It appears not much has changed in the way young people do their holidays since Blur’s 1994 hit single ‘Girls and Boys’ took to the charts and catapulted the band to fame. Taking influence from synth-pop dance tunes and disco beats, the song is an obvious send-up of the hedonistic club culture that occurs during young Brits’ “lad’s” and “gal’s” party holidays – the music video even features a greenscreen backdrop of people enjoying their Club 18-30 deals, while Damon Albarn plays it up to the camera like a teenager.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDswiT87oo8]
A satire the song may be, but Albarn’s lyrics also manage to slip some unabashed moments of serious truth in amongst all the light humour: lines such as “Love in the ’90s / is paranoid” as well as the tongue-twister of a chorus (“Girls who are boys / who like boys to be girls / who do boys like they’re girls / who do girls like they’re boys / Always should be someone you really love”) prove a strong declaration of freedom of sexuality, whilst flippantly disregarding gender and sexual roles alike. Plus, it’s just plain fun to sing along to, making it the perfect choice for our Throwback Thursday this week…
Words by Samantha King