Ballboy is a Scottish band (vocalist Gordon McIntyre, keyboardist Katie Griffiths, bassist Nick Reynolds, drummer Gary Morgan) that was briefly Britain's "next big thing", and, like all the previous ones, was not only obnoxious but also derivative (of Belle And Sebastian, Wedding Present, Arab Strap and many more). The most original feature of their music is the length of the song titles. Club Anthems (SL, 2001 - Manifesto, 2002) collects the early singles, including Olympic Cyclist (2000), I Hate Scotland, Sex Is Boring, and Essential Wear for Future Trips to Space, all replete with shy refrains and grotesquely inane lyrics.

A Guide For the Daylight Hours (Manifesto, 2003) boasts two gems (I Wonder If You're Drunk Enough to Sleep With Me Tonight, I Lost You but I Found Country Music), two mildly entertaining numbers (Where Do the Nights of Sleep Go to When They Do Not Come to Me, You Can't Spend Your Whole Life Hanging Around With Arseholes) and a lot of yawn-inducing melodies. The album is more polished and, alas, occasionally evokes the Smiths.

The "next big thing" of 2001 was already forgotten two years later, when McIntyre fired everybody else and released The Sash My Father Wore (SL, 2003), de facto a solo album.