Artist Profile: Johnny Boy
Thinking back to the 1960’s (or in my case, thinking back to the early 90’s when all I listened to was the oldies I was subjected to by my parents in the car), one remembers the perkiness and bounce of American girl-pop bands like The Ronettes and The Crystals (for the purpose of this post, let’s get specific and keep “Be My Baby” and “My Boyfriend’s Back” in mind for reference points). However, fifty years later it’s an electronic-based duo whose sound best harkens back to the days of sock hops, drive-in movies and soda jerks (alright, The Pipettes do this pretty fucking well too but just go with it). In essence, Johhny Boy takes everything that made 50’s girl pop great and spiffs it up with modern bells and whistles, a slickly-produced glossy finish, some blissful boy-girl harmonies and a nice dose of Brit Pop thrown in there for good measure (the latter of which is no doubt at least partially attributable to Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield’s production work on the album).
Johnny Boy first stormed onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere in February 2003 with their incredible debut single, “You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve”, which proved to be as immaculate as it is lengthily-titled and even garnered the #94 spot on Pitchfork’s Top 100 Singles of 2000-2005 list, and it was said list that brought the track to my attention two years ago. An impossibly catchy fusion of soaring firework synths, church bells, those “Be My Baby” drums and dangerously anthemic choruses, “Generation”, managed to sound like nothing before it despite it’s fundamentally-derivative aesthetic. The track was re-released by Vertigo in 2004 to even more hyperbolic praise, and Johnny Boy - thought by many to be a flash in the pan and a surefire one-hit wonder - surprised critics with the remarkable quality of their follow-up single, “Johnny Boy Theme”.
“Theme” draws the listener in with a borderline creepy intro sampled from Mean Streets before hitting them with a barrage of percussion that comes in from seemingly every direction at once, overwhelming one’s aural pleasure centers like it ain’t no thing. Vocalist Lolly Hayes’ sugary vocals and precious delivery are remarkably endearing, and Hayes and band mate Davo share guitar duties as well as loop supervision, making for an extremely busy sound on most of their tracks despite their limited as a band. All this adds up to a decidedly-futuristic sound that somehow remains wholly retrospective at the same time, a unique blend of influences coming together to create a surprisingly cohesive whole. I could go on all day trying to peg Johnny Boy’s sound, but the band does a pretty good job describing it themselves, as “Church bells, boy-girl vocals, loops, twists, warps, walls of sound and edgy guitars combined to rekindle the idea of Sandista-era Clash having an, erm, shootout with Phil Spector”, an it’s exactly that Spector-tastic “wall of sound” effect that takes “Generation” and “Theme” to the next level as incredible singles. While their debut LP, which finally saw the light of day this past Spring, failed to live up to the ridiculously high standard set by the two initial singles, it’s still a great record and indicates that the duo have a bright future ahead of them.
MP3:
“You Are The Generation…” - Johnny Boy ((HIGHLY recommended))
“Johnny Boy Theme” - Johnny Boy ((highly recommended))
The most awesome thing about Johnny Boy? The fact that they have such a mastery of their sound that they can take their two greatest accomplishments as a band, completely remix and reinvent them, and still have them succeed on every level. Where the fuck did I get these? I really have no idea, but I can’t find them anywhere else, so think of this as an exclusive of sorts, even though I’m not going to formally tout it as such. Impressively, both remixes are really quite incredible and rival the originals to the point that they almost surpass them; either way they’re still highly recommended and you’d be wise to download them here as I’ve no idea where else these are available. If anyone can shed any insight on the source of these remixes or confirm that these are indeed self-remixes (I can’t see how they’re not though) I’ll be immensely grateful; let me know in the comments.
Bonus MP3s:
“Generation…” (Consumerismo Mix) - Johnny Boy ((highly recommended))
“Johnny Boy Theme (Dub Mix)” - Johnny Boy ((highly recommended))