When I was around 11 years old, I bought a book of Guinness World Records. There were obviously lots and lots of impressive records, but one that kind of surprised me was that a band, Mcfly, had taken the title of “youngest band ever to have an album debut at number one” from the Beatles. Being young—and my experience with music mostly being Phil Collins, N*Sync, and Hilary Duff—I was impressed. But also kinda uncomfortable, because the picture of McFly was a bunch of strangely dressed boys, with even stranger hairstyles, making weird expressions. It was a bit of a tun-off.
I had no idea at that point, that McFly would go on to be the most important, cherished, and guiding-star group of people (that I don’t know) in my entire life.
Years later, when I was 15, I was using YouTube a lot to primarily discover new music. I remembered there was a band that beat out the Beatles, and that interested me, so I finally looked up their music. And that was it. I don’t even remember the first song of their I listen to—though, if I had to guess, it’d be either Five Colours in Her Hair, I’ve Got You, or I Wanna Hold You. Whatever the song was, I loved it, and listened through more and more of their songs, then buying whatever songs (so few!) that were available on the American iTunes with my very first iPod—Nano—that I bought with my own earned-money.
Side note—this iPod was a very big deal. I named him Steve, as I had a quote by Crazy Steve, from the show Drake & Josh, engraved on the back. “You ate my enchilada!”
From that first time I listened to them, their songs just struck something in me. Some of it was probably just the awesome guitar riffs. When I was a child, I loved playing Jet Moto 2 in part because of the music, which my mom found too hard, but I just loved. I also took a liking to Danger Zone from the Top Gun soundtrack. But it was more than that. McFly has done a lot of covers of older songs—I famously like to say “McFly sing the Beatles better than the Beatles”, and I’m right—but they also were clearly inspired by, and had a love for older music. And in the 2000s, when music was rapidly declining in complexity, and just sounding good, that was a big deal. I never felt like, through my search of music that started as a teenager, I was ever as valid as some really hard-core music listeners. However, with them, I was introduced to many more ‘legitimate’ artists through McFly’s covers, and their more ‘vintage’ sound, and listened to those artists as a result.
For the uninitiated, McFly is comprised of 4 guys, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter, and Harry Judd. Tom is fantastic musically, and Dougie (bass) and Harry (drums) bring 100%, and aren’t just mostly-unused or unfeatured, which make a huge difference in songs, and Danny just has t h e voice (pun intended?). All together, they create something magic in music.
I specifically remember, when listening to McFly was quite new, driving home in the early Autumn darkness, after theatre rehearsals, listening to I’ve Got You, and discussing how much I liked this band with whatever parent happend to be driving me home that day. I knew I had found a band that felt different to me than other artists had.
It was only a matter of time before even the songs that didn’t pull me in originally become favourites (except a few. There are a few I completely disavow. Like anything with my name in it). I found all their songs on YouTube, and even listened to live performances from interviews. I have always had a special place in my heart for less polished music, and they sounded so good live and unplugged! I got my best friend, at the time, interested in their music, and she started watching all sorts of strange videos they had online, and sending them to me. I still quote some of them.
I also really loved watching their concerts. Back then, the quality wasn’t great, but I would watch a whole line up, just because I loved the songs, and the energy they brought to shows was palpable, even through my computer screen. I also learned which high-quality audio lyric videos would cut away to pictures of McFly performing nude, and know exactly when to click away, or minimize, so as to not be flashed when I just wanted to sing along while no one else was home. I love, love, love McFly, but not in that way.
Around that same time, I was following the band on Facebook, and realized their amusing updates and thoughts were all coming from Twitter. So I got a Twitter account just to follow McFly being silly. And I had a great time doing so. I was particularly fond of the Tom + Dougie battles, where they’d have a sort of fake argument. “And then I’d turn into a fish and swim around your body, and you would find it really weird and irritating”. If you think my husband, Todd, and I don’t say that to each other with some regularity, you’re wrong.
