Unsaid Things: Our Story

I have personally never been a fan of celebrity autobiographies. Many of them are glossy hardbacks filled with pictures and trivia you could find online with one search. Understandably, I was rather reluctant to pick up McFly’s autobiography, Unsaid Things: Our Story for this very reason. Unsaid Things, however, is far from glossy. The book spills all on the trials and tribulations of being in one of Britain’s biggest pop bands; from beating records set by The Beatles to depression and alcoholism.

Unsaid Things allows the reader into the world of McFly. Starting right from the beginning, Tom, Danny, Dougie and Harry talk us through their lives, from childhood right through until the present day; through all of the hardships and high times of their ten-year career in the music industry. The book reads more like a conversation between themselves than a regular autobiography, with the boys interrupting each other and adding little snippets of otherwise forgotten information into each other’s’ stories, and this shows exactly how close the band are. Housemates, bandmates and best friends, you really get a sense of the band dynamic simply from reading the words that they put on the page. Although writing as a unit, you can see the individual personalities shining through, and the usual blaze humour that McFly so often demonstrate in interviews is present in bucketloads.

The thing that struck me about Unsaid Things was how raw it was. McFly don’t big up stardom, they don’t act as if everything ran smoothly over the years. They let us into some of the darkest times in their lives, showing us that being band as famous as they are isn’t always easy. Any secrets that they had in the past are revealed throughout the chapters in a way that is both admirable and heartbreaking at the same time. Stories that no one thought would be associated to a clean-cut band like McFly are outed with rash honesty. They tell us about struggles with alcohol and drugs, with depression, with family issues and with struggling to fit in. It hasn’t been all bad though. They document some of the luckiest moments of their lives within the book, the emotions and sense of pride evident when they talk about every piece of work they have released.

Unsaid Things doesn’t only give us an insight into the personal lives of the band. It shows the intricate workings of being in a band and the things that are involved. It tells us about the way that the albums were recorded, and how they went about writing the songs included. It shows us how their sound has matured and grown as they have; how the lyrics have changed and grown up over the years and how the guys have bettered themselves as musicians and performers.

Unsaid Things: Our Story is far from the annual-style book that many similar bands have brought out in the past. Packed full with witty remarks, stark truths and stories aplenty, the book beautifully illustrates the story of four ordinary boys who managed to make it big.