A Lesson In... 08.18.09: McFly

Posted by Alistair McGeorge on 08.18.2009

They’re national stars over in the UK after breaking The Beatles’ record for being the youngest band to get a number one. This week, Alistair McGeorge returns to provide A Lesson In... McFly.

Welcome to another edition of A Lesson In... with your host, Alistair McGeorge. Before we get any further, I want to say Rest in Peace Mr. Les Paul, a pioneer of guitars and music in general. A legend in every sense of the word, with an impact on music that goes much further than essentially pioneering the development of the solid body guitar. He's credited with creating multi-track recordings- without this, bands would still be recording all in the same room, huddled round a microphone. It's sad that Les Paul won't get the media attention or respect that Michael Jackon did. Even on 411mania, I've hardly seen a mention of him, which I think is a great injustice. Whilst MJ was called the King of Pop…this man was the God of Music.

R.I.P.

This week, we're taking a break from big mainstream U.S. acts to look at a slightly less known band in the States. Saying that, ask anyone in the UK who this week's band are, and they're sure to have some kind of opinion on them.

Before we get down to it, unfortunately I have to say that there won't be A Lesson In... for the next couple of weeks. I've got a holiday and music festival booked, and won't be back until September 1. For that reason, there won't be another column until September 8. It's not great timing, with my volunteering thing also being earlier this month/end of July, but as far as I can tell this should be the last of the disturbances for a long time. Now stop!

It's banner time



Feedback:

Before we get to the main body of the column and begin looking at McFly, we'll take a look at the comments from last week (NOTE: If you commented after Friday, it won't be included because I wasn't here to read it). This is quite long, so feel free to skip down a bit if you want to get to the main body of the column.

We'll get to last week's very shortly, but there's a comment from Part One of this "series" I want to comment on, seeing as I didn't get to last week. Some Guy had this to say:

Nice article, but I would have to disagree that the 'Sweet Children' EP is unremarkable, 'Sweet children' and 'Best thing in town' are two of my fave Green Day songs, although I'm not sure why, they're just catchy i guess.

Oh, and 'king for a day' is NOT ska. It annoys me to no end when people call it ska just because its got brass instruments in it, its just an ol' time brass tune with a pop-punk chorus. If you listened to actual ska-punk songs you would see the difference in styles.
otherwise, great article.

To be honest, it's all very subjective when it comes to opinions on albums anyway, so obviously you're completely entitled to your own. I'm a fan of older Green Day, but that EP just didn't really "click" with me like some of their other material has done. As for "King For A Day" not being ska, I can see the argument. For the record, I'm a huge fan of bands like Catch 22, Streetlight Manifesto, Reel Big Fish, Suburban Legend, Capdown, Less Than Jake and a number of other ska bands; I do know a fair bit about the genre and how it sounds. It's definitely closer to pop-punk with a bit of added brass than ska, but that tag seemed like the best way to describe it to people who haven't heard it before.

We'll kick last week's comments off with The STY and his feelings on Green Day and their reputation:

Amen brother. Green Day is the greatest rock band right now. Their songs are simple yet ornate and are well written and well performed. They're infectiously catchy and are great live. They're not metal so people hate them. Girls like them so the virgins on this site hate them.

While there are a couple of the sentiments I don't entirely agree with, you're spot on with the majority of what you've said. Whilst there are still a couple of bands up there with them, they are certainly one of the greatest rock bands today. I wouldn't call the songs simple, but definitely well-written (I consider Billie Joe Armstrong to be one of the modern greats of songwriting) and performed. I half agree that the new fan-base possibly being predominantly made up of teenage girls could turn older fans off the band, but their inexperience in the bedroom isn't for me to comment on…anyway. Quite a long comment coming up, but it couldn't be truer in content. Just before we get into it (because there's a lot to respond to), a preview for this week's band:



Now, Alyssa, rant away (I had to edit this to make it more reader friendly, just adding breaks into it)...

