five years on & trending (hopefully)

Just a quick post before I go to bed and Charlie's battery dies on me. Today marks five years since Busted split up. To commemorate this, fans are trying to get #Busted trending on Twitter. May any of you be of any assistance? I will be posting more later on, but for now I must sleep or else I'd be in danger of falling asleep on ladders or dropping a shelf on my head in my drowsiness at work.

Left to Right: Charlie, Matt, James

Photobucket via Serraxo

So, it's been a while since I posted that bit up at the top, but other things came up, which will be ensuing in the numerous posts to follow. It is now the 25th of January - five years and eleven days since the fateful press conference in which they announced their split at the Soho Hotel in London.

Now although this news shattered me then, Charlie (who was the reason for the split) - was not feeling fulfilled by the kind of music they were creating - was feeling quite miserable in the band, and I had to let it go. After all, you couldn't ask someone to continue doing something they didn't want to do - would you? At least, that was my reasoning, however other fans were so not understanding. Charlie's new band Fightstar (an alternative rock, post-hardcore, borderline screamo band he formed as a side project during the late stages of Busted), were met with a lot of angry Busted fans at some of their early gigs, having bottles and other objects hurled at them from the crowd as they performed (some people can be so mean).

For those of you that don't know who Busted are (an

d sadly, there seem to be very many of you), they were a British band (or boy band if you insist) that were very prominent in the British airwaves (and fairly popular here in Australia) in the early 2000's. The band consisted of three guys: James Bourne, Charlie Simpson (the smooth & Matt Willis who were all either in their late teens or very early twenties during the band's heyday (I cannot believe I just used that word!).

During the years that they were active 2001-2005, they release hit after hit of catchy, slightly sexualised, super fun pop infused with punk and containing several references to items in popular culture such as the Back to the Future films - or super sad, heartfelt tracks. Sometimes described by critics as a boy band, they broke this mould by not having choreographed routines and playing their own instruments on stage - think McFly (who were heavily influenced and supported by Busted) or Blink-182, but toned down and cleaner. Their hits include:

"What I Go to School For" (you know, that song that the Jonas Brothers covered, with tamer lyrics) - about an infatuation with a teacher based off Matt's crush on his dance teacher when he was younger

"Year 3000"(another song that the Jonas Brothers covered, with the lyrics made more kid friendly) - a fun song with references to the Back to the Future films

"You Said No (Crash & Burn)" - describes how a boy (presumably a geek) gets back at a girl who humiliates him by shooting him down at the disco (by getting with her sister!)

"Sleeping with the Light On" - something slower, a break-up song

"Hurra Hurra Die Schule Brennt" - German for "Hurrah! Hurrah! the school burnt down", released in Germany

"Crashed the Wedding" - the name says it all, crashing a wedding to steal your high school sweetheart back

"Who's David?"- totally fun! I must recommend listening to it. About a girl who gets around

"Air Hostess" - I cannot believe that some people haven't heard of this one, it's so fun!

"Thunderbirds" - written for the live action Thunderbirds film

"3AM" - sort of a we're-broken-up-but-I-still-want-you song. Kind of stalkerish maybe?

"She Wants to be Me" - about a girl who goes through the process of a sex change to be more like the guys

Each song blended each of the guys different voices. Take for example the song that I'm listening to right now (I've cued up all the Busted tracks and put them on shuffle for this post) - "Without You" from their first album, sort of a breakup or an I miss you song. You start off with Charlie's low, husky voice (which comes in handy in his new band, and has always been my favourite) for the verses and the James and Matt come in during the chorus, slotting in perfectly. Okay, bad example. It's more of a Charlie song. I will do the next track - unless it's like "Why" or a live version of either of these two songs (they're Charlie songs) or any of the songs that are predominately one of them.

So in "That Thing You Do" - a song about a guy's sexual fantasies about the girl he's in love with (not perverted or creepy! I actually think it's kinda sweet - listen to it). So, it starts with Matt and his edgy pop vocals, tag teamed with Charlie's smooth husky tones, coming to a chorus with all three of their voices blended perfectly. The second verse sees Jame's sweet pop voice, echoed by Charlie's and joined with Matt's in the background in a boppy "ba, ba-da, ba-da" which carries over to the bridge with Charlie's tying in with Matt's underneath James'. Okay, that was a bit long winded, and probably better explained if you just listened to it.

Left to Right: Matt, Charlie, James

Photobucket via tehani23

So why this band? What is so good about these guys that I had to have this post in commemoration of the five year anniversary of their split? They were fun to listen to and marked a whole part of my life (the pre-teen stage, you know years 5-8). I countless hours with these pop-punk tunes playing on loop as I went about my business: doing homework, on the phone with friends, reading, playing Pokémon or Jade Cocoon or just daydreaming. Also, one of the first riffs I ever learned to play was "Meet You There". It also could be that T.R.Y, the band I had with Rox and Antonia fashioned ourselves around Busted - we were single gender, coming from different musical backgrounds and we had strange quirks that sort of matched the personalities of the Busted guys.

But anyway, since seeing James Bourne (@JBFutureboy) and Matt Willis' (@mattjwillis) posts on twitter mentioning that it was five years, I've been inundating my ears with their music. It brings back memories of being a kid and thinking that everything was going to stay exactly how it was forever: you'd hang out with your friends even if they were guys and not be awkward, that the meaning of love could be thrown around so easily and that you'd don't have a care in the world.

And although they may have split, they'll still remain on my playlists for years to come in whatever shape or form; be it James' Son of Dork, Call Me When I'm Eighteen or FutureBoy; Matt's solo ventures or Charlie's Fightstar - their music still makes me laugh, cry, sniffle and smile.

PS. I don't think we got them trending, but it was good reading what other people were saying about them. It seems I'm not the only one who gets nostalgic listening to Busted.