Aloud fandom. As I said in earlier posts I was not too enamored with a lot of the pop music of the 2000s except for Britney Spears and a few others. Girls Aloud was the group I had desperately needed in the 2000s to stay a committed pop addict, but as I said they never broke over here. Girls Aloud was giving British audiences the kind of pop music that really only Britney was giving the U.S. at the time. What's funny is how Girls Aloud's brand of slicked up Euro pop ended up eventually breaking here in the U.S. at the end of the decade thanks to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. The Fame and the Fame Monster especially owe a debt to Xenomania and the songs they had crafted for groups like Girls Aloud and The Sugababes during the '00s. It's no surprise either that it was around 2008/2009 that I started liking a lot more pop music again outside Britney Spears.

After a groundbreaking run of 20 consecutive top 10 hits on the British singles chart (with four of those songs going to #1) Girls Aloud quietly went on hiatus in 2009, which ended up becoming permanent once Cheryl Cole's solo career took off. Girls Aloud did reunite briefly in 2012 for a new Greatest Hits with some new songs, a documentary about the group (the one I watched on YouTube) and a farewell tour which was on YouTube as well. I ended up watching one of the concerts from that tour on YouTube and I loved it! Again, it was a POP spectacle in all caps. I pretty much devoured all their albums, music videos, live performances and interviews from that point forward.

For any readers hailing from The U.K. or Ireland this is probably all very familiar and well known, but for everyone else Girls Aloud remains one of pop music's best kept secrets. For anyone who loves pop that is unapologetic, commercial and very girly you are going to love this group. On top of that due to the top-notch songwriting and production by Xenomania you have songs that feel both familiar and cutting edge at the same time and they are all so catchy! This is some of the best pop music of the past 2 decades and after going through this countdown you'll probably hear why I rate these girls as one of the best female pop groups of all time. All my picks are singles and all of them were top 10 U.K. hits, with two of those singles hitting # 1. This countdown just scratches the surface of their catalogue, which is one of the strongest and most consistent bodies of work I have ever heard from a pop group. So, if you like the songs on this countdown please proceed to my Spotify playlist where you can truly get lost in the pop genius of Girls Aloud & Xenomania.

10. Love Machine

Love Machine was a song the girls didn't want to sing at all initially. They thought some of the lyrics were too goofy, but Xenomania insisted this was a smash hit and in their infinite wisdom Xenomania was right because this became a #2 U.K. hit. Love Machine has endured as one of the most beloved hits Girls Aloud ever had. What I love most about this song is the bouncy guitar/bass on the song, which Xenomania says was directly inspired by This Charming Man by the Smiths. The fact that a dance pop song was directly inspired by a Smiths’ song speaks volumes in my mind about the kind of knowledge and depth Xenomania has as songwriters and producers.

09. Something New

In the intro I spoke about I feel that Girls Aloud's music would inspire the next wave of American pop at the very end of the 00s with the emergence of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga in 2008. Yet, there's no denying that those stars became much more iconic and influential in the long run and you can hear their influence in Girls Aloud's 2012 reunion single Something New. Something New was one of four new tracks off the group's Greatest Hits and it became another smash when it hit #2, but it sounds VERY Lady Gaga to my ears. Bad Romance is obviously a big reference point throughout the song as it has very deep club beats strewn throughout and the way the verses and chorus melodies juxtapose each other feels very Gaga as well. This is a case where the teachers ended up becoming the students, but Xenomania have always been students of pop music history and Something New also proved they were also adept at keeping up with the times as well.

08. No Good Advice

Early Girls Aloud projected a slightly tougher image than the glamazons they became later. No Good Advice was the follow-up single to their #1 smash Sound of the Underground and solidified that Girls Aloud was a bit edgier than say The Spice Girls. This is a pop song through and through but one that is grounded by an electric guitar that gives the song a bit more grit than a lot of pop music. The lyrics also deal with the idea that these girls are charting their own course and not doing what authority figures tell them to do. I mean it's about as punk as Avril Lavigne in all honestly, but it does show why Girls Aloud did connect with a young audience of girls and gays in the U.K. Also, like all their singles, the main chorus hook will get stuck in your head.

07. Something Kinda Ooooh

The lyrics to this song are a bit goofy at times, but the production and melodies are absolutely phenomenal here. Xenomania may not have been the best lyricists, but they were the best at coming up unstoppable pop songs that beat you into submission due to how many hooks and melodies they keep throwing at you. One of the reasons I love this song as much as I do though, is due to Girls Aloud's performance of it in 2008 when they did a televised concert for a small audience. This performance is EVERYTHING! All 5 members of Girls Aloud are in peak form here. The way they dance, strut and belt their hearts out for almost 4 minutes to Something Kind Ooooh is the definition of fierce! Every time I watch this clip I too wish I could be part of a fabulous girl group like this lol! I've watched this performance countless times because it's honestly one of my favorite live pop performances of all time. This is pop music at its best. This performance gives me life!

