On this page you will find reviews of busted albums and songs. The firstone is a track by track album review by the boys themselves. (Taken from the official site www.busted.com)
E-MAIL ME YOUR REVIEWS AND THEY WILL BE PUT ON HERE!!
CONTACT ME!!
What I Go To School For
"I think when I look back on this album, this'll end up being my favourite song," James reckons. "It'll always be the song that introduced Busted to the world." For those of you who don't know (where have you been?), "What I Go To School For" is the hormone-driven tribute to Matt's old science teacher, Miss Mackenzie. "I would like to point out," Matt adds, "that I did not actually end up with my teacher. It did not happen." Well that's that sorted, then.
Crash & Burn
A rabble-rousing, Ash-style chorus masks this tale of that ultimate teenage catastrophe: rejection. In front of all your mates. Ouch. "We were absolute losers at school," Mattie guffaws. "Everyone's gone through being blown out. I remember the first time I went through it, I just felt like such a bloody idiot, and you do feel like everyone's laughing at you and you want a hole to swallow you up." Still, there's a light at the end of the tunnel-dare we ask what the line "Ask you sister what you're missing" could mean?
Britney
An anthemic if slightly mucky paean to Ms Spears. "I'm such a huge fan of Max Martin," James says of the Swedish uber-producer behind hits for everyone from Britney to *NSYNC. "Loads of his songs are referenced in 'Britney', especially ones Justin was involved with." In fact one line about Britney's ex ("Throw Justin in the dustbin") was removed from the song because the boys are such huge fans of his. This track is typical of Busted's cheeky, Blink-182-style lyricism with a fine sense of comic timing and a huge tune right over the top, with a cheeky musical nod to Max Martin's production halfway through. Not to mention a familiar-sounding guitar lick... "We haven't actually stolen Coldplay's guitar sound," Mattie explains. "It's appropriated! It's postmodern!" Well, quite.
Losing You
"The ballad!" Charlie screams. "Probably the most cheesy song on the album. But good cheese." Mattie qualifies the cheese factor: "It's not Tesco Value cheddar. This is brie! Nice, ripe brie. It smells as good as it tastes!" James, meanwhile, explains further: "It's about losing someone. Hence the name. It was written from a riff-I started playing this bassline, then we all just built it up from there, and nicked a verse from another song we'd written, then crash bang wallop the song was there. Easy!"
Year 3000
It's that old story: boy arrives home at lunchtime, boy hears noise in back yard, boy discovers next door neighbour clambering out of a time machine, screaming "I've been to the year 3000...And your great great great-granddaughter is pretty fine". A true story, obviously. "'Back To The Future' was such a brilliant film!" exclaims James. "We're all huge fans, so we thought we'd write a song about it." Matt issues an apology: "The chorus, we're afraid, is a bit of a lyrical fiasco because of course if it's in 998 years it'll be more than your great great great granddaughter. The correct number of greats obviously wouldn't fit, unless we did a 12'' version, but you get the general idea." If Mattie could travel in time he'd go back to the punk explosion of 1976. (nb: According to the song, by the year 3000 "This song had gone multi-platinum, and everybody bought our seventh album".)
Psycho Girl
Written in a hotel room a little over a year ago, this is another of James' songs, and one of his favourites on the album. "She's just this girl I know," he shrugs. "We didn't agree on anything, nothing I did was right, and I couldn't stand being with her, but at the same time I really needed her. She knows it's about her." Matt can sympathise: "I always end up with the psycho girls. I try not to, but there they are. There are a lot about!"
All The Way
From its Green Day-esque opening chords to the classic pop tones of its runaway chorus, 'All The Way' is Busted through and through-with that typically Busted subject matter of girls who don't put out! As Mattie explains, "It's about girls that tease you. Girls that lead you on. What an annoying type of girl!" 'All The Way' is an American Pie-inspired plea for help-since, as the boys euphemistically point out in the song, "You've got to understand that things are getting out of hand." Whether popstardom is likely to change the boys' luck remains to be seen: "I'm hoping for easy girls now, to be honest," Mattie states. Then adds: "That's a joke." Right you are, Mattie.
Sleeping With The Lights On
"This," announces Mattie triumphantly, "is the first song James and I ever wrote together!" And what a way to start: "Girl's left you," James summarises. "Classic excuse for writing a song." There are some killer lyrics in the song-and the boys all agree that the "Sharks swim through my veins" line is among the most emotive on the album. "Sleeping with the lights on is also useful if you come in pissed," Mattie adds. "Put the lights on, keep one hand touching the floor, and it stops the room spinning."
Dawson's Geek
"The song was originally called 'Vain Boy'" James explains, "and we wrote it about this kid we knew. But then we realized that the kid looked like one of the characters from 'Dawson's Creek'. Basically, he thinks he's James Van Der Beek." Matt continues: "This song was done in like seven minutes! You know these kids who think they're clever, trying to undermine everything you say with really long words? SPEAK PROPERLY! I think our chances of getting on a 'Dawson's Creek' soundtrack were always fairly slim, now they're zero, haha!"
When Day Turns Into Night
Matt and Charlie both list this, a broody, downtempo number about being away from home, as being among their favourites on the album. "We went through an entire phase when we were looking for record deals and coming to London," Mattie recalls, "and we'd be staying in hotels all the time. It was exciting to begin with but after a while you just realize you've turned into Alan Partridge." As ever, the Busted work ethic kicked in. "Those situations are perfect for songwriting," James explains. "You need to be a bit maudlin every now and again."
Everything I Knew
Though James admits that this is another "big, singalong, happy-sounding" Busted track, the reality is a little sadder-dammit, it's another postcard from the edge of a broken relationship! "It's similar in theme to 'Sleeping With The Lights On' and 'Losing You'," Charlie nods. "It's reminiscing about a relationship, thinking 'Why did I let her go?'" Mattie adds: "It's like she was your whole life, such a big part of you, and it's suddenly gone, like that, out of the window, and your entire life has to adjust. It sounds a bit naff, but there you go."
Without You
An epic outing for Charlie's vocal gymnastics, on a song he wrote a couple of years ago in the fallout of one of those horribly complicated relationship issues that characterizes adolescence. "I was in quite a deep relationship," Charlie explains, "but there was this ridiculous hierarchy which meant that because I was in the upper fifth, and my girlfriend was in the upper sixth, everyone was giving us shit. The song's about all her friends telling her to stop going out with me. The moral is: Age doesn't matter in a relationship." The production pays tribute to Charlie's heroes Jimmy Eat World: "The guitars are all reversed at the end," he declares.
Loser Kid
Miss Mackenzie reappears! This song is set a year on from 'What I Go To School For'. "We're living with her at this stage," Now everywhere you go it's, 'Well, he's not a loser kid any more'. It's about James, basically, haha!"
