Busted (2002 Busted album)

Busted
Cover of the 2003 edition. The original cover is identical but without the Busted or enhanced CD logos. (Band members left to right) Matt Willis, Charlie Simpson and James Bourne.
Studio album by Busted
Released	30 September 2002 (2002-09-30)
Recorded	2002
Genre	Pop rock teen pop pop punk pop
Length	37:17
Label	Universal Island
Producer	Steve Robson James Bourne
Busted chronology
Busted (2002) A Present for Everyone (2003)
Singles from Busted
"What I Go to School For" Released: 16 September 2002 "Year 3000" Released: 13 January 2003 "You Said No (a.k.a. Crash and Burn)" Released: 21 April 2003 "Hurra, hurra, die Schule brennt" Released: 21 April 2003 "Sleeping with the Light On" Released: 11 August 2003
Alternative cover
Japanese artwork for Busted

Busted is the self-titled debut album by English pop rock band Busted. It was released in the UK in September 2002 and peaked at number 2 the following January after the success of second single "Year 3000", which reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. Five singles were released from the album: "What I Go to School For", "Year 3000", "You Said No", "Hurra, hurra, die Schule brennt" (released in continental Europe only) and "Sleeping with the Light On".

Busted was the 9th best-selling album of 2003 in the UK. The album has sold over 1.2 million copies and been certified as 4× Platinum in the UK.^[1] The album spent 77 weeks on the UK Top 75 Albums chart.^[2]

Both "What I Go to School For" and "Year 3000" were covered by the Jonas Brothers, and released on their 2006 album It's About Time.

Background

With the original line-up of Busted having broken up in 2001, guitarist James Bourne and bassist Matt Willis set about finding a new band member. Charlie Simpson and Tom Fletcher both originally made it in, but the latter was cut from the final lineup.^[3][4]

Six tracks on the album were co-written with John McLaughlin and Steve Robson, who often collaborate with each other.^[5] The other remaining songs were written by the band themselves.^[6]

Singles

The first single released from Busted was "What I Go to School For", which reached number 3. This was followed by "Year 3000", which reached number 2, "You Said No" and "Sleeping with the Light On". "You Said No" peaked at number 1 and "Sleeping with the Light On" peaked at number 3. With "You Said No", Busted entered the Guinness World Records for being the first artist to have their first three singles enter the top three of the UK Singles Chart in ascending order.^[7]

A European-only single, "Hurra, hurra, die Schule brennt", was released on the same date as "You Said No" was released in the UK.

"You Said No" is titled "Crash and Burn" on the original album release, but its title was changed for the single release because of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.^[8] In an interview with Newsround, Willis said, "We were deciding what single to go for just as that happened and we really wanted to use Crash and Burn but we thought the name was inappropriate - it would have been bad taste."^[9] Simpson also stated in 2016 that "we thought it was a bit insensitive around 9/11."^[10]

On the cassette release of the album, "Losing You" is advertised as a single. However, the song never was released as a single, and it is unknown whether it was planned to be or if this was a mistake. In 2018, Willis said that they would never play the song live, stating "We've never played that song. For a very good reason – we don't like it. It's not very good, it's quite embarrassing."^[11]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Melodic	[13]

AllMusic states: "[Busted] slide smoothly between... dull teen pop ballads with the sickeningly overwrought vocals typical of the genre... and relatively more creative stuff that punches up the formula with pop-ternative production and smirking, yet still squeaky clean lyrical witticisms. At best it's BBMak with better cheekbones; at worst, Busted is a neutered Sum 41".^[6] On bbc.co.uk, Jacqueline Hodges wrote: "Think a younger, British Wheatus or Blink-182 junior and you will be along the right lines. Their cheeky and geeky Green Day-type lyrics... are endearingly refreshing in these days of Gareth Gates and Ronan Keating mush".^[14] Q was more positive, Dan Stubbs writing: "Tales of copping off, time travel and a five-fingered fantasy about a schoolteacher with a nice bottom are delivered through inspired one-liners and clever gimmicks".^[15]

B-sides

Busted recorded a number of B-sides for their album campaign, including a number of classic covers, including cover versions of "Brown Eyed Girl", "Fun Fun Fun" and "Mrs Robinson", as well as new tracks including "Late Night Sauna", "My Good Friend" and "Last Summer", as well as the demo version of "Year 3000". The version of "Year 3000" which appears as the B-side to "Sleeping with the Light On" is the version which the band presented to Universal Music before they were signed by the label. "My Good Friend" has never been released on CD, and only appears on the cassette release of "You Said No", becoming one of the rarest Busted tracks around. The demo version of "Year 3000" was also only released on cassette, meaning it is also very rare and hard to find.