06. The Loving Kind

Co-Written with Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys, The Loving Kind is a lovely dance pop ballad with wonderfully full production. This was one of the first songs to really grab after I started digging into Girls Aloud. I just love the melodies, production and overall vibe of this song quite a bit. Capital Cities I think liked it a lot too because their 2013 breakthrough smash Safe & Sound, feels very similar to The Loving Kind. In fact, when my husband first heard The Loving Kind he said, "This sounds a lot like that Capital Cities song." He wasn't wrong in my opinion and again it's more proof that Girls Aloud were ahead of their time when it came to the taste and sounds of American pop music. Xenomania really did help create a whole new era of pop music and they don't get enough credit for that. Listen to both songs and decide for yourself.

05. Biology

Biology sees Xenomania at their peak in terms on production and song structure. Biology is really 3 different songs that they eventually put together in a way that was seamless yet bold and daring at the same time. The girls actually sang the different parts of this song separately and they had no idea all those separate parts were going to be tied together into one song until Xenomania played them the final version, which blew them all away. Biology is kind of the Bohemian Rhapsody of 00s pop music in terms of how many risks and left turns it takes, but they pull it off beautifully. Each section of the song is hooky in its own right, but when you keep jumping back and forth between all the different layers to this song it makes it all the more catchier and ear grabbing! From that bluesy piano riff at the start, to that soaring chorus and beyond Biology is truly one of the most ambitious & unique pop songs of the 00s with only Britney Spears' Toxic coming close. This was the moment that the rock elite and music press in the U.K. started coming around to Girls Aloud as Biology truly felt like a landmark pop song with few peers.

04. Can't Speak French

One of the girls' favorite songs, Can't Speak French is a Girls Aloud song that connects quickly with many of my friends after I introduce them to Girls Aloud. This is my friend Will's favorite Girls Aloud song which he said he actually heard on a light rock station once in Washington D.C.! I also remember the week of my wedding dancing to this song with my friend Emily in the house we had rented in Martha's Vineyard for that week. Around the time of this single's release Girls Aloud had become a pop music institution in the U.K. and it's also when the girls became a lot more sophisticated in sound and image as well. It was Girls Aloud's 18th straight top 10 hit in early 2008.

03. Sound of the Underground

Girls Aloud's debut single was written for them for the reality TV show competition Popstars: The Rivals. When Xenomania presented the group with the song they were so impressed with it and couldn't believe how good the song was. The general public agreed because it went straight to #1 and crushed their boy band rival's song. Everything that Girls Aloud would become known for is on display here where hooks keep coming at such a rapid-fire pace you feel breathless just trying to keep up. The most memorable part of the song is that ringing guitar line with sounds like a cross between early 60s surf music and spy music. That guitar goes into overdrive during the chorus, which ramps up the early 60s influence greatly, but the rest of the production is much more modern and cutting edge for 2002. Here Xenomania references the past while paving the way for the future and ended up creating a new form of pop music as a result. Little did anyone know at the time that this was going to be the start of one of the most exciting pop acts of the 2000s.

02. The Show

The Show is all about hooks! Seriously the amount of hooks this song keeps throwing out every few seconds is insane. From the beats, vocals, melodies and more The Show is a non-stop barrage of pop hooks that are out for blood! I also love the lyrics and message of this song which is that men are basically dogs and all they want is sex from women. The girls though stand their ground and sing:

"Nobody sees the show not till my heart says so...Boy if you want to be my specialty, you'll have to wait for me and that is that."

To me The Show feels like the 00s update of En Vogue's Never Gonna Get It (My Lovin') and it's a girl power anthem that I am definitely here for. An empowering girl power bop that is also a pop masterpiece, The Show is a master class on how to craft a perfect pop song with maximum impact.

01. The Promise

The Promise was the first song I heard when I really started getting into Girls Aloud and it impressed the hell out of me. The Promise pays homage to classic girl groups of the 60s, especially The Supremes who are pretty much the gold standard against which all other girl groups are measured. This was the one time the Girls had to fight with their record label to get a song to be the lead single, because the record label didn't think The Promise was modern enough or with the times. In the end the Girls won and they were rewarded with a #1 smash in 2008 that in some ways became their biggest and most beloved hit ever. The Promise feels like the most timeless song the girls ever did and honestly it could have a big hit for The Supremes or any other girl group from the 60s through now. Like most Girls Aloud songs, The Promise is stacked with hooks and different vocals melodies. In fact, one of my favorite parts of the song comes during the verses right before they go back into that main chorus hook. That vocal hook during the verse is the exact moment everyone I play this song for falls in love with The Promise because it's just so good. Girls Aloud would finally win their first Brit Award for The Promise and it felt like the perfect cap to their decade of pop music dominance in the U.K. This is easily in my top 5 pop diva songs of the 00s with its only competition coming from Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. Pop songs, especially in the 00s, don't get better than The Promise. If you've never heard this song before then you are in a for a treat my friend!