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Review rated by 65 Ciao members on average: very helpful
Mcfly are a band of 4 teenagers who write their own songs and play their own music. They consist of Danny, Dougie (the youngest one) Harry (drums) and Tom. They have close Busted connections and James from Busted helped co-write some of the songs. They also used to support Busted at their gigs. Mcfly also have the same management as Busted. They also happen to be extremely cute!
The music is heartfelt and a mixture of pop and light rock. Real One Player describes it as being ‘surf rock’ which is a whole new genre! The lyrics can be a bit cheesy but are very funny as well. The Beatles, Chuck Berry and the Beach Boys have inspired Mcfly and they have even sung some Beatles cover songs live.
Track 1: Five Colours in Her Hair “Everybody wants to know her name…I threw a house party and she came…’ You’ve probably heard this song. It is very fun and has a fast beat and is the sort of song that you feel inspired to leap up and dance too! The video for it is very funny. The song is about a girl with ‘five colours in her hair,’ and that’s about it! This single went to Number 1 where it stayed for two weeks. It is based on a girl from the Channel 4 teenage drama programme As If. 8/10
Track 2: Obviously This is a song about not being good enough for a girl. In the video the boys are acting as golf caddies whilst the girl in question is golfing with her parents and her boyfriend who is ‘ 23 and in the Marines.’ They originally had the boyfriend as being in the police force but thought the Marines sounded better! The chorus goes ‘Obviously, she’s out of my league, but how
can I win, she keeps dragging me in…’ There is some slight over-reaction here as the boys say they want to go ‘off to LA and that’s where I’ll stay for two years!’ This is probably the best song on the album and I will give it 9/10.
Track 3: Room on the Third Floor. This has a slower tempo than the other two. It’s about staying in a dingy hotel room. Danny and Tom stayed on the third floor at the London Inter-Continental when they were writing some songs (I believe it was room 363) and this is where this song was inspired. The chorus contains a sing along Hey Jude Beatles-style "naah naah naah" chant, which works quite well. The song is all about keeping ‘your feet on the ground.’ I give this 8.5/10.
Track 4: That Girl “James (from Busted) and I had just finished writing two of the songs which ended up on the second Busted album,” Tom recalls. “But we knew that this song wasn’t Busted-ish and I’d just finished listening to the Beach Boys – a friend had given me their greatest hits and I’d been listening to it non-stop.” This song is basically about a boy getting a girl even though his friends said he wouldn’t and then losing the girl again. ‘Dude you’re being silly, you’re never gonna get that girl.’ Not my favourite track but still I will give it 7.5/10.
Track 5: Hypnotised Has a feel of ‘Mrs Robinson’ in it. This song is about being obsessed by a girl like a certain friend of mine…no names being mentioned of course! ‘I can’t seem to get you off my mind…you had me hypnotised.’ This song contains traces of the harmonica. Not a bad song, just not one of my favourites. 7/10.
Track 6: Saturday Night This song has fantastic lyrics and an upbeat tempo. Some great guitar chords in it as well. It is basically about having a huge house party on a Saturday night. ‘Gotta find a girl you like…and if someone’s feeling sick get them in the garden quick…you know that everybody likes to party on a Saturday night.’ Evokes memories of the fun teenage parties that I have been too! Very catchy and amusing. The line ‘no-one here to check if you’re underage’ is a reference to Dougie still not being old enough to order booze in a pub-at the time of writing anyway. Tom however admitted that he has “never had 20,000 people at a party-I wouldn’t have room.” Indeed. 8/10
Track 7: Met this Girl In Danny’s own words: “This song is about someone who is fit, walking into a room.” Not much more to add really! 7/10
Track 8: She Left Me Mcfly are fans of a 80s film Back To The Future, in which a character called Marty Mcfly (duh!) travels back to the 1950s. When Marty is in the 1950s, he goes to a high school prom. ‘She Left Me’ is just the type of traditional tune you’d expect to listen to at a 50s teenage dance with the cascading guitar loops and swooshy harmonised backing vocals. When I first heard it I immediately thought of the film Grease. ‘Now I can’t believe she’s gone…and now I just can’t move on.’ Emotional stuff. 8/10
Track 9: Down by the Lake This is a song about a father not liking his daughter’s choice of boyfriend. ‘Said he saw you last night making out by the lake…said I look pretty cute but I don’t get the grades…he doesn’t give his consent so now we can’t afford the perfect wedding you want.’ The boyfriend doesn’t like the dad either: ‘Told him once I liked him but I lied.’ The great harmony kind of falls on itself and leads into the final chorus-‘We’re better off when daddy’s out of town.’ Great stuff. 8/10
Track 10: Unsaid things This song is about fancying a girl 7 years ago and still lusting after her. ‘I’ve still got so many unsaid things that I wanna say…’ Unfortunately she is pregnant and has a fiancée. “Her fiancé is the same guy who’s in the Marines in ‘Obviously’,” Tom explains. “A lot of our characters turn up at different points in the album.” But what of the controversial “pregnant with a baby” line? “My whole family keep reminding me how stupid that lyric is,” Tom groans. Oh dear. I’ll give it 7.5/10
Track 11: Surfer Babe ‘I just wanna date a surfer babe.’ Quite. Not one of my favourite songs. Not a bad song though. 7/10
Track 12: Not alone Quite a sweet, slow song that increases in speed as it gathers pace. This is Danny’s solo song.
“This is one of the best songs I’ve written. I wrote it in my room at college when I was sixteen years old – I was bored and depressed, and I was travelling to and from London all the time to see Tom, and I didn’t know where everything was heading. But at the same time, because I’m Catholic, I did feel that I wasn’t alone. It sounds cheesy but this song is a bit of me. Some of my influences are in there – like Bruce Springsteen – and I think it represents what I personally bring to the band.”
Bless. It’s a very nice song that has thought provoking lyrics. ‘My tired radio keeps playing tired songs…everyday seems to be the same…but I’m not alone…’ 8/10
Track 13: Broccoli A good song that is about cooking for a girl and then she blows you off. ‘I’m a virgin in the kitchen…I should have known so much better…but it’s so hard I can’t forget her…’ It’s also about a girl playing a guy around. 8/10
The Bottom Line: If you like Busted you will like Mcfly. I have a varied musical preference, I love Lostprophets, Brand New, Avril Lavinge and lots others and yet I also have a not-so-secret Busted love! Room on the Third Floor is a fantastic summer album and if you like the first two singles you are bound to like the album.
www.mcflyofficial.com
All lyrics belong to Mcfly. Various quotes from the boys are featured.
This review is great Mcfly are great artists and i went out and bought the album straight away i luv mcfly!! and i think the music is aimed for teenagers rather than adults.
Really good review, although McFly don't really do it for me... Strangely enough, I know Tom's younger sister quite well... She looks a bit like him! Ellie x
el's big-budget pop spend and bona-fide talent--a calculated attempt to win over kids who have grown cynical about the manufactured pop industry and crave something more real...
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22.04.2005 15:12
I hate to admit it but I love McFly - you can't help but sing and dance along!
26.03.2005 13:52
This review is great Mcfly are great artists and i went out and bought the album straight away i luv mcfly!! and i think the music is aimed for teenagers rather than adults.
01.01.2005 04:15
Really good review, although McFly don't really do it for me... Strangely enough, I know Tom's younger sister quite well... She looks a bit like him! Ellie x