My opinion is that anyone who thinks that Green Day sold out are complete idiots who don't want to grow up and face the fact they're approaching middle-age. Any half decent band has to mature and expand it's musical prowess otherwise they lose the popularity that keeps it possible for them to continue recording new material. The band that refuses to mature is stuck in the past and eventually sounds juvenile and even a little creepy. (Who wants to hear a 37 year old guy sing about getting girls and getting high?! Uh... NOT ME!)

I think that it's great that Green Day have taken a stand against the hypocrisy and problems in this world, especially since no one else has. Anyway, didn't punk from the 1970s have political themes in it from time to time?! Green Day being political just means that they have a genuine concern for what's happening in the world, and if anyone thinks that's a problem I guess most people think that celebrities aren't supposed to be opinionated anymore. But I think that the only way we are going to get the current lazy, self-absorbed generation off their butts and doing something about the dismal state of the world is through bands like Green Day and other famous people that can connect with the younger generation and convince them to make much needed changes.

And to think... I'm part of the current generation and a Green Day fan! So, if I want to better the world because of Green Day's political and social messages, is there really anything wrong with their newer music?

Where to start? Well, we'll start at the beginning. Seems sensible to me. I couldn't agree more that the fact that the trio are now middle aged is reason enough for their maturity and progression as musicians and lyricists. Like you alluded to, if they'd have kept re-making "Longview" and "Redundant", they would've become stale. I have to disagree that every band refusing to mature eventually sounds creepy, just because I'm a huge Bowling For Soup fan. They're still quite juvenile (although more recent albums have included the odd mature song), but I love it.

It's great that a band like Green Day can make a stand, and at 19 years old myself, Green Day are definitely a band that can affect our generation for the better. If a band can make more young people see the hypocrisy in world politics, then is that really a bad thing? Doesn't that just show the incredible power music has to change the world? Just look at Live 8 and various other charity gigs and organizations endorsed by musicians and other celebrities…

Finally, it's an excellent point about old-school punk being political. At times it was more of a social commentary, but the line between that and political themes is blurred so often now. Even modern "punk" bands like Anti-Flag and Rise Against are completely political in their lyrical content. To say that Green Day aren't punk because they sing about and take an interest in politics is utterly ridiculous.

Right, rant over for now. Don't worry, just one last comment, so we'll finish off the gander at last week's comments with fiftysix and the following:

I have to agree with most parts of this article, especially the fact that Warning is the album we can listen in one go, front-to-back. Despite its lack of success, it's a very entertaining albums with catchy music and dead-on lyrics--my personal favorite would be Jackass, which sounds as if it's made for a friend of mine ("you're a victim of your own denials")...and this portrays what Green Day really do best: they can write songs as if the lyrics are directly taken from your heart.

And this brings us to Green Day's latest album. While I have to admit it's a very conceptual, mature, etc, etc album, it is not a Green Day album. This doesn't mean I'm going to write "Green Day is sold out!" and so on. No. It's never a bad thing for a band to mature, espescially those who have been around for 20+ years like Green Day.

But when you're so angry to some arrogant stranger and all you can think is "I don't know you but I think I hate you", or when you move to someplace new and you just want to say "it makes me wonder why I'm still here, for some reasons it's now feeling like my home"...

Suddenly, all these deep words about war and politic sound so shallow.

I'm glad someone else agrees with how great Warning is as a full, complete album. I agree that early Green Day has some very relatable lyrics for most situations, and those kinds of lyrics are the ones Billie Joe can do so well. It's definitely not a bad thing for a band to mature, and obviously I gave my opinion on the evolution of the band last week. That said, I can't agree that the political and anti-war lyrics are shallow because they're not about everyday things we can relate to. It's all a matter of taste, when it comes down to it.

