Sound of the underground

Sound of the underground
Girls Aloud studio album
Publication (s)	May 26, 2003 (original release) December 1, 2003 (re-release)
Label (s)	Polydor
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	Pop , power pop , dance pop
Title (number)	15 (original release) 18 (re-release)
running time	53:44 (original post ) 55:04 ( repost )
occupation	Nadine Coyle Sarah Harding Nicola Roberts Cheryl Tweedy Kimberley Walsh
production	Steve Anderson, Arnthor & BAG, The Beatmasters, Betty Boo, Brian Higgins, Tim Kellett, Gary Miller, Peters and Peters, Brian Rawling, Graham Stack, Jeremy Wheatley, Xenomania
chronology - Sound of the underground What Will the Neighbors Say? (2004)

Sound of the Underground ( German: Klang des Untergrunds ) is the debut album by the British girl group Girls Aloud . The album was released on May 26, 2003 and immediately rose to number two on the UK album charts. The album sold 37,077 units in the first week. In late November 2003, the album went platinum. On December 1, 2003, the album was re-released with a slightly changed track list.

Conception and style of music

The band was formed during the television show Popstars: The Rivals . The debut single Sound of the Underground was selected by the later manager of the newly formed band, Louis Walsh , from around sixty songs that the songwriters Brian Higgins and Miranda Cooper of the Xenomania production team had written in advance. During the recording phase of the album, Brian Higgins played the band some of his songs, which they rejected at first on the grounds that this was not "their sound". Higgins then gave the band some time to discuss the matter, and in the end the members decided to work with him from now on. The debut album is next to the 2012 greatest hits album Ten, the only album of the band that was not completely written and produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania. In December 2003 the album was re-released. Then three of the songs were replaced by new songs and the videos of the first three singles were added.

The album is influenced by a number of styles of music from the 1980s, particularly synth pop , power pop and new wave , as well as styles from the 1990s such as big beat , drum and bass and garage . The album has been compared to music by Bananarama , the Spice Girls , the Bangles and Blondie . A large number of the songs make use of guitars and electronic beats. The rise of indie rock also led Brian Higgins to "blur the line between commercial and so-called 'indie music'."

Track list

Original publication

1. Sound of the Underground (Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Niara Scarlett, Xenomania) - 4:38
2. No Good Advice (Cooper, Higgins, Nick Coler, Lisa Cowling, Lene Nystrøm ) - 3:48
3. Some Kind of Miracle (Cooper, Higgins, Cowling, Tim Powell, Shawn Lee, Edele Lynch) - 3:09
4. All I Need (All I Don't) (Ava Knox, Chris Peters, Drew Peters) - 3:38
5. Life Got Cold (Cooper, Higgins, Coler, Cowling, Noel Gallagher ) - 3:57
6. Mars Attack (Alison Clarkson, Paul Carter, Amanda Glanfield) - 3:28
7. Stop (Cooper, Higgins, Matt Gray, Xenomania) - 3:35
8. Girls Allowed ( Brian McFadden , J. Shorten) - 3:26
9. Forever and a Night (Gary Miller, Mark Muller, Andy Goldmark) - 4:04
10. Love / Hate (Higgins, Scarlett, Eve Bicker, Xenomania) - 4:40
11. Boogie Down Love (Clarkson, Carter, Glanfield) - 3:22
12. Don't Want You Back (Anders Bagge, Michelle Bell, Arnthor Birgisson) - 3:19
13. White Lies (Tim Kellett, Sandria Nordstrom) - 4:00
14. Love Bomb (Clarkson, M. Ward, S. Ward) - 2:55 [UK Bonus Track]
15. Everything You Ever Wanted (Steve Anderson, S. Lee, L. Greene) - 2:53 [UK Bonus Track]

