With a Number One single, a double platinum album and a sold-out UK tour under their belts, Busted have established themselves as one of the most important chart acts in the UK. And if this all seems to have happened quickly, it has: while it might seem difficult to imagine the charts without them Busted's debut single was released in September 2002. Thing is, the story goes back a little further than last summer�
Mattie Jay, 21 grew up in Surrey on the border of East Molesey and West Molesey, just where the West bit goes posh, and the East bit goes working class. His early years were a catalogue of broken bones and tree-climbing - not totally unrelated - and by his early teens his older brother's record collection was informing his own musical tastes. At the age of 13 he managed to win himself, much to his neighbours' disgruntlement, a full-size drum kit, and formed a Green Day covers band with a couple of mates. One night, while on holiday with his parents Mattie was coerced into a karaoke contest: one rendition of 'Don't Look Back In Anger' later he'd been spotted by someone whose eye for a budding popstar eventually led Mattie to meet a music management team. They suggested he get together with a guy called James Bourne.
As it happened, James and Matt already knew each other. They'd met a few times at auditions and gigs, and writing sessions soon took shape at James' parents house in Southend. James had been obsessed with music since he first laid eyes on Michael Jackson, and still maintains that seeing the King Of Pop on his 'Dangerous' tour was one of the most important moments of his life. When he was 17, James had chucked in a music technology course at a local college in order to actually pursue a career as a musician, having laid the groundwork in his teenage band Sic (sic) Puppy, whom he formed with friends at the age of twelve. James brought a smart, pop sensibility to Matt's punky background, drawing on his love of Swedish uber-producer Max Martin as a cue for some of the poppier moments in the Busted catalogue. But you can't have a band with two members, so Mattie and James placed an ad for a third member in the NME.
Flicking through the NME live ads one afternoon was a 16-year-old Ipswich boy by the name of Charlie Simpson. When he passed the audition - Mattie and James still say there was no competition - Charlie found Busted to be a slight change of direction. Through his early-to-mid teens he'd been more at home behind a set of drums, in bands going under names like FUBAR. But if it's good for the Grohl it's good for the Simpson, and before long Charlie's role as one of the trio's three frontmen was cast in stone. Where James brings the pop to the Busted table, Charlie throws in his encyclopedic and sometimes terrifying knowledge of the alternative world, from global acts like The Deftones and Jimmy Eat World to the output of tiny indie labels like Fierce Panda and Chemikal Underground. Charlie recently bought his first Porsche, and has yet to receive a parking fine.
The band demo'd and recorded dozens of tracks in London's Brick Lane, in a dodgy studio with a leaky roof. James, Charlie and Matt were determined to get the sound right - they'd written these songs themselves, and wanted to make sure the songs which had been in their heads all these years made a good transition to CD. They needn't have worried: the punk pop sound of the Brick Lane sessions perfectly complemented the band's music and after signing to Universal Island at the start of 2002 chose 'What I Go To School For' - an infectious, Blink-182 style homage to extra-curricular rumpo and one of the songs they'd performed acoustically when touring record labels in search of a deal - as a first single. The single drew in rave reviews everywhere from Smash Hits ("Crashing guitars, head-bopping beat and a catchy chorus make this a sure-fire winner") to NME ("Big-balled, big-chorused, big-eyebrowed� Ace."), and debuted at Number 3 on September 23, 2002. Wondering what the real Miss Mackenzie made of the whole thing? She's very flattered, she says, but she doesn't like to talk about it. So now you know.
Released two weeks later, Busted's debut album established the band as that rare breed: a pop act not afraid to rock out, and a rock band not afraid to embrace the finer points of pop. Once again, the reviews spoke for themselves. The Times were impressed by its "catchy punk-pop tunes with a sense of humour", Q went for the "inspired one-liners and clever gimmicks", and Smash Hits concluded that the boys were "set to kick some boyband butt [with this] rock-inspired masterpiece." But it didn't go double platinum overnight, and its beginnings were rather modest. 'Busted' debuted in the Top 40, but swiftly disappeared from view and spent a few weeks meandering around outside the Top 100. Gradually, however, the album began to thrive on good word of mouth and by the time second single, 'Year 3000', was announced the album was back in the charts, eventually nesting in the Top 10 for months on end. To date the album has sold over 600,000 copies in the UK alone.
