For almost 8 years, it has annoyed me, and probably the band themselves that they are misconceived as a manufactured boy band.
McFly play their own instruments, boy bands don't.
McFly write their own songs, boy bands don't.
McFly found each other through adverts in the NME, boy bands most certainly didn't.
McFly are more similar to Led Zeppelin, Oasis and The Beatles than they are to 5ive, Backstreet Boys and Boyzone, so why, after 7 years at the top of the charts, do people still see McFly as a boy band?
Maybe it's the thousands of screaming girls at their gigs. (Like The Beatles had)
Maybe it's the unashamedly good looks. (Like The Beatles had)
Maybe it's the CATCHY POP SONGS about girls. (LIKE THE BEATLES HAD)
Maybe after all this time, McFly are finally ready to break the shackles of the 'BOYBAND tag', and take their hits galactical.
No-one can deny that since April 2004, they have had a string of hits long enough to strangle every small-minded Guardian reviewer.
And now, with the release of their latest album, the synth-driven 'Above The Noise', they have finally found a sound that resonates through ear drums of every demographic ever invented.
Flash back to 2004, the release of 'Five Colours In Her Hair', and McFly were all over the covers of Smash Hits and Top Of The Pops and the world was ready for the next big boyband. (Who will have one album, and then disappear off into obscurity.)
The music industry was full of bubblegum pop music until this release, and suddenly i could see a change coming. Yes, this is still pop music. But they're playing their own instruments. And this was only the start.
McFly followed this with the release of three more hit singles from their debut album 'Room On The 3rd Floor', an album that almost seemed like a reincarnation of early Beatles and The Beach Boys. 'Obviously', 'That Girl' and 'Room On The 3rd Floor' all went on to hit top 5 in the UK Top 40.
By December 2004, the first album campaign was all but over when Comic Relief approached them about recording the official charity single for 2005.
'All About You' went on to become McFly's biggest hit to date, charging into the charts at number one, coupled with a cover of 'You've Got A Friend'.
This acoustic singalong track showed the music world that McFly were a lot more than a simple pop band, and that Tom Fletcher was an incredible song writer.
After the release of 'All About You', McFly had to start thinking about that 'difficult' second album. Would they continue their pop domination with uptempo songs about girls?
No. they'll go completely the opposite way and create a masterpiece.
'Wonderland' turns out to be a much darker album, tackling subject matter such as suicide (She Falls Asleep), nucular disasters (I Wanna Hold You), the rougher side of relationships (Too Close For Comfort, I'll Be OK) and mid-life crisis (The Ballad Of Paul K).
They even (maybe sub-consciously), began their trend of slyly linking their albums. 'All About You' was a track from 'Wonderland' that kept the style and subject matter of 'ROTTF', whilst slowing everything down to match the 'Wonderland' way of life.
Also, the link for their forthcoming third record was 'Memory Lane', maybe too poppy for 'Wonderland', but would've fit perfectly amongst the 'Motion In The Ocean' crowd. More of their 'linking' later on.
By Christmas 2005, McFly had completely brushed aside the worries of a difficult second album and were going from strength to strength. They had just finished their first of many Arena Tours, covering Green Day and collaborating with The Who in the process.
The band had (according to the press) gone emo. So where next? A Panic! At The Disco covers album?
No. McFly were going to go Surf-Pop again.
2005 ended with Tom dying his hair black, Danny's fringe growing longer than his nose, Harry's 'Travis Barker Mohawk', and Dougie's black shirt and tie.
The next time we saw them in 2006, Tom has short spikey bleach blonde hair, Danny had lost his straighteners and suddenly has a perm, Harry's toned it down a bit, and Dougie looks like he's been living on an Australian beach for the past year.
