Girls Aloud vs. Sugababes

VS.

The battle of the two finest girl-bands of the last few years then as both release slightly early career summations this month. So the question we must ask ourselves is simply, who's better? Is it Girls Aloud's electro-rockabilly pop frankensteins or Sugababes classy/filthy dirty pop symphonies?

It can't be denied that the quality of the music on both dips in places, but when they are good, they are really fucking good. Girls Aloud's 'Biology' for example, a thrillingly nonchalant, driving piece of pop genius that build with such nous and knowing force that you may never get it out of your head. 'Love Machine' too, with its thumping pop-a-billy is astonishingly bold, a meeting of great pop tradition and modern brassiness while 'No Good Advice' is just as perfect as modern pop music gets. Melding two unarguably brilliant pop songs in The Knack's 'My Sharona' and The Stranglers 'No More Heroes' is a bloody good idea anyway but then, with the sparse, skeletal verses leading into the electro-pop wonder of the chorus you've got some truly great music. Where they fall up is two areas, ballads and straight covers. While early slowy 'Life Got Cold' is pretty excellent stuff, their cover of The Pretenders 'Stand By You' is just horrendous and utterly pointless while 'Jump' by The Pointer Sisters just isn't up to the standard of their original material. Obviously the Xenomania production team take most of the credit but don't forget that these girls can hold a tune and their cold detatchment (you get a feeling they aren't always the most pleasant people) just adds an icy, irresistible edge. Even their relentless new single, 'Something Kinda Oooh' points to a healthy future (including the truly great line "Something Kinda Oooh/Jumping on my tutu").

The Sugababes have had enough line up changes to start challenging The Fall but the basic formula hasn't really changed, just refined itself a little. Early singles like 'Overload' are pretty good but didn't really hint at the jaw-droppingly brilliant filth-pop of 'Freak Like Me'. In all truth, this is a weaker collection partly through their inability to make more than one really good single per record. For every superb slice of propelling classic pop like 'Push The Button' (a truly sly work of quality) and 'Hole In The Head' they have the awful AM-rock-lite of 'In The Middle'. Overall, what does come across is the quality of the singing and the sympathetic production which frames their excellent harmonies so expertly. Their time may now have passed but Sugababes have left a decent legacy with at least one truly immense piece of pop music.

Whether either of these acts will continue to dominate the charts is fairly meaningless post-these collections. Both have proved a point that pop still has the ability to be trashy, sexy, inventive, innovative and at times, utterly timeless.


Girls Aloud - Sound Of Girls Aloud
Key Tracks: 'No Good Advice', 'Biology', 'Love Machine'
Platt Rating: 7.5/10


Sugababes - Overloaded: The Singles Collection
Key Tracks: 'Freak Like Me', 'Push The Button', 'Hole In The Head'
Platt Rating: 6/10