"Girls & Boys" is a song by British rock band Blur, released in March 1994 as the lead single from the group's third album, Parklife (1994). Charting at number five on the UK Singles Chart, "Girls & Boys" was Blur's first top 5 hit and their most successful single until "Country House" reached number one the following year. The single surpassed their previous commercial peak "There's No Other Way" by three spots on the UK Singles Chart, and saw the group achieve greater worldwide success. In the US, the track reached number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, becoming the band's second single to hit the chart after "There's No Other Way". It also reached number four on the Billboard Modern Rock songs chart. "Girls & Boys" was named single of the year by NME and Melody Maker. It was also nominated for best song at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Composition Damon Albarn was inspired to write the song while on holiday in Magaluf, Spain, with then-girlfriend Justine Frischmann, lead singer of Elastica. According to Albarn, the city had "really tacky Essex nightclubs" and a rampant sexual scene among visitors, with "All these blokes and all these girls meeting at the watering hole and then just copulating. There's no morality involved, I'm not saying it should or shouldn't happen." The music has a convergence of various pop and dance styles, summed up by bassist Alex James as "Disco drums, nasty guitars and Duran Duran bass." Drummer Dave Rowntree admitted he is not on the track, being replaced by a drum machine he programmed. He said it was his favourite song on Blur: The Best Of because he "isn't really in it. It's cool not being in your own song." The vocals were recorded with a demo featuring only the keyboards. This song is written in the key of G minor. Release Producer Stephen Street felt that while "Girls & Boys" was not like Blur's previous songs, "I thought it would be Top 5 – it was so downright basic. I felt the way I had when I produced the Smiths: that as long as Morrissey was singing on it, it would be the Smiths. It was the same with Blur: they could put their hands to anything, and it would still sound like Blur." The song indeed reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, Blur's first