The Fly’s Noughtie Streak: 2007

It’s January and download singles now count towards the charts. Hooray! Plus, for all the space freaks, we’ve finally – FINALLY – reached the International Heliophysical Year; a UN-sponsored but scientifically driven international program of scientific collaboration to understand external drivers of planetary environments and universal processes in solar-terrestrial-planetary-heliospheric physics. Thank Christ.
Less intergalactically, there are protests in India and the UK against the racial bullying of actress Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother. Jade Goody is the ringleader, and later makes a teary apology to the nation for calling the Bollywood star ‘Shilpa Poppadom’. Still, at least this now overshadows her assertion that “Sherlock Holmes invented toilets”. Years from now, who’ll remember that, eh?
In May, Nicolas Sarkozy is elected as the new French President, whilst in June, Japanese archaeologists make a startling discovery as they unearth a 2,000 year-old melon. Prompting the question, what the hell were a team of Japanese archaeologists doing at the fruit and veg counter in Netto? Honk Honk!
July, and the final book of the Harry Potter series, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ sells over 11 million copies in its first 24 hours, whilst just two weeks later an outbreak of Foot And Mouth disease further proves that the British people can be moved to hysteria by the uninvited outpourings of any old cow.
In October, Radiohead announce that their new album ‘In Rainbows’ will be available for download in ten days time, and you’ll be able to pay what you like for it.
Whilst finally, in December, Led Zeppelin reform for one night only at London’s O2 Arena. That sound you can hear is the metalheads still going “YYEEAAH!”

HI! Bands who formed in 2007: Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band, Empire Of The Sun, Florence And The Machine, Marina And The Diamonds, School Of Seven Bells, The Big Pink, White Lies.

I MISSED YOU GUYS! Bands who came back in 2007: Buffalo Tom, Eagles, Led Zeppelin, My Bloody Valentine, Rage Against The Machine, Sex Pistols, Shellac, Smashing Pumpkins, Spice Girls, Swervedriver, The Verve.

BYE! Bands who split in 2007: The Cooper Temple Clause, The Distillers, The Fugees, Larrikin Love, Le Tigre, Morning Runner, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Yourcodenameis:milo

Mercury Prize winner: Klaxons – ‘Myths Of The Near Future’

Album of the year: Kings Of Leon - ‘Because Of The Times’

Deaths: John Pyke, Ra Ra Riot drummer, 23, Tony Wilson, Factory Records founder, 57, Luciano Pavarotti, 71, Ike Turner, 76, Kurt Vonnegut, novelist, 84, Boris Yeltsin, former Russian President, 76, Ingmar Bergman, film director, 89, Evel Kneivel, daredevil, 69, Karlheinz Stockhausen, groundbreaking electronic composer, 79, Oscar Peterson, jazz pianist, 82.

The Fly covers:
Wimbledon scamp Jamie T is the first person to get a Fly cover all to himself since the composite face back in 2002. Fortunately Jamie’s a bit better looking, although Russ, our designer, has to be physically restrained from straightening his wonky tooth. It took four of us, cos Russ is a ninja. KA-POW!
February, and we’ve another appearance from Bloc Party, whose second album ‘Weekend In The City’ is a shadowy dose of industrial creepiness. Strangely, the band look a bit bored on the cover. Don’t they know they’re any good? Somebody should tell them.
March, and Kaiser Chiefs also return, armed with their first number one album ‘Yours Truly Angry Mob’ and the beery-bawl-along ‘RoobehRoobehRoobehROOOBEH!nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-naaaah!’ which completes a nice double, as it’s their first number one single, too.
April, and Maximo Park’s second record ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’, earns them a spot on the front of the mag, whilst inside, Arctic Monkeys’ massively anticipated second effort ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ is album of the month, and we finally manage to publish an Electric Soft Parade feature that doesn’t involve a bagful of croissants and some badly Photoshopped landmarks. Yazoo!
May and The Cribs return with ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’, not that we’re paying attention, as instead we’re completely hypnotized by Ryan Jarman’s tiny, tiny T-shirt. Seriously Ryan. It looks like a hand-me-up from Verne Troyer.
June hails the return of Editors, July announces the sneering snarl of The Enemy, August brings back Hard-Fi, and September folds out into one massive Foo Fighters cover, celebrating the fifth birthday of Zane Lowe’s MTV Gonzo.
October, and hip-shakin’ fluffy-haired indiemuffin Jack Peñate is the first person to get a Fly cover all to himself since Jamie T back in January. Actually that’s not a very impressive stat this time round, is it? Still, there he is anyway.
November, and our final issue of the year sees a long overdue appearance by Kings Of Leon, whose breath-taking new album ‘Because Of The Times’ is one of the two best albums of the ye— oh shit, we haven’t done a Klaxons cover, have we? Bugger…