McFly 'Lies'

Chart Peak: 4
YouTube (song starts at approx 1:29)

The McFly boys' latest offering, 'Lies', reached No. 4 on its release in September 2008, making that their 15th Top Ten single since they formed in 2004... They will be on a massive UK arena tour throughout the whole of November.

This was a slightly confusing point in their career, when they'd already reached the typical boy band lifespan and released a Greatest Hits album. Having parted from their major-label contract at this point they should have been on the fast track to obscurity, and giving away the original version of their fourth album as a newspaper covermount hardly seemed a show of strength.

However, they were smart or cynical enough to hold back a couple of tracks from the freebie album for the later commercial release, one of which was to be released as a single. As it turns out, 'Lies' was not only a hit but one of the best things they've ever recorded, a brilliantly arranged Britpop stomp with some tasty piano playing by local lad Tom Fletcher and a real-sounding brass section. The lyric is perhaps a little on the vicious side with its apparent (if not entirely believable) threats of violence to an ex, but that's the only flaw to what was otherwise one of the best singles of 2008. And you can quote me on that.

Also appearing on: Now 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 77, 78 (with Taio Cruz), 84
Available on: Radio:Active

McFly 'Sorry's Not Good Enough'

Chart Peak: 3

YouTube

'Sorry's Not Good Enough' was the boy's {sic} 2nd single from the album Motion In The Ocean - it gave the lads a Top 3 hit in December 2006, their ninth UK Top 3 single since they arrived on the scene with the No.1 smash 'Five Colours In Her Hair' in April 2004

It was of course the third single (after 'Please Please' and 'Star Girl'), and officially a double A-side with 'Friday Night', but this is the side that people remember, if they remember the single at all. By this stage in their career, McFly had acquired a reputation for short chart runs and highly frontloaded sales thanks to cleverly targetted marketing to the fans, which explains how this could smash in at 3 in Christmas week, and then tumble to 20 the week after even with the traditional nosedive of overall sales in that week; in fact 2006 was the last year that nosedive happened, but that's another story.

Certainly on the handful of occasions I heard this song at the time, I thought it perfunctory at best, but I have to admit that over the years I've rather come to the conclusion that McFly are a good pop thing. Obviously, somebody who counts 'Beetlebum' among his favourite Number One singles can hardly complain about anyone else having short chart runs, and I might be a tiny bit biased because Ton Fletcher is from Harrow, but I actually rather admire them for their tenacity and lack of pretension. This is still one of their less deserved hits, but sounds better now than I expected. The video's a bit dodgy though.

Also appearing on: Now 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 71, 77, 78 (with Taio Cruz)
Available on: Motion In The Ocean