It's time to get to this week's subject. Unlike most of the bands I've covered here so far, they only formed in early 2004. That said, they've accomplished an incredible amount in that time frame, and have quickly become the biggest pop-rock act in the UK…



Back To The Future…

McFly almost never happened. I know, I know…any UK readers may have preferred that. I'll get to arguing against that point later on, but regardless…they did happen. I realize some of our American readers might not know a great deal about this band, because besides Just My Luck, they've not had a U.S. release. So, the line-up: Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher share guitar and vocals, usually taking a verse and chorus each during a typical McFly song. Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd finish off the line-up on bass and drums respectively. Simple enough, right?

So, Tom Fletcher initially auditioned for Busted (another huge pop-rock act over here, although they were never able to break into the U.S.), but Charlie Simpson (now in post-hardcore quartet Fightstar) got the spot. Whilst helping with auditions for boy-band V, Fletcher met Danny Jones (who thought the band were meant to include instruments, rather than the clichéd over-produced rubbish most boy bands are). The two collaborated on the writing for Busted (which Fletcher was already doing alongside Busted member James Bourne). When this came to an end, Fletcher and Jones started writing together, and put out an advert to find members to complete the band. Poynter and Judd were accepted as part of the band, which was named after Marty McFly from the Back To The Future trilogy (Fletcher's idea, as a huge fan of the films).

By March 29 2004, the quartet released their debut single "5 Colours in Her Hair" (spelt with a "u" here because that's the official title of the song) , which debuted at the top spot in the UK Singles Chart. The second single ("Obviously") also reached #1 in the charts. This success continued with their debut, released on July 5 2004…



I'm not tired enough to sleep...

Room on the 3rd Floor went straight in at #1, making McFly the youngest band to get a Number 1, beating the record previously held by The Beatles. The album sold 61,589 copies in its first week, going on to be 2x Platinum in the UK (selling over 800,000 copies). It's a great introduction to the band and what they're capable of, although the "cheesy pop" can get annoying. However, if you look past that, you realize that McFly are exceptional and writing happy, up-beat and downright catchy tunes with infections melodies.

On September 6, "That Girl" was released as a single, and subsequently their first single not to reach the Number 1 slot (still peaking at #3). In my opinion, it's one of their better songs, showing that Jones is also a very underrated guitarist. This single was followed by the title track from the album, which went in at #5 in the Singles chart. It included a surprisingly good cover of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".

"That Girl" also had a cover in its track-list, this time of The Beatles' track "She Loves You". Previously, "Help!" had been recorded for the "Obviously" single, and "5 Colours In Her Hair" featured a collaboration with Busted on a cover of "Lola" by The Kinks.

Whilst some the singles oozed pop-rock clichés and were very radio friendly (I say some, because "Room on the 3rd Floor" is a great ballad), songs like "Broccoli" and "Down By The Lake" show another side to the band's songwriting. The latter is a well-crafted "surfer-rock" style song, almost reminiscent of The Beach Boys. "She Left Me" is totally different to anything you'd expect after hearing "5 Colours" and should be listened to without any real introduction or description. Here's a live version, with "That Girl" played first...



After a tour supporting Busted in February 2004, McFly embarked on their first headline tour in September, which included a set at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. After this, their next album was recorded and the promotion for it began. In March 2005, a double A-side was released for "All About You/You've Got A Friend", with profits being donated to charity (Comic Relief). "All About You" featured a 60-piece orchestra, and the single itself reached #1.

As part of the charity appeal, McFly shot the video for "You've Got A Friend" in Uganda. Appearances for charities and various causes continued later in the year, as McFly co-headlined Live 8 Japan (along with Bjork and a band we've already looked at in this column, Good Charlotte). On August 15, the band got their forth UK number one with the second single from the highly anticipated new album, a feel-good anthem called "I'll Be OK". Two weeks later, the album was finally released after much promotion and hype…



I've got you to make me feel stronger…

On August 29, Wonderland was released and it debuted at #1 in the UK Album Chart. It didn't prove as successful as their debut, but it has sold over 300,000 copies and been certified Platinum. Wonderland also reached #9 in the U.S. Billboard European Top 100 Albums chart. As part of the promotion for the album, popular roller coaster Nemesis (a ride at Alton Towers, one of the biggest and well known theme parks in the UK) was renamed Wonderland for a month in 2005.