So, when I was 16, I was delighted to have a new McFly album coming out, after listening to them for about a year. Enough that, for my English class, when I had to write a paper about something I was excited about, and why it meant something to me, I chose the Radio:ACTIVE release. It was the first new album I’d get to experience, as opposed to just listening to older stuff. My teacher seemed happy for me. I was clearly psyched. As I prepared for college about a year later, I found myself ripping more and more alternate version of songs, lives, or straight up demos off YouTube to add to my McFly music collection.
Then, when I was flying out to Utah to visit BYU for a tour, we stopped in Atlanta…when McFly was there recording for Above the Noise. I was excited to be in possibly the closest proximity I’d ever be to my favourite band, so I was a bit of a creep and determined a general location of where they were recording, and found out how far it was away from the airport. Totally normal stuff. As I was getting giddy about landing, my mom happened to be sitting next to a British man, and he asked her why I was so excited. She told him, and when he learned I was a McFly fan, his response—I crap you not—was, “Oh, that one-hit-wonder band?”. He seemed otherwise pleasant enough, but in the nicest way possible: eff that guy!
Unfortunately, shortly after getting back, I fell into a depression. It is understandable given the big life-change, and moving 2,000 miles away, but it was a terrible period. Throughout that time, I couldn’t consume much of any sort of tv shows, movies, books, or music. But I did listen to I’ll Be Okay—even if I definitely did not know I would be—almost exclusively.
Luckily, my depression was seasonal (yeah, seasonal summer), and once I was at school and settled, it sorted itself out, for the time being. One of the things I had to look forward to was Above the Noise. And, any McFly fans may remember, this is when they launched their ‘state of the art’ website, Super City. It was a little too much, and didn’t last long, especially with the demand, but I was one of the ones that did manage to create an account and log on before it shorted out. My username was ‘sunkissed’, as in “She will always be my sun-kissed trampoline” from the ridiculous song Joanna, which I thought made more sense as a song to sing to my beloved cat, Chrissy.
Overall, I was happy to have new McFly songs to listen to, even if it was their pop-iest sound yet, and my roommate even liked Shine a Light enough, and me singing with it, to request it. The next semester, I took a vocal class, and ironed out a duet for Falling in Love where I recorded the ‘normal’ vocal part in Garage Band, and then sang my duet part live for my final. I got an A in the class.
That year, I also dutifully watched Danny Jones compete on Pop Star to Opera Star. I was very proud of how far my favourite singer made it. I even added the Twitter support badge. I’ve actually tried to watch whatever competition show a the boys have been on, including the episodes I could find of Harry of Strictly, and Tom on that minute-to-win-it-type show. I couldn’t watch Dougie on I’m a Celebrity…, even though he won, sorry.
That summer, I worked as a nanny for some friends, and ended up utilizing the ripped song Hotel on a Hill as the lullaby to get the youngest child to nap. I really loved the family I nannied for, and singing that song helped solidify its importance to me. I still sing it to both my kids, when I just want to sing something short when they’re having a hard time going to sleep.
In 2012, I had the choice to see McFly live. They came to the US for a few concert dates. At that time, I was already dating my would-be husband, and I recall talking to him about how the prospect was really tempting, but I was very turned-off by the idea of being in a crowd of, largely women, screaming about how much they were in love with whichever member of the band, when I just wanted to enjoy the music. A very enneagram 4 decision, I think. Little did 19 year old me know, they weren’t coming back. Ha! *Weeps*. But that year, I did get a physical McFly album for Christmas, which was nice.
One of the things I’ve benefited the most by having my favourite band be from another country is that I have been able to avoid almost all tabloid drama and gossip. Over the years, they’ve addressed a couple of things, but they weren’t things I’d really been privy to before. I feel so relived that that’s been the case. My experiences with them has been through new media, like Twitter—hearing directly from them in a way that felt more unpolished, and real. Yes, they’re cool people who do cool things, but I’ve only come across one or two other people—ever—who knew about McFly, so I’ve been spared any worrisome gossip. Which really came in handy during their 10 year pause between albums! Though the years, I’ve grown extremely fond of their dynamic, and love and support for each other. And, to be honest, I think how they are, as people, and how they interact, and the jokes they make, and just the general vibe has greatly impacted my view on how people should be, and what I expect. For better or worse. (I’ve been looking up videos to link in this post, and came across a recent interview I hadn’t seen yet. Laughed myself to tears.)
