AllMusic editor
Stephen Thomas Erlewine described "Girls & Boys" as "undeniably catchy" and "one of the best (songs) Blur ever recorded", praising the band for making the song "feel
exactly like
Eurotrash", and stating that the chorus was "an absolutely devastating put-down of '90s gender-bending, where even
ambi-sexuals didn't know whose fantasy they were fulfilling."
Larry Flick from
Billboard magazine wrote, "
Alternative band takes a detour into clubland with an amusing, word-twisting ditty fleshed out with a
trance-like synth energy and a hard, syncopated beat, courtesy of the
Pet Shop Boys. Way-hip single's primary selling point is the brain-numbing refrain "''girls who want boys who like boys to be girls who do boys like they're girls who do girls like they're boys.''" Try saying that three times fast. A good bet for dancefloor action, track should also get a crack at pop/crossover radio." Troy J. Augusto from
Cash Box felt that "this track will light up dance floors first, with
top-40 and even some experimental
urban radio stations close behind. Not what we've come to expect from this quirky guitar-pop combo, which is part of the appeal here. And don't be surprised if
RuPaul records a cover of this tasty gem." Chuck Campbell from
Knoxville News Sentinel wrote in his review of
Parklife, "That great song, 'Girls & Boys', is a twisting, slapping, lusty and instantly satisfying
neo-disco track featuring Graham Coxon's teasing guitar and Damon Albarn's endearing vocals." He added, "Those who allow
Parklife to continue playing after the conclusion of 'Girls & Boys' will be disappointed initially, because nothing else on the album is so acutely infectious." Steve Hochman from
Los Angeles Times praised it as a "delightfully sly single". Jennifer Nine from
Melody Maker said, "The one reprised here is the simultaneously fey and yobbish, clever and incredibly ugly sounds of
Roxy Music/
XTC/
Gary Numan/anything with keyboards worked up to sound deliberately mechanical and ironic and unpleasant." A reviewer from
Music & Media viewed it as a "comical pastiche on '80s '
new romantics'." Martin Aston from
Music Week gave it a score of four out of five, complimenting it as "an irresistibly feisty pop bite and, as such, a probable Top 10 hit." John Kilgo from
The Network Forty described it as an "outstanding, infectious" tune. Ian McCann from
NME named it I'm as Surprised as You are, Sheer Chutzpah Single of the Week, adding, "The tongue lolling, deliberately camp-yobbish, mindless delivery and drooling lyrics defy categorisation. The rinky-disco beat is where
Sparks meet
Giorgio Moroder in his
Son of My Father era, the phased guitar adds a rock noise to the mess, and that chorus! Surrender now, it will beat you in the end." Paul Evans from
Rolling Stone felt it's "echoing '80s
synth pop".
Miranda Sawyer from
Select said, "This is a really ace record. [...] A record that makes you laugh and think of mirror balls is a work of genius in anyone's book. Fan-ruddy-tastic."
Sylvia Patterson from
Smash Hits also gave it four out of five, writing, "An organ-grinder of synth pings and guitar perks which sounds just like Elastica (whose singer Damon snogs). It is the sound of Now! (ie 1982) which was a good sound so that's all right. Sort of." Another
Smash Hits editor, Mark Sutherland, named it a "mad disco romp". Rob Sheffield from
Spin described the song as "a scrumptiously sleek
Duran-gänger, sounding exactly like the Fab Five circa '
Planet Earth' and '
Hungry Like the Wolf'." He added, "Over a
Eurodisco bass line, vocalist Damon Albarn croons about a beach full of teenagers stewing in their own auto-erotic juices: "''Nothing is wasted / Only reproduced / You get nasty blisters / Du bist sehr schön, but we haven't been introduced
"." James Hunter from Vibe'' called it a "brilliant turn on
new wave disco that boasts the year's best bent guitars. They bounce all this into a great English, um, blur." ==Music video==