Riding a crest of online popularity, the Boston, Massachusetts-based
Boys Like Girls, is a young rock upstart that has captured fans around the world. The band was formed in the final months of 2005, when singer/guitarist Martin Johnson wrote a handful of songs he wanted to record. He recruited bassist Bryan Donahue and drummer John Keefe, both of whom had been in other bands. Keefe drafted lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni, whom he had recorded a brief demo with, to complete the line-up. The quartet soon opened a PureVolume account to showcase their music, and upload
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ed a rough demo of "
The Great Escape" and an acoustic rendition of "
Thunder". By the end of the year, the group had landed the #1 spot on the website's Top Unsigned Artists chart and had generated so much buzz that they were booked for two nationwide tours. Soon after, they went into the studio and recorded their self-titled debut album, which contained Boy Like Girls songs about relationships, adolescence and leaving home. As of August 2007, the album had sold 200,000 copies.
Critics say that in comparison to most of their musical peers, Boys Like Girls has a more radio-friendly pop rock sound. Hence, Boys Like Girls has been labeled "an album full of hit singles or "the soundtrack to summer", emphasizing the up-and-coming quartet's potential to write mainstream compatible tunes. Other reviewers considered "a watered-down copy of
Jimmy Eat World" a more adequate description. In general, judgments ranged from predictable mediocrity to promising newcomer debut, though not necessarily in terms of longevity. Nevertheless, in March 2007, it was announced that the band was voted 2006 Artist of the Year by the readers of Spin magazine. Released in 2007, their second album failed to make a big splash initially, but behind some solid promotional work made its way to #55 on Billboard’s Top 200. Indeed, it seems that with each tour and each passing album, Boys Like Girls is likely to chart an enviable course through the pop/rock universe.