The album was generally well-received by critics, getting 3.5/5 on Allmusic.com, who wrote: "The often difficult second album was made to look easy by McFly". I'll get to my thoughts on the album shortly, but before I get to that, there's a couple more singles to talk about. Firstly, "I Wanna Hold You" was released on October 17, peaking at #3. The song was re-written several times, because the first version was apparently less mature, and more suited to the debut album. One of the b-sides was a surprisingly decent cover of The Killers' "Mr. Brightside", along with various others for different versions of the single.

To finish off the singles releases for Wonderland, a double A-side of "Ultraviolet/The Ballad of Paul K" was released two months later, on December 12. It was, at the time, McFly's lowest charting single to date, peaking at #9. Until the newest album, it was also the only single not to reach the top 5 in the UK.

Whilst the last single didn't chart as highly as we'd come to expect from McFly, the real highlights from this album weren't just the singles. "Nothing" is a catchy pop-rocker that begs to be danced and sang along to. They've not played it live in a while, but it's a song that maybe should be better known. It's nothing new or innovative, but it was fun and catch, which is what McFly do best. "Don't Know Why" is a clichéd power-pop ballad, but done better than it's been done before. As if just to prove they can play guitar better than they're given credit for, the guitar solo towards the end is soaring and well-crafted. I recommend anyone to give it a chance. I'd like it if it wasn't for this next song. Without any kind of proper introduction, please just give this next song a chance- it's nothing at all like you'd expect…



It's one of my favorite songs on the album, and of McFly's back catalog to date. It seems, lyrically, like every other ballad, based on lost love and feelings of hopelessness (and people call My Chemical Romance emo?). However, in an interview for a DVD included in their latest album, they revealed that it is actually about a girl committing suicide. Knowing that made the song move me even more; it's just a very well written song with nothing feeling over or under-done.

They went on tour again after the album release, and filmed the gig at my hometown arena (Manchester Evening News Arena) for a DVD release in November 2005. They also played at the Royal Variety Performance that year, in front of Her Majesty the Queen.

After this, they turned their attention to the U.S. with an appearance in 2006 movie Just My Luck, starring Lindsay Lohan. The "soundtrack" for the movie was actually just a compilation of the band's first two UK albums, with the addition of a cover of Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now", a new song which was the title track and a new version of their first hit "5 Colours In Her Hair", on here called the "U.S. Version". It features slightly altered lyrics and a more raw sound. The first video in the column was the U.S. version, so here's a look at the original, so you can decide which is better (I'm going for the re-recording myself):





I guess I'm stuck in this mad, mad world…

Back in the UK during 2006, the band released a double A-side of "Please, Please" and "Don't Stop Me Now" on July 17, with proceeds going to Sport Relief. Six days later, it became the quartet's fifth UK Number One. Months later, Motion In The Ocean was released on November 6, peaking at #6. A special edition version of the album was also released the following year, peaking at #14. It was a 2-disc release, the first being the album itself, then the second disc being a DVD of the Wembley show on their Motion In The Ocean Tour.

The second single from the album was "Star Girl", a live favorite for the band, another track going to #1, selling over 58,000 copies in its first week of going on sale. In time for the Christmas charts, another double A-side was released, this time of "Sorry's Not Good Enough" and "Friday Night". This single peaked at #3, and the latter of the songs was featured in Night At The Museum.

The last single to be released from Motion In The Ocean was yet another double A-side featuring their cover of Jellyfish's "Baby's Coming Back" and their own "Transylvania". It reached #1 in the charts, but was eventually knocked off the top spot by Rihanna's "Umbrella". They followed this album up with a greatest hits compilation, but it was definitely not the sign of the band's career slowing down…



The heart never lies…

All The Greatest Hits came out on November 5 2007, and features all of the UK singles, plus three new songs ("The Way You Make Me Feel", "Don't Wake Me Up" and "The Heart Never Lies"). The latter was released as a single to promote the album, and the video showed a more mature side to the band as they moved to a darker, less poppy sound. Whilst only reaching #3 in the UK Singles Chart, it still sold 40,000 copies in its first week.