McFly were switching things up again, releasing the 'surf-rock opera' record 'Motion In The Ocean'. Comic Relief approach them again for the official Sport Relief single, McFly ablige with 'Please, Please', the world suddenly starts singing 'Oooh, ooh, ooh, ooooooh', when they release the 'guilty pleasure' that is 'Star Girl', and 'Transylvania', Dougie's first outing as lead vocalist hits number one to round off the campaign.
Their linking continues, this time with 'Home Is Where The Heart Is', if only they'd written it earlier, it could've been swapped with 'Memory Lane' for a brilliant ending to a brilliant album.
McFly were improving and improving and improving. Constantly getting better and better and nothing was going to stop them.
Visibly outraged by this, Tom and Harry in particular, took every opportunity to say that the 'Greatest Hits' was NOT their idea and that they weren't particularly interested in it.
'The Heart Never Lies', probably one of the best songs McFly have ever written was released to promote the collection and became the highlight of their first festival appearance at V2007. (Despite being without Tom).
The Greatest Hits argument came to a head in late 2007 when it was announced that McFly were leaving their record label and going it alone.
2008's 'Radio:Active' again changed the style of McFly as everything suddenly got a bit heavier. Lead single 'One For The Radio' was written about the troubles of being a 'boyband who aren't actually a boy band'. 'Lies', 'Do Ya' and 'Falling in Love' followed. This album saw McFly toy with heavy metal on 'Corrupted', and to produce their own interpretation of Blink's 'Stay Together For The Kids' in POV.
Again, I was forced to question the decision of single choices.
2004's 'ROTTF' was the only album which actually spawned the right choice of singles, in my opinion. The right choice to let the general public see the best of the album, and to introduce various different sides of McFly.
'Wonderland's single choices should've been 'She Falls Asleep' and 'Too Close For Comfort' over 'Ultraviolet' and 'I'll Be OK'.
'Motion In The Ocean' should've showcased 'We Are The Young' and 'Bubblewrap' over 'Friday Night' and 'Please, Please'.
And finally, 'Radio:Active' should've released the faux metal 'Corrupted' and fan favourite 'Down Goes Another One' to the world, over 'One For The Radio' and 'Do Ya'.
The Radio:Active era saw McFly embrace the opportunity of being able to do anything they want, and travel around the world for the first time.
However, sales of the singles and the album itself proved that guitar music is officially dying a death. McFly need to do something radical to keep up.
McFly relocate to America for the most part of 2009 and early 2010 to work on what is to become their finest album to date, 'Above The Noise'.
They work with R'n'B producer Dallas Austin, who has worked with Michael Jackson and Madonna in the past, amongst others.
But this wasn't going to be a straight forward album campaign.
McFly launched their revolutionary new website 'Super City' in November 2010, designed to bring the fans closer to the band and forming a McFly social network for the fans to meet.
The servers crashed as worldwide demand was much more than they were expecting.
McFly had suddenly gone OUT OF THIS WORLD.
The first release from 'Above The Noise' was the synth-heavy 'Party Girl', which opened McFly up to a whole new crowd, and suddenly, they were on dancefloors all over the world.
'Shine A Light', a collaboration with Taio Cruz, was next, and finally, the MEGA SMASH that they'd been waiting for. Okay, it wasn't a number one, but it was in the top 40 for 13 weeks, and narrowly missed out on becoming McFly's biggest selling single to date to 'All About You'.
'Above The Noise' was then released and showed McFly in a whole new light. They dropped their guitars for synths, they swapped their fringes for quiffs, and swapped their young fans, for, well everybody.
In seven years, McFly have grown from boys to men, via emo, surfers and rockers.
Here's to the next seven years.
Wow this blog is amazing it truly shows all aspects of Mcfly in a great way! You have captured the common thread of the idea that to some they are supposedly a boy band and blew away any reader. You took what everyone thought about them being a boy band and proved those who say this wrong! Which is good because that drove me nuts. Your blog set up is incredible and the word choice is phenomenal. I love how you relate their older stuff to the Beatles mixed with the Beach Boys because I totally thought that too. This is great!
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