When Tom Fletcher started making videos (taking off with his Wedding Speech), I saw it before it blew up, and as he continued to make videos, I followed along with that, happy to have content from someone who felt so familiar. From there, it branched out to watching his sister, Carrie, and reading his wife, Giovanna’s, blog. I’ve followed Harry’s wife, Izzy; and watched Danny’s wife, Georgia’s, videos when she was doing the YouTube thing. And I feel like I’ve learned so much, and gained a lot of comfort learning from women just a few years old than myself as they go through major life changes.
Though I’m an ‘average person’, I’ve a l w a y s been drawn towards entertainment-type jobs, and so I still struggle a l o t with feeling unsuccessful, and with just body image, especially after two kids. And being the youngest in my friend group, and being new to the 30s, it’s still easy to interface with the narrative of being young and beautiful as the only measure of success. But, as silly as it sounds, every time I’m falling into that hole, just hearing the positivity from the McFly wives talking about parenting, and body changes is a balm. I genuinely think I’d have such a hard time, like a really hard time, if I couldn’t look to their example and experience.
Though it’s 150% a parasympathetic relationship thing, the year I graduated college, the Fletcher’s orange cat, Marvin, sadly passed away. I had found the Marvin Vs Mr. Tickles video amusing, if for no other reason than the title. I’ve only written 1 feature-length screenplay, and I called it Marvin & Mr. Tickles, to honor Marvin, because I had my beloved cat at home that I almost never saw, and was sad that this ‘internet cat’ was gone too soon. It’s not about their cat, but the main character does have red hair, and he is annoyed with a black cat. We still, with frequency, sing Tom’s Sleepy Cats Song, or just tell the children “cats should not be cooked”.
In 2014, when Todd and I got married, a l o t of the songs on our wedding playlist were McFly (because, even if he doesn’t claim being a McFly fan, he does like their music, too). And that included Love is on the Radio, from their never-released country-inspired album.
That same year, McFly joined up with Busted and released the McBusted album, which, though not strictly McFly, was still so fun. The songs were good and silly—a delight. Though my uninformed brother-in-law did say their album was, and I quote, “the crap”, as if they didn’t know they wrote dramatic and funny lyrics. They did, for really the first time, have ‘language’ on that album, but as a married adult, I just went with it, as a choice.
When I was pregnant with my oldest, once she was old enough—in utero—to hear music, I put headphones on my bump, and the only song she reacted to was Falling in Love. After she was born, I realized, when trying to sooth her, that I didn’t know what songs to sing her—I hadn’t thought about it. Naturally, I went largely with McFly songs. As a 3-year old, we gifted her albums of songs she liked + her lullabies, and she was beyond delighted. Any time she hears It’s All About You, she says, “It’s my song!” (sorry, Gi). The plurality of both kids’ songs are McFly.
When my daughter turned 1, we bought her There’s a Monster in Your Book, and it was so beloved, we’ve gone through 3 copies (loved to shreds, they were), and buy one for the 1 year olds in our life. (I wish so badly that the stage show was accessible to us!) Last year, for Christmas, we gifted our daughter with some books about princesses, and our son with The Dinosaur That Pooped a Princess!, by Dougie + Tom, as both kids are every into poo jokes. It was a hit. I’ve also personally really enjoyed reading the Eve of Man series, by Tom and Giovanna, too (the books are fun, and exciting, easy reads!).
A few years ago, when McFly said, “Hey we’ve been sorting things out, and we’re not gonna leave you hanging/be off doing so many individual projects” I was obviously stoked. The Lost Songs included so many of those more techno songs, similar to demos I’d ripped online, and we got some of those country-inspired songs. It made me feel like I had the things that were lost to that time period, in a way that made up for the gap. On their website, I tuned into most of their special events, including watching Just My Luck with them—I’d have it literally no other way. One of the two people I’ve talked to who even knew who McFly was o n l y knew them from that movie (blasphemy!), and I fancy a young Chris Pine, so I’d wanted to watch it. Given what it was, watching it constantly interrupted with silly banter was THE way to go.
