McFly

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/wiki/McFlycreator
L-R: Tom, Dougie, Danny, Harry
Everyone asked me who the hell is she? That weirdo with five colours in her hair

McFly are a British Pop-Rock band who were formed in 2003. While being rather obscure in most overseas countries (In America, non-fans will probably only know them from the movie Just My Luck, if they've even heard of them at all), they're a mainstream success in the UK, with 15 top-ten singles, 7 number ones and a World Record for youngest band ever to have their debut album chart at number 1 (The record was previously held by The Beatles).

In 2006 they has supporting roles in Just My Luck, alongside Lindsay Lohan. (It was there that Harry and Lindsay would have a supposed fling, which inspired their song 'Please Please')

McFly have released 5 Studio Albums (6 if you count "Just My Luck" in the US), 2 Greatest Hits Albums (One regular, one exclusively B-sides sold only in certain Woolworths stores), 3 live DVDs and one movie (Not counting "Just My Luck").

Yes, they are indeed named after the family from Back to The Future.

The members of McFly are:

  • Tom Fletcher (Guitar, piano, vocals)
  • Danny Jones (Guitar, vocals)
  • Dougie Poynter (Bass, vocals)
  • Harry Judd (Drums)
Discography:
  • Room on the 3rd Floor (2004)
  • Wonderland (2005)
  • Just My Luck (2006) (USA Only)
  • Motion in the Ocean (2006)
  • All The Greatest Hits (2007)
  • The Greatest Bits: B-Sides and Rarities (2007) (Woolworths stores only)
  • Radio:ACTIVE (2008)
  • Above the Noise (2010)
  • Young Dumb Thrills (2020)

McFly provides examples of the following tropes:
  • A Day in the Limelight: Dougie, who is normally reduced to just singing backup, gets to be the lead vocalist in 'Transylvania', and B-sides Ignorance and Silence is a Scary Sound
    • Also the storyline part of the video for "That's The Truth" is about him.
  • Album Title Drop: They seem to like this trope:
    • "Wonderland" comes from the first verse of Ultraviolet; "Nothing goes to plan, it's all a game of chance they say in Wonderland"
    • "Please, Please" from their third album "Motion in the Ocean" uses "Let's get the motion in the ocean so turn off your phone now"
    • "Above The Noise" appeared in the first lines of the second verse in "Shine a Light"; "Tell me can you hear my voice, loud and clear above the noise?"
  • Audience Participation Song: "One For The Radio"
  • Bi the Way: According to Dougie, all of them.
  • Bishonen: Dougie looks disturbingly good in drag [dead link].
    • Danny would count as this too.
  • Break Up Song: "Bubblewrap". "POV", "Too Close For Comfort" too.
    • "Don't Know Why" could qualify too. Danny and his sister wrote it about their parent's split.
  • B-Side: Quite often. Usually they are either Cover Versions or previews of songs from an upcoming new album.
  • The Cover Changes the Gender: They averted this when they covered I Kissed a Girl.
  • The Cover Changes the Meaning: Thanks to the above, their cover of 'I Kissed a Girl' changed to be about a gay man questioning his sexuality.
  • Cover Version: Lots of them.
  • Darker and Edgier: The video for Party Girl
  • Driven to Suicide: What "She Falls Asleep" is about.
  • Don't Try This At Home: This disclaimer pops up during the video for "Star Girl", during a scene in which Dougie jumps off the roof of a house. Some channels had this scene removed altogether.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: The premise for "The Last Song"

"If this is the last song I'll ever sing,
I'm giving it everything, I'm giving it all"

"There's nothing on Earth that could save us, when I fell in love with Uranus"

  • Interspecies Romance: 'Star Girl' is about falling for an alien woman.
  • Looped Lyrics: Do Ya
  • Lyrical Dissonance: 'The Ballad Of Paul K' sounds quite cheerful and calming for a song about a man going through a mid-life crisis.
    • "Don't Know Why" has very cheery, great to dance to music and the lyrics are about a guy sitting in the pub with his dad who's splitting up with his wife because he's found someone else.

"I don't want to know your game, let alone her name. No matter what you say to me, we are not the same"

  • Media Watchdog: The video for "Do Ya" was not allowed to be aired on some channels due to its violent content. Likewise, "Party Girl" had to have some scenes removed in order to be allowed on television.
  • The Movie: Parodied during one of their interviews; Coming soon: The McFly: The Interview: The Movie
  • New Sound Album: 'Above The Noise'
  • No Export for You: McFly released their fourth studio album for free in copies of The Mail on Sunday, a UK-based newspaper. So of course, fans outside of the UK were unable to own the album at all, let alone for free. A new version of the album (with additional songs) was later released to buy in-store, making it easier for their fanbase outside of the UK to own a copy.
    • "The Greatest Bits" was a compliation album of B-Sides only released in Woolworths stores in the UK. As if this didn't make it hard enough for non-UK fans to get a hold of a copy, the Woolworths franchise collapsed due to the 2008 recession and all the stores closed down as a result, making this album the rarest and most sought-after of McFly's releases.
  • Non-Appearing Title: "Transylvania"
  • Rockumentary: Short ones were usually included as special features on their live DVDs. A four-episode documentary of their Up Close and Personal tour was aired on MTV in the UK.
    • Also there was a six part fly on the wall documentary aired on 5* in the UK in 2011, Brilliantly named McFly On The Wall.
  • Signature Song: 5 Colours in her Hair
  • Shout-Out: Their name is a Shout Out to Back to The Future.
  • Spiritual Successor: They're considered to be this to Busted, due to the fact that Tom once auditioned for the band, they mostly became known through being Busted's support act on their arena tour and the fact that they've remained friends with at least two of Busted's former members, James Bourne in particular helping to write several McFly songs (with Tom doing the same with Busted's songs early in his career).
  • Studio Chatter: The end of "5 Colours in her Hair".
  • The Something Song: "The Last Song", "This Song"
  • This Is Sparta: "WE! DON'T! WE! DON'T! CARE!"
  • Vocal Tag Team
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: The "Transylvania" video features the entire band (Though it specifically focused on Dougie) wearing fancy Period Dresses, nightgowns and wigs.
  • Wolverine Publicity: In the UK, most of the publicity for Just My Luck was based on the fact that McFly were starring in it. They weren't even major characters.