Track listing

Busted — Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"What I Go to School For"	James Bourne Charlie Simpson Matt Willis John McLaughlin Steve Robson	Steve Robson	3:30
2.	"You Said No"	Bourne Simpson Willis McLaughlin Robson Richard Mark Rashman	Robson	2:47
3.	"Britney"	Bourne McLaughlin Robson	Robson	3:31
4.	"Losing You"	Bourne Simpson Willis McLaughlin Robson	Robson	3:54
5.	"Year 3000"	Bourne Simpson Willis Robson Tom Fletcher	Robson	3:17
6.	"Psycho Girl"	Bourne Rashman	Robson	3:51
7.	"All the Way"	Simpson Bourne	Robson	2:26
8.	"Sleeping with the Light On"	Bourne Willis	Robson	3:38
9.	"Dawsons’s Geek"	Bourne Simpson Willis	Robson	2:27
10.	"Without You"	Simpson Robson	Robson	4:09
11.	"Loser Kid"	Bourne Simpson Willis	Robson	3:48
Total length:				45:57

Busted — British and Japanese special edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
10.	"When Day Turns into Night"	Simpson • Bourne	Steve Robson	3:35
11.	"Everything I Knew"	Bourne • Willis	Steve Robson	3:10
13.	"Extra Exceedingly Fitness" (Interlude)	Bourne • Simpson	James Bourne	0:18
Total length:				52:28

Busted — German edition bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
12.	"Hurra, hurra, die Schule brennt"	Schlasse • Klein • Hönig • Larson • Möller	Steve Robson	3:35

• "You Said No" was originally titled "Crash and Burn" prior to the album's re-issue.

Personnel

• James Bourne – guitars, vocals, keys, production
• Charlie Simpson – guitars, vocals, drums
• Matt Willis – bass, vocals
• Steve Robson – production, synths

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2002–03) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] 19 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[17] 9 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 51 European Albums Chart[19] 11 French Albums (SNEP)[20] 57 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] 43 Irish Albums (IRMA)[22] 5 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[23] 25 Japanese International Albums (Oricon)[24] 9 Scottish Albums (OCC)[25] 1 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] 88 UK Albums (OCC)[2] 2 UK Album Downloads (OCC)[27] 26 UK Independent Albums (OCC)[28] 13

Year-end charts Chart (2003) Position Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[29] 75 UK Albums (OCC)[30] 9 Chart (2004) Position UK Albums (OCC)[31] 113

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[1]	4× Platinum	1,200,000^‡
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[32]	Platinum	1,000,000^*
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "British album certifications – Busted – Busted". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
2. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
3. "Seven fun facts you may not know about McFly | Get to know the band!". Music Plus Sport. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
4. Gibsone, Harriet (29 October 2022). "McFly's Tom Fletcher looks back: 'People threw things at us in the street. These days, they just want to say something nice'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
5. "John McLaughlin: Songwriter". The Writers. Windswept Pacific. Archived from the original on 14 June 2002.
6. Loftus, Johnny. "Busted > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
7. Warner, Sam (18 November 2013). "10 Things About... McBusted". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
8. Jeff C (12 February 2003). "Busted Rename New Single After Shuttle Disaster". Pop Dirt. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
9. "Busted boys gossip about fans and fame". Newsround. CBBC. 23 April 2003. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
10. Wilson-Taylor, James (4 November 2016). "INTERVIEW: Busted Reveal All On Jonas Brothers Covers, "Dated" Pop Punk & Their Whole New Sound". PopBuzz. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
11. Earp, Catherine (30 November 2018). "Busted reveal songs they'll never play live". Digital Spy. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
12. AllMusic Review
13. Roth, Kaj (28 October 2003). "Busted - s/t". Melodic. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
14. Hodges, Jacqueline (20 November 2002). "Busted Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
15. Stubbs, Dan, Busted, review, Q, December 2002.
16. "Austriancharts.at – Busted – Busted" (in German). Hung Medien.
17. "Danishcharts.dk – Busted – Busted". Hung Medien.
18. "Dutchcharts.nl – Busted – Busted" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
19. "Billboard". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 15 February 2003 – via Internet Archive.
20. "Lescharts.com – Busted – Busted". Hung Medien.
21. "Offiziellecharts.de – Busted – Busted" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
22. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 22 February 2003.
23. "バステッドのアルバム売上ランキング". ORICON NEWS.
24. "Google Translate".
25. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
26. "Swisscharts.com – Busted – Busted". Hung Medien.
27. "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
28. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
29. "TOP20.dk © 2003". Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
30. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 - 2003". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
31. "The Official UK Albums Chart 2004" (PDF). Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
32. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2003". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.