McFly bring out their wittily titled Memory Lane best of collection this Monday, and it sees the guys to become the latest of the noughties pop bands to bring themselves back for one more onslaught on the charts.
While at the time they may have been the hated act du jour, but were we all too quick to condemn McFly as a shallow bit of teenage fluff?
While they might have become known for lighting up a Friday morning on Radio 1 under the stewardship of Chris Moyles over the last couple of years, McFly were one of the most deceptively successful bands of the decade, with ten number ones to their names in a concise career that saw them take a hold of the charts in the mid noughties.
They really owe a huge slice of their fortune to fellow pop-rockers Busted, as they not only opened the flood gates for this brand of teen focused, guitar based pop, but also brought McFly onto their tour at the high of their power.
Using that as a catapult, the boys released 5 Colours In Her Hair, an aggressively cheery, puppy-love struck pop number that saw them crash into the charts at number one. Heavily influenced by 1960s surf music, the song was a nicely cheery song, purposefully calling out to teenage oddities in a way most pop simply doesn’t try.
From that incredible start, they followed it up with another feel good smash hit in the form of Obviously, which cruised in at number one and placed McFly squarely on the page of the biggest hitters.
These weren’t the last chart toppers McFly achieved, with the quartet racking up an extremely impressive seven best sellers in their time, with Star Girl, their cover of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now and I’ll Be Ok all fantastically sugary highlights.
Over the next few years, McFly always found a home for their brand of nostalgic pop-rock, with the group only having one song not enter the singles chart in the top five between their debut in 2004 and 2008.
This happy trend that goes all the way through McFly’s songs, with their entire discography just filled with fun, socially inclusive and family friendly rocky tinged pop. It’s also incredibly happy and feel good, with the band going out of their way to put a smile on the world.
Outside of the music too, the quartet always appeared to have the same levels of self-deprecating humour and quirk that you’d expect for a band named after the lead character in Back To The Future.
The group weren’t a favourite of everyone though. Only averagely reviewed by critics, the group were criticised for their songs lacking depth and being very superficial. While those evaluations still ring true today, it’s very rare that mainstream pop ever goes deeper than a puddle.
Yes, McFly are cheesy, yes they’re not The Beatles and they’re not going to win the Mercury music prize any time soon. McFly could even be classified as a guilty pleasure, but they’re just so
While it was easy back then to criticise the band’s output, in hindsight McFly cause quite a large dollop of nostalgia. With self-penned, meaningful lyrics and rowdy, bouncy guitars throughout their catalogue, McFly stand head and shoulders above the current crop of mewling boy bands with their one-note lyrics.
Something makes us think we’re not going to get the same levels of rosy-specced wistfulness over One Direction or JLS.
Click here to buy the album Memory Lane: The Best Of McFly
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
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