Girls Aloud - should they have been even more successful?

blueface2222blueface2222 Posts: 3,000
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I am listening to their albums, singles and B Sides again. I know they were a huge success story for a decade. I know the songs didn't come from the girls themselves it was all thanks to Xenomenia's vision. However, does anyone else believe they should have been even BIGGER. I mean look at boybands even 'average' boybands seem to sell more. I know it's hard out there for girlbands to sell out arenas like Girls Aloud did and compete with boybands but i think they deserved even more success even worldwide success. The girls themselves seem content with the career they had, but shouldn't USA and Europe should been on board for them.

Every studio album record is slick, fresh and gleemed to perfection. I cannot believe how amazing this band really are and how well they pulled it off. Pop records usually have filler, not one Girls Aloud album has that. They released 22 stellar singles and sold millions of arena tour tickets which no girl band in recent times could compete with etc, but they only sold 8 million records. I'd have expected more considering the amazing quality of the records..

SOTU did 360,000
WWTNS did 600k
Chemistry 380,000
Tangled Up 500,000
Out Of Control 800,000

I mean come on people...is Tangled Up just the most amazing pop album like in recent times it should have a one in front of it in sales.

I honestly think 'Fling' could have broken the USA for them or The Promise, Love Machine whatever - what a shame.

Comments

  • mooneusmooneus Posts: 543
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    You're absolutely right that no other British girl group of recent times could compete with Girls Aloud when it came to live performances, they really understood how to put on a show.

    However, their 'low-ish' record sales are just a sign of their times. In the early/mid 00's downloads did not count towards the charts and therefore only sales of the physical CDs were considered a sale. It's a shame because in years to come, groups like the Saturdays could well be considered more successful in terms of record sales, when in fact when it comes to quality of music and legacy, Girls Aloud would win hands down.

    I think the fact that the girls didn't break America was down to bad management. Louis Walsh basically screwed them over for the first 2 albums and then when Hilary Shaw came on board for Chemistry and took them to Australia and China, they didn't really take off and they just decided to focus on the UK. I personally don't think the girls would ever have been a huge hit in Europe. I have many friends from Europe and they say that groups tend not to do well in their countries. Plus, you've also got the cultural differences, British people see nothing wrong with 5 young attractive women wearing short skirts. The first thing that would cross the mind of a European would be '****'. Many of my British friends have told me that the main thing they like about this country is that people don't judge you by what you wear/ how you appear.

    It would have been a huge gamble for them to go to America. Pop music doesn't seem to go down well there. The Americans seem to like R'n'B and Urban a lot more. However, there was a huge 'gap' in the market for a pop girl group. So they either would have flopped or been a success. Having said that I think they may have tried to focus on more of an urban sound if they wanted to crack America, which I'm glad they didn't because Girls Aloud did break boundaries when it came to pop music. In my opinion, they were one of the groups to make pop music 'cool' again.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 42
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    While I don't grudge the success they had, I wouldn't wish them MORE success because;

    1) Their songs are highly overrated
    2) They aren't good singers
    3) They weren't very exciting
    4) All around they just weren't very good
  • Luner13Luner13 Posts: 2,968
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    Every studio album record is slick, fresh and gleemed to perfection. I cannot believe how amazing this band really are and how well they pulled it off. Pop records usually have filler, not one Girls Aloud album has that. They released 22 stellar singles and sold millions of arena tour tickets which no girl band in recent times could compete with etc, but they only sold 8 million records. I'd have expected more considering the amazing quality .

    The first album (both versions) are packed with filler actually. Its one of the most dire girlband debuts ever possibly the worst.

    22 Stellar singles? Maybe about 15 or so all their cover versions stunk as did Long Hot Summer.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 10,561
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    I'm a Saturdays fan so I'm maybe biased but I think the group was far too dependant on Nadine's voice, Xenomania's production style and Cheryl's star quality.
  • spaceygalspaceygal Posts: 3,448
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    Girls Aloud - in my opinion the best girl group with the best songs EVER!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,074
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    I kinda liked that they were only a UK based group. Them Xenomania had a great relationship that worked brilliantly for both. IMO if they were to have success overseas, different producers would've been brought in & wouldn't of been the same.
    Their first album is a bit dodgy tbh besides the brilliant singles off it. From their second album WWTNS? Onwards they released strong pop albums, minus the odd dodgy cover here and there, they have a brilliant back catalogue of pop music. :) also The Tangled Up Tour is a fave of mine.
  • KieranDSKieranDS Posts: 16,545
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    Luner13 wrote: »
    The first album (both versions) are packed with filler actually. Its one of the most dire girlband debuts ever possibly the worst.

    22 Stellar singles? Maybe about 15 or so all their cover versions stunk as did Long Hot Summer.

    I love Long Hot Summer :blush:
  • Mark-AnthonyMark-Anthony Posts: 572
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    I used to be a huge girls aloud fan but Ive got over them extremely quickly. I don't see why they get so much recognition anymore. If it wasn't for xenomania and Nadine they would've been finished a long time before they were....plus I think Kimberley has shown herself in recent times to be an absolute b**ch especially towards Nadine
  • Sweet7Sweet7 Posts: 599
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    plus I think Kimberley has shown herself in recent times to be an absolute b**ch especially towards Nadine

    All bull.
    I actually read the book and what Kimberley said about Nadine was fair. It was only the press which beefed up the quotes and made her out to be a bitch.

    I think if they had carried on in 2009 they could have done a stadium tour. The Out of Control managed to sell out the O2 5 times over, crazy for a girlband to think The Saturdays struggled selling out Wembley Arena once.
  • DanniLaMoneDanniLaMone Posts: 2,274
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    I have seen Girls Aloud in concert 3 times and they were brilliant.
  • Mark-AnthonyMark-Anthony Posts: 572
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    Sweet7 wrote: »
    All bull.
    I actually read the book and what Kimberley said about Nadine was fair. It was only the press which beefed up the quotes and made her out to be a bitch.