When they finally, finally, f i n a l l y released Young Dumb Thrills, I was, well, comply thrilled. They still had it, despite them not feeling like they did for the unreleased album(s), and Above the Noise. I mean, I knew they would, but it’s better to be proven right than to just have faith, right? It was also my first time getting any McFly merch, gifted to me by Todd, and that sweatshirt is my most-loved sweatshirt, with only black-on-black Pizza John competing with it.
I would like to point out that when they had last released an album, I was a freshman in college. When they release YDT, I was a homeowner who had been married for 6 years, and had 2 kids, and 3 (new) cats. Just sayin’.
Listening to Young Dumb Thrills felt so good. It was like coming home. Because McFly music has always just connected with some core part of me, and to have something completely new then was, honestly, a treasure. Through all those years, most of them were also off getting married and having kids. And them being proper adults (as opposed to a young adult), now changing their narrative a bit to align with their real experiences (not just trying to be who they were as teenagers) is so wonderful. So much music is twitterpation, and fluff. And it can be fun and nice, but the fact is I’m a married 30-something with kids. And there’s space for that in McFly’s music, because they’re right there, too (sorry—except not: you’re fine—Dougie).
Last Christmas, I felt my daughter was old enough to enjoy Tom’s The Christmasaurus. Both kids had a great time reading it, and were really interested in the author being from my favourite band. And then it all came to light: they kept asking questions, and realized so many of their favorite books, their lullabies, the podcast mom listens to every week, jokes we tell, are all related to McFly. My 6 year old’s mind was blown. She might think that’s weird when she’s older. And you know what, being so influenced by a group of people is a more modern phenomenon, and it is a bit weird. A couple of weeks ago, Todd was asking if Harry Judd was a Harry or Harold, and I had a ‘That’s So Raven moment’ where, from the dredges of my memory half a lifetime ago, I remembered his name. I can’t remember any math. That is weird and upsetting.
This June, McFly released Power to Play. I have never had a favourite McFly album before. Favourite songs from albums, or overall, yeah—but the music they create, on the whole, is so good, it’s hard to pick favourites. (My all-time favourite McFly song is No Worries.) But this album is a little different. There’s a passion that is tangible. A reinvigoration they have for being in a band together, that you can feel in every song. I think they created an album that’d be the most fun to play live, and, boy, did they do that. There isn’t a single song that feels like it’s in there to be a change of pace, to a ballad just for ballad’s-sake. Every song flows together well—it’s one of those albums that you really just want to listen all the way through every time. 11/10.
McFly often is inspired by other great artists who have come before, but they always have such a district McFly sound. And this album is no different, except that the songs they were inspired by are more modern. They try out different styles, and talk about interesting things. Todd thought I was listening to Earth, Wind, and Fire, at first, when the album was new. He’s also said that this album “feels like McFly is the last true rock band” as they celebrate all styles of the genre. It’s been out a month, and its’ still what we’re listening to most of the time.
I bought the album a few times. Regular pre-order; then clean version of the explicit songs, because: kids; the extended version with extra songs; andddd a physical copy, because, this is the best McFly album ever. I even bought merch—but they did s u c h a good job, I feel like it’s well-deserved. I have evangelized about the album, and those I’ve shared it with have loved it.
I know it’s hard to compete with Brazil, but if McFly decides to tour the US anytime, I swear I’ll get tickets, and find some way to leave my kids I can enjoy the hell out of myself—at what would be my first concert ever—with the band I’ve loved half my life (actually over, now. 16 years).
I look forward with excitement ot the future of McFly, and to the new songs their write. And I feel so, so lucky that I happened to stumble into a band that is so talented (objectively), and that is comprised of good people I can enjoy singing along with, watching, experiencing their other talents, and even learning from them. It’s really not every day that you find musicians that you can look up to, and who have good values, and can help you grow up, too. They have shaped my views and thoughts in a lot of ways, gotten me through hard times, good times, my most important life-moments; and are even shaping the lives of my children. They’ve also shown me that, when you’re really best friends, even with busy schedules and families, and time in between, you can still come together like no time has passed at all, and be brilliant.
I give McFly 5 stars.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
