inyourroom

Biology is so great that it almost hurts not to put it on the top of the list, but No Good Advice is my all-time favourite from them, so it gets my vote every time.

Well, I definitely would have prefered "You Got the Love" (which I would credit to Candi Staton originally, I think The Source added their backing track to an acapella version, in similar fashion to what DNA had done with Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" a bit earlier), and I can also imagine "Girls & Boys" being more fun than what we've ended up with, but I won't lose sleep over it :) It seems a bit odd to me how much YGTL was "in fashion" at the time, Kasabian were also playing it live around then (as an intro to "L.S.F."), and Florence's version (which I really like) went from one-off live performance to B-side before becoming a single.

I think it's worth remembering that some of these weren't really choices, they just kind of happened. They weren't sitting around when suddenly one of them went, "hey, let's do a Pointer Sisters cover!", it was offered to them to do that particular song for the movie, and it turned out well. Charity singles are usually covers, and Walk This Way wasn't even a Xenomania production, which seems to suggest that they were asked to join an already ongoing project for a good cause.

For me, nothing can beat No Good Advice, and from these 5, only The Show came anywhere close to doing that (but still didn't). The others are mostly OK, not all of them though, but each to their own.

BCYLM wouldn't have been a good pick for a comeback single, that's obvious, but if you think of it as the single for Children In Need - a nice ballad with a positive message -, it makes some sense. There's a reason for choosing a not particularly adventurous version of I'll Stand By You 8 years earlier. Based on the songs ended up Ten plus Go To Work, I thank all higher powers for saving us from album #6 - it may have been ok, but that's not good enough from them.

Seems like a perfect Top 13 for me, with all the songs I'm not too fond of now gone. * As for #14, adding anything worthy to that discography after such a long break was pretty much an impossible task to begin with, which may have led to someone (not necessarily the band members...) trying too hard, and inevitably failing in the end.

No major upset for me so far, ballads and cover versions weren't really their thing, some of them served a purpose at the time, but they're not as memorable as (most of) those still to come.

Well, there's an ultimate rate left hanging for more than a year now, this shorter list will hopefully do better... 10 Sound Of The Underground 11 No Good Advice 07 Life Got Cold 06 Jump 10 The Show 08 Love Machine 05 I'll Stand By You 09 Wake Me Up 07 Long Hot Summer 10 Biology 05 See The Day 06 Whole Lotta History 08 Something Kinda Ooooh 05 I Think We're Alone Now 05 Walk This Way 09 Sexy! No No No... 09 Call The Shots 10 Can't Speak French 09 The Promise 08 The Loving Kind 10 Untouchable 04 Something New 04 Beautiful 'Cause You Love Me

Out Of Control Chemistry Tangled Up What Will The Neighbours Say? Sound Of The Underground I don't mind being judged :) Sooner or later, someone will break the mould at #5 as well...

I completely agree with what they chose for singles from this album and the order they chose them, and as long as it's not compulsory to rank Can't Speak French at #3, here's my list: 1. Can't Speak French 2. Sexy! No No No... 3. Call The Shots

Tough choice, but I went with Biology, because - with its crazy structure - I think it represents more accurately how unique they were.

1. Biology . . . 2. Long Hot Summer 3. Whole Lotta History . 4. See The Day

I wouldn't hold my breath until anybody else actually uses it in their top 10, but thank You :)

10pts // She 09pts // Nobody But You 08pts // Memory Of You 07pts // Disco, Blisters And A Comedown 06pts // On My Way To Satisfaction 05pts // We Wanna Party 04pts // Dog Without A Bone 03pts // I Don't Really Hate You 02pts // Hoxton Heroes 01pt // Blow Your Cover I liked this format, so I borrowed it :)

Disco, Blisters And A Comedown seems to be missing from here.

Crocodile Tears Can't Speak French Sexy! No No No... Call The Shots Girl Overboard Black Jacks Fling I'm Falling Close To Love Damn What You Crying For Control Of The Knife

1. The Show 2. Wake Me Up 3. Love Machine (Jump) 4. I'll Stand By You The Show clearly stands out for me, Wake Me Up and Love Machine are very good, Jump doesn't really belong here and I'll Stand By You is alright, and all of them worked perfectly at that point of their career. I rarely like covers and ballads weren't their strong point (would love to hear the alleged first take on I'll Stand By You though, which was rumoured to be more Xenomania-esque, but didn't sound right for a Children In Need single).

1. No Good Advice 2. Sound Of The Underground 3. Life Got Cold 4. Jump

I'm not sure I'd call it a ballad, but Call The Shots is a clear frontrunner in this list for me.

1. The Show 2. Sound Of The Underground 3. Sexy! No No No... 4. The Promise 5. Something Kinda Ooooh 6. Long Hot Summer 7. Something New It's not my least favourite by far, but I don't think Long Hot Summer really belongs here - at the time it was meant to be a one-off rather than a teaser from the next album (much like Jump, which was later included on What Will The Neighbours Say?). The proper lead single from Chemistry, Biology would have topped my list.

Crocodile Tears Nobody But You Life Got Cold + Sticks + Stones

Wishing her a good one. She's still young and hopefully lots of great things are ahead of her, but god, Nadine + Nicola combined didn't have this many years, when the band started.

I chose Out Of Control, not only because today's birthday girl finally got a noticable amount of lines to sing on the album, but it's also their most consistent effort in my opinion, and the tour was pretty good, too. I'm usually quite critical to my favourite acts (so you can imagine my opinion of bands I don't even like in the first place...), but even I couldn't find any major flaws in that era :)

A few comments on what's been discussed here earlier: Long Hot Summer - I never thought of this as the lead single from Chemistry, because it was originally written for a movie soundtrack (as someone had already mentioned it), it wasn't the real start of the next album campaign. To support this argument, I'd say I'm pretty sure no one has ever called Jump the lead single from What Will The Neighbours Say? Crazy Fool - This would have been an awful choice for a single for the band, because it's basically a Cheryl solo track. Although I like it more than anything from her actual solo catalogue, it's not really a stand out track for me in the GA songbook, and it's obviously not a band effort. Sexy! No No No... - I don't really think you can have Girls Aloud as the kind of band they were without having a song like this and releasing it as the lead single. Not doing the obvious and taking risks were essential parts of who they were. Beautiful Cause You Love Me - I still don't count this as a single. I know it was planned, but it wasn't released properly, it didn't even have its own artwork, ending up charting - as low as it did - as an album track on individual downloads.

Graffiti My Soul Models Wild Horses Girl Overboard Love Is Pain On The Metro * Cinderella's Eyes (Nicola)