Background and Composition
Musically, the song was labelled "a disco track with guitar - a cross between Blondie and The Bangles." The song was written in the key of Bb minor. The song consists of a verse followed by a bridge and chorus. In place of a middle 8, there is a guitar solo instead. The song ends with a spoken outro.
Originally written for Miranda Cooper under the pseudonym Moonbaby, "No Good Advice" is seemingly about a rebellious girl who doesn't need "no good advice" and does things independently. However, according to an interview for The Guardian in July 2004, Brian Higgins said that the song reflected his general mood of failure after a special deal between Xenomania and London Records fell through in 2000, and about persisting in spite of what people told him to do or not to do. The song's chorus originally began with the phrase "I don't like fried rice". "No Good Advice" was sung over a rave backing track, until different Xenomania musicians were asked to contribute new backing tracks. Higgins was inspired by indie rock. He stated, "pop music was on its backside and indie music was about to rise The guitar riff on No Good Advice is very very similar to the riff on the track Michael by Franz Ferdinand."
Brian Higgins said that Girls Aloud initially didn't like the song - "we played them some of it, and they said: 'That's not our sound.' I objected to the use of that phrase 'our sound'. I told them they had five minutes to talk about whether or not they wanted to continue with me. They went away and spoke about it and since then it's been fine. They come in expecting to work, and there's a trust there which, I think, dates back to that day."
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