A month later on December 7, The Greatest Bits: B-Sides & Rarities was released containing…well, it's self-explanatory really, isn't it? It features every b-side and rarity, from The Beatles covers, a version of "Umbrella" and original material like "No Worries"…





Everybody knows we're gonna die in this town…

On July 14 2008, "One For The Radio" was released as McFly's first single on the newly founded Super Records, their own label. It peaked at #2 in the UK, and became the band's first single since "5 Colours In Her Hair" to be A Listed on BBC Radio 1, a major station over here. The video for the song paid homage to the origin of the band's name- Danny Jones acts in a recreation of the famous opening scene from the first Back To The Future film.

Six days later, the band's next album Radio:ACTIVE was given away for free with the newspaper Mail on Sunday. 2.4 million copies were given away, and the circulation of the paper went up 300,000 based on its regular circulation. This was a tactic to try and get their music out there, and hopefully increase the number of people coming to live shows.

A deluxe edition saw a proper release on September 22. It differed from the free version in that it had four extra songs, and a different order for the tracks. It also had a bonus DVD documenting the making of the album whilst the lads were in Australia, and a 32-page booklet. A single disc version would replace this in December, with the lyrics and DVD being the material omitted. It reached #8 in the UK Album Chart.

The second single from the album was "Lies", released on September 8, one of the darkest songs McFly have written (lyrically). Musically, it's ambitious and unlike anything they've done before. It entered the charts at #23 (just on downloads alone), but peaked at #4 the following week. Here's a look at that…



Following this, yet another double A-side (I seem to be typing that a lot in this column) was released on November 24 with "Do Ya" and "Stay with Me". The latter is a cover of a song by The Faces, and didn't appear on the album. It was recorded for Children In Need, but even being released for charity didn't help the album sales. Despite "Do Ya" being very catchy, with guitar parts in the vein of Status Quo, it only reached #18 in the charts, becoming McFly's lowest charting single to date. This was to be changed with the next single, which is actually one of my favorite songs at the moment (in general, not just by McFly).

The band released a live DVD called Radio:ACTIVE Live at Wembley, and the release coincided with "Falling In Love", on May 11 and 8 respectively. "Falling In Love" didn't perform well at all, peaking at a very disappointing #87. I personally think it's a great song, but apparently the great British public disagree

Grading…McFly

McFly aren't extremely well known in the U.S. (to the best of my knowledge), and they admit themselves that they're a "guilty pleasure" band. However, if you properly give them a chance, they're a lot more than that. Tom Fletcher is a hugely underrated songwriter- everything just fits and combines to make infections pop songs. Whilst they're not for everyone, I think there is at least something for everyone on at least one of their albums. It's just a case of giving them a chance and seeing what else they have to offer. Plus, they're a brilliantly fun live act to top it all off.

Homework:

We'll be back in two weeks with a "special" column looking at another band who were huge in the UK, but this time they made a slight splash in the U.S., but not to the extent they hoped. I'll be looking at this band's short history, and the bands that have come after it. Here are your clues…

1. The front man's talent was discovered by his brother (and co-founder of the band) after a performance of a Queen classic in a pub.
2. They've had two different bassists, with the second one being a front man and rhythm guitarist for one of the bands that formed after the initial band's break-up (God this is getting confusing).
3. For the obscure reference of the week, the other band to form after the break-up like their barbecues…

OK, there we go then. Hopefully this week's column has been informative and still interesting, despite not being a band everyone will know a lot about. I'll be back in a couple of week's time with the three-band special, and I hope you'll all be joining me. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer break and let's all be ready for the start of class once again on September 8.