30August
It's five years since Busted first appeared on the scene, with their kick-off song What I go to school for
. The group - monobrowed Charlie Simpson, James Bourne, and Mattie Jay - combined the fast-fading boybands of the turn of the century with the fad for pop-punk. Careful picking of singles from the group's two albums ensured a permanent place on the top 40 show, but it all came to an end at the start of 2005.
Leaving the audience wanting more was a good idea for Simpson, who followed his rock muse to form the surprisingly hard-rocking Fightstar; a bad idea for Bourne, whose Son of Dork was a one-song wonder; and not the best for Jay, who started using his real name Willis, and is remembered - if at all - for winning last year's edition of Ich Bin Ein Star... Holt Mich Hier Raus!
The solo careers amounted to nothing, but the group as a whole was a success. Songwriter Tom Fletcher has gone on to enjoy success with his band McFly, and their three year span of success is already longer than Busted's. Year 3000
was the group's biggest hit internationally, the only one to make the Eurochart top 10, reaching 2 in the UK, 21 in Germany, and 45 in France. It's since been re-recorded by Canadian group the Jonas Brothers. Such is the fast pace of pop music that they've had to include two subtle lyric changes – a reference to outselling Michael Jackson becomes selling more than Kelly Clarkson; and the interlocutor's great-great-great-grand-daughter is no longer pretty fine, but is doing fine.
But we digress. The featured track is Hurra! Hurra! Die Schule Brennt
, a single recorded by Busted for release in Germany in summer 2003. It's the group's biggest hit there, scraping three weeks at the very foot of the top 20.
