Boys Like Girls (stylized in all caps since 2023) is an American rock band formed in Andover, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, in 2005. The group gained mainstream recognition with their self-titled debut album (2006), which went on to sell over 700,000 albums in the US, earning a gold certification from the RIAA. The band's second studio album Love Drunk, was released in 2009 and their third studio album Crazy World, was released in 2012.
The band toured worldwide between 2006 and 2013. Notable tours include their main stage appearance on the 2007 Vans Warped Tour, their first headlining tour "Tourzilla" (2007) and a co-headliner with Good Charlotte for the Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour 2008.
The music video for their single "The Great Escape" (directed by Alan Ferguson) was voted the No. 1 video on MTV's TRL on August 6, 2007 and the band performed at MTV's TRL studio overlooking Times Square. In 2023, the band released the single "Blood and Sugar" from their upcoming fourth studio album, scheduled for release in the fall of 2023.
History
Formation and early years (2005–2006) The group was formed in Boston suburb Andover, Massachusetts in the final months of 2005, when vocalist Martin Johnson, formerly of the Boston act Fake ID/The Drive, wrote a handful of songs he wanted to record. He recruited bassist Bryan Donahue and drummer John Keefe. Keefe brought along lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni, with whom he had recorded a brief demo, to complete the line-up. Some of the demo's titles were "Free", "If You Could See Me Now", and "The Only Way That I Know How To Feel". Some months later Keefe and DiGiovanni learned that they were distant cousins. The group later changed their name to Boys Like Girls.
The quartet soon opened a PureVolume account to showcase their music, and uploaded a rough demo of "The Great Escape" and an acoustic rendition of "Thunder". By the end of the year, the group was on the No. 1 spot on the website's Top Unsigned Artists chart and within a few months had completed nationwide tours with Cute Is What We Aim For, Hit the Lights, All Time Low and Butch Walker.
Eventually, in 2006, the popularity of the band was overheard by booking agent Matt Galle and record producer Matt Squire, who contacted the band about a future collaboration. With their full support, Boys Like Girls embarked on their first nationwide tour with A Thorn for Every Heart, Hit the Lights and Keating in late February 2006. Following the month-long venture, the group immediately entered the recording studio with Squire to record their debut album for Columbia Records/Red Ink.
During their time in the studio Squire introduced the band to another of his alumni, Cute Is What We Aim For, who offered Boys Like Girls an opening slot on their upcoming headlining tour. Once the album was recorded, Boys Like Girls played back-to-back tours, including the Cute Is What We Aim For tour in June, as well as a two-week stint with Butch Walker in late July. In between tours the band filmed their first music video for their album's lead single, "Hero/Heroine", directed by Mark Serao and Chris Vaglio of Grey Sky Films.
Boys Like Girls (2006–2009)
On August 22, 2006, the eponymous Boys Like Girls was released. As of August 2008, the album has sold over 580,000 copies within the United States. While, as the title might suggest, songs about boys liking girls clearly prevail on the album, Johnson occasionally touched upon themes such as his mother's battle with cancer, leaving home, and promiscuous adolescents. Concerning the latter, he discussed the motivation behind the song "Dance Hall Drug":
The song "On Top of the World" is about Johnson's late mother.
In 2007, they began with a short headlining run with Self Against City, after which the group joined Cobra Starship supporting a two-month Cartel tour in February. In between releasing their album's second single, "The Great Escape" (reaching No. 9 on the Pop 100), performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on February 22, 2007, and eventually charting the Billboard 200 for the first time in April 2007, Boys Like Girls played their first international concerts during the Canada leg of a North American tour with Hellogoodbye and the UK festival Give It A Name 2007.
In mid-2006, the group performed on the annual Vans Warped Tour for the first time and on July 31, 2007 the band reached the No. 1 spot on the MTV show Total Request Live. The following month, on August 20, 2006, Boys Like Girls members Johnson and DiGiovanni played a private show at 105.1 The Buzz radio station. They announced that they would be performing five shows in Japan and said how much Good Charlotte helped their career.