Artist · chart history
Ballboy
Band Edinburgh United Kingdom Formed 1997
Ballboy formed in 1997 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Ballboy has 10 chart appearances on 5 radio countdowns from 1 station on RockLists, spanning 2000–2004. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “All The Records On The Radio Are Sh*te”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #10. The station that charted Ballboy most often is John Peel (BBC Radio 1), with 10 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2003.
Ballboy came out of Edinburgh in the late '90s, and you can read their temperament straight off the song titles: "I Hate Scotland", "All The Records On The Radio Are Sh*te", "I've Got Pictures Of You In Your Underwear". The first lineup had Viv Strachan singing, Gordon McIntyre on guitar, Nick Reynolds on bass and Alexis Beattie on drums, and they played around town and turned up on a compilation from the newly launched SL Records in 1997.
By 1999 McIntyre, already writing most of the songs, had taken over the microphone, with Katie Griffiths on keyboards and Gary Morgan on drums. SL signed them that year, and their run of EPs was gathered up as Club Anthems in 2001, the same year as the Girls Are Better Than Boys EP. After a US tour in 2002, which McIntyre chronicled in a journal for The Scotsman, came the first proper album, A Guide for the Daylight Hours, dressed in artwork by David Shrigley.
The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories, in 2003, is quieter and sadder, mostly acoustic and close to a McIntyre solo record, with "I Gave Up My Eyes To A Man Who Was Blind" and "Born In The USA". The Royal Theatre followed in 2004 with "The Art Of Kissing", McIntyre's dry wit and a sucker punch of heartbreak never far apart.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Ballboy on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | All The Records On The Radio Are Sh*te | 1 | #10 | – | 2002 | |
| 2 | I Hate Scotland | 1 | #13 | – | 2000 | |
| 3 | The Sash My Father Wore | 1 | #14 | – | 2003 | |
| 4 | The Art Of Kissing | 1 | #21 | – | 2004 | |
| 5 | I Gave Up My Eyes To A Man Who Was Blind | 1 | #23 | – | 2003 | |
| 6 | Where Do The Nights Of Sleep Go? (When They Do Not Come To Me) | 1 | #24 | – | 2002 | |
| 7 | They'll Hang Flags From Cranes | 1 | #26 | – | 2001 | |
| 8 | Born In The USA | 1 | #38 | – | 2003 | |
| 9 | I've Got Pictures Of You In Your Underwear | 1 | #41 | – | 2001 | |
| 10 | I Don't Have Time To Stand Here With You Fighting About The Size Of My Dick | 1 | #49 | – | 2004 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
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