Republication

1. Sound of the Underground (Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Niara Scarlett, Xenomania) - 4:38
2. No Good Advice (Cooper, Higgins, Nick Coler, Lisa Cowling, Lene Nystrøm) - 3:48
3. Life Got Cold (Cooper, Higgins, Coler, Cowling, Noel Gallagher ) - 3:57
4. Jump (for My Love) (Steve Mitchell, Marti Sharron, Gary Skardina) - 3:39
5. Some Kind of Miracle (New Mix) (Cooper, Higgins, Cowling, Tim Powell, Shawn Lee, Edele Lynch) - 3:09
6. All I Need (All I Don't) (Ava Knox, Chris Peters, Drew Peters) - 3:38
7. Mars Attack (Alison Clarkson, Paul Carter, Amanda Glanfield) - 3:28
8. You Freak Me Out (Cooper, Higgins, Powell, Nystrøm) - 3:05
9. Girls Allowed ( Brian McFadden , J. Shorten) - 3:26
10. Forever and a Night (Gary Miller, Mark Muller, Andy Goldmark) - 4:04
11. Love / Hate (Higgins, Scarlett, Eve Bicker, Xenomania) - 4:40
12. Boogie Down Love (Clarkson, Carter, Glanfield) - 3:22
13. Stop (Cooper, Higgins, Matt Gray, Xenomania) - 3:35
14. White Lies (Tim Kellett, Sandria Nordstrom) - 4:00
15. Girls on Film ( Duran Duran ) - 3:42 [UK Bonus Track]
16. Sound of the Underground (Video) - 3:46
17. No Good Advice (Video) - 3:54
18. Live Got Cold (Video) - 4:05

Chart positions and awards

Chart placements

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
United Kingdom (OCC)	2 (25 weeks)	25th

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
United Kingdom (BPI)	platinum	300,000
All in all	1 × platinum	300,000

Singles

The debut single Sound of the Underground was released on December 16, 2002. The video for the single was filmed in a London warehouse just days after the band formed. The song immediately reached number 1 on the UK charts, where it held up as the number one Christmas hit for four weeks in a row . Although the song sold as the worst of all television formed bands, the song went platinum in March 2003. The B-side of the song was a cover of Stay Another Day by British boy band East 17 .

The song No Good Advice was released as the second single in May 2003 . This went straight to number 2 on the charts. That same year he was awarded the Popjustice £ 20 Music Prize for best single of the past year . The song On a Round was added as a B-side.

The third single was originally Some Kind of Miracle , but this was replaced by the fan-favorite song Live Got Cold , which reached number 3 in the charts. The song Girls on Film , a cover of the song of the same name by Duran Duran, was included as the B-side.

For the soundtrack to the movie Actually ... Love , the band recorded a cover of the Pointer Sisters ' song Jump . The song reached number 2 on the charts. The single had two B-sides, the songs Girls Allowed and Love Bomb.

The song You Freak Me Out was originally intended to be the last single and was even sung by the band during a few appearances, but was then discarded and the band began recording their second studio album.

Chart successes

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2002	Sound of the underground	DE42 (8 weeks) DE	-	CH25 (11 weeks) CH	UK1 (22 weeks) UK	-
2003	No good advice	-	-	-	UK2 (23 weeks) UK	-
	Live Got Cold	-	-	-	UK3 (13 weeks) UK	-
	Jump	-	-	CH58 (7 weeks) CH	UK2 (14 weeks) UK	-

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Certified Awards Search on the British Phonographic Industry website , (search for Sound of the Underground )
2. ↑ ^{a b} Sound of the Underground (album) in the Official UK Charts (English)
3. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk
4. ↑ girlsaloud.net
5. ↑ pitchfork.com
6. ↑ digitalspy.co.uk
7. ↑ New Girls Aloud single set for May . ( Memento of November 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) RTÉ , March 27, 2003
8. ↑ ponystep.com ( Memento of the original from February 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Sound of the Underground (single) in the Official UK Charts (English)
10. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk
11. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk
12. ↑ Chart sources:
    • Girls Aloud in the German single charts
    • Girls Aloud in the Swiss charts on Hitparade.ch
    • Girls Aloud in the Official UK Charts (English)