爱情初始化 (2006)

Boys Like Girls is the debut studio album by American rock band Boys Like Girls. It was released on August 22, 2006, by Columbia Records and Red Ink. The album received mixed reviews from critics. Boys Like Girls reached number 55 on the Billboard 200 and spawned three singles: "Hero/Heroine", "The Great Escape" and "Thunder". To promote the record, the band toured across North America and the UK as support for various pop-punk acts, with appearances at music festivals and amusement parks.

Background

Boys Like Girls formed in late 2005 when vocalist/guitarist Martin Johnson, previously of the band IDK, wrote a few songs that he wished to record. He subsequently brought in bassist Bryan Donahue and drummer John Keefe, both of whom Johnson had played with in local acts Lancaster and The Bends. Keefe, in turn, recruited guitarist Paul DiGiovanni. They posted a handful of demos online, and by the end of the year, were attracting a following and noticed by booking agent Matt Galle and producer Matt Squire, both of whom wanted to work with the band. In February and March 2006, the band supported A Thorn for Every Heart on their US tour. Following its conclusion, the band went to record their debut album with Squire. He acted as the producer, engineer; he mixed every track except "The Great Escape" and "On Top of the World", which were mixed by Tom Lord-Alge with assistance from Femio Hernandez at South Beach Studios. George Marino mastered the album at Sterling Sound in New York.

Music and lyrics

The album explores lyrical themes such as romance. According to a lyric feature written by the album's principal songwriter, Martin Johnson, the lyrical content of the songs is semi-autobiographical.

Our self-titled debut goes through a series of events throughout the tracklisting, representing the last two years of my life. Though the songs weren't composed with that in mind, once they were all recorded it became apparent that there was a story of love, loss, youth, and angst for the future that was waiting to be told. The songs go from optimistic songs and love songs to loss and breakup songs, ending back with "Holiday", which starts the sequence over and symbolizes moving on and cycles in everyone's life.

While, as the title might suggest, songs about boys liking girls clearly prevail on the album, Johnson occasionally touched upon themes such as his mother's battle with cancer, leaving home, and promiscuous adolescents. Concerning the latter, he discussed the motivation behind the song "Dance Hall Drug":

So many kids are growing up too fast. 13-year olds are giving each other hand jobs in the back of the bus, 14-year olds are already drinking and partying, and kids spend more time worried about growing up and being cool than they do actually growing up and being a kid.

The song "On Top of the World" is about Johnson's late mother.

Release

On July 24, 2006, Boys Like Girls was announced for release in the following month. It was released on August 22 through Red Ink and Columbia Records. The album's lead single was "Hero/Heroine", which was followed by "The Great Escape", and the re-release of Hero/Heroine and then "Thunder". In October, the band went on tour with Lostprophets. Following this, the band went on tour with Spitalfield, Punchline, Valencia and Over It in November and December.

In February and March 2007, the group supported Cartel on their tour of the US. On March 13, "The Great Escape" was released to mainstream radio. Following this, they appeared at The Bamboozle festival. From early April to early June, the band supported Hellogoodbye on their Two Months Of Spring Break Tour '99 tour of North America. From late June to late August, the band went on the 2007 edition of Warped Tour. Starting in late September, the group headlined the Tourzilla tour. The first part ran from late September to late October and featured All Time Low, the Audition and We the Kings, while the second part ran from late October and continued into November with All Time Low, the Audition and Valencia. During this tour, a deluxe edition of Boys Like Girls was released. The CD came with enhanced content, which included a photo gallery, videos of the group's AOL Sessions performance, as well as live footage of "Heels Over Head" and "The Great Escape". The CD features new mixes of "Hero/Heroine" and "Heels Over Head", done by Tom Lord-Alge, and an acoustic version of "Hero/Heroine" as bonus tracks. On October 16, "Hero/Heroine" was released to mainstream radio.