    I think if they had carried on in 2009 they could have done a stadium tour. The Out of Control managed to sell out the O2 5 times over, crazy for a girlband to think The Saturdays struggled selling out Wembley Arena once.

    My statement says I think....because I do think it. Its my opinion. She does seem like a complete b**ch in my opinion. So no my OPINION is not 'all bull'
  • AdzPowerAdzPower Posts: 4,861
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    They were indeed a lovely group. Good music, good performances, excellent songs and decent to great vocally wise.
    Personally I never wanted them to be necessarily "bigger", I just wanted more studio albums, their comeback with Ten was a total cop out, the four new songs included were great and they could have easily recorded another 6-8 tracks to make a new full-length album to round off their career.
  • MrfentyMrfenty Posts: 717
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    It's their own fault, they ended at the peak of their career to go off and do solo projects, if they had continued for a few more years or even have just took a year break as was originally planned they probably would have went on to have even more success.
  • LMLM Posts: 63,477
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    They were successful enough personally
    They were not the type of group who could of taken the world on like The Spice girls, although i still fail to see how The spice girls did that anyway.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 10,561
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    AdzPower wrote: »
    They were indeed a lovely group..

    Personality wise they weren't.

    Cheryl was moody, bitchy, self absorbed in their documentary and was frequently bad mouthing other celebrities. Kimberly and Nicola giggled along with her and joined her in slating Nicole Scherzinger and various other pop act in a TV interview back in 2006 (Sarah's jaw dropped at their rudeness). Kimberly has been criticising Louis Walsh from Day 1 and being very subtle about her dig at Nadine. Nicola and Cheryl have both ignored Nadine's attempts at high fives/hugs/whatever on their goodbye tour and it was sickening how in their interviews/performances from 2008 onwards it was always Cheryl in the middle with Kim and Nicola on either side of her while Sarah and Nadine were stuck at the end (cough X-Factor, Graham Norton etc).
  • Luner13Luner13 Posts: 2,968
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    KieranDS wrote: »
    I love Long Hot Summer :blush:

    Fair enough for me though the lyrics are just way to cringey.

    "It's been a Long Hot Summer & I'm shaking like a cool lemonade"
  • KieranDSKieranDS Posts: 16,545
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    Shadow2009 wrote: »
    it was sickening how in their interviews/performances from 2008 onwards it was always Cheryl in the middle with Kim and Nicola on either side of her while Sarah and Nadine were stuck at the end (cough X-Factor, Graham Norton etc).

    That's just the formation they took for promoting The Promise. It changed when they were promoting The Loving Kind and Untouchable.
    Luner13 wrote: »
    Fair enough for me though the lyrics are just way to cringey.

    "It's been a Long Hot Summer & I'm shaking like a cool lemonade"

    The lyrics are cringey, I agree. But I can't help but love it :blush:
  • PJ1893PJ1893 Posts: 1,669
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    KieranDS wrote: »
    The lyrics are cringey, I agree. But I can't help but love it :blush:

    Me too :D I love the song

    Tangled Up and Chemistry are good pop albums.

    I think they should have concentrated on releasing a new studio album rather than turning their comeback into a more nostalgic reunion because in the end I think it only highlighted that the *general* public perhaps don't have the same affection for them in comparison to The Spice Girls or Take That. It was a bit underwhelming at times.
  • Sweet7Sweet7 Posts: 599
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    Shadow2009 wrote: »
    Personality wise they weren't.

    Cheryl was moody, bitchy, self absorbed in their documentary and was frequently bad mouthing other celebrities. Kimberly and Nicola giggled along with her and joined her in slating Nicole Scherzinger and various other pop act in a TV interview back in 2006 (Sarah's jaw dropped at their rudeness). Kimberly has been criticising Louis Walsh from Day 1 and being very subtle about her dig at Nadine. Nicola and Cheryl have both ignored Nadine's attempts at high fives/hugs/whatever on their goodbye tour and it was sickening how in their interviews/performances from 2008 onwards it was always Cheryl in the middle with Kim and Nicola on either side of her while Sarah and Nadine were stuck at the end (cough X-Factor, Graham Norton etc).

    This seems incredibly biased. Watch the TV interview, I don't see Nicola or Kimberley laughing or even Sarahs 'jaw dropping'. Nadine even gets involved with that discussion. I don't even think what Cheryl said was that bad. About 95% of people on this forum say much worse and it isn't even looked at funny.

    Cheryl and Nicola ignoring Nadine? Again fail to see. The video of Nicola moving over does seem strange but she might have started to cry and didn't want to in front of thousands?

    The formation has ALWAYS been like that. Since the beginning. It's always been that split for 2 reasons. 1) Cheryl/Kim/Nic are the same height, whereas Nadine and Sarah are taller, so it makes sense to have them in the back. 2) Cheryl/Kim/Nic have always been the better dancers,so for example on tour they have a lot of dance solos together whilst Sarah and Nadine sing (look at Waiting from 2006 tour).

    Nice to see you didn't mention Nadine and her personality? How about when she couldn't be bothered to come to the Brits? or do the TV shows with the girls? Turning up late (not confirmed but still, why would she lie...)
    My statement says I think....because I do think it. Its my opinion. She does seem like a complete b**ch in my opinion. So no my OPINION is not 'all bull'

    I get that but she only seems like that because of a wrongly perceived image taken from the media. In her book she 100% justifies everything she says about Nadine and it all seems fair. The quotes that ended up in The Sun were taken out of context.
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