Busted: A
relatively new (
boy-)band in the UK. There are three members,
James Elliot Bourne (dob: 13th September 1983),
Charles Robert Simpson (dob: 7th June 1985), and
Matthew James Willis - known as Matthew Jay (dob: 8th May 1983).
Charlie is the posh one, insanely darling with a deep voice and public schoolboy hair who appeals to the sloanies who frequent Kings Road. He plays the guitar, sings, and plays drums on their latest single. According to his biography, he also plays the bass guitar and the piano. He joined the band after answering an advertisement for a guitarist in a band. He then left his private school, Uppingham, to join the band (which had already been started by Mattie and James). His distinguishing features are his eyebrows, and his gappy front teeth.
Mattie is the "rocker" who went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School. He plays the bass guitar for the band and has continuously changing hair. At time of writing, it is completely bleached white, but it graduated from dark brown, through to dark brown with a white stripe, white with a dark brown stripe, to white, and still changing. he used to be in a band called Miles Slater, and released a garage single, Sunshine Lover.
And last but not least is James, the somewhat nondescript, short one, who doesn't seem to be as favoured as Charlie and Mattie, but is admittedly rather sweet and not bad-looking. Hmm, perhaps it's the height. he plays the guitar and the piano and seems to be terribly quiet, a little ladish, and rather a sweetie.
They recently celebrated their first number one (with their third single, You Said No which was released on the 21st April 2003), after reaching the top 3 with both What I Go To School For and Year 3000. This follows the release of their eponymously named album, "Busted", on the 30th September 2002. They live together with Charlie's eldest brother (who plays rugby with Prince William), in two flats in North Finchley, in a converted asylum, apparently. Ahem.
The appeal? Oh, I am not quite sure. Their music is decidedly pop, although some say they claim to make rock music, but they play their own instruments which is refreshing in some ways. To be honest, a lot of the appeal, at least at my school, is the boys themselves, especially Charlie and his classic square jaw. The music isn't terrible, oh no, and can be witty at times, but if they were terribly ugly I highly doubt they would have achieved the same success. It's all subjective though.
8th August 2004: The boys released a second album, A Present for Everyone on November 17, 2003, from which they have so far released Crashed the Wedding, Who's David, Air Hostess and 3am. Most recently, they released a double a-side, Thunderbirds Are Go/3am. The former track is featured in the new Thunderbirds movie, which will hopefully gain more recognition for Busted in other countries, and whose poppy rhythm contrasts with the slower song 3am. The best part about this new single? Charlie's gravelly solo very near the end, over a trippy background. To me, that's sex.
p.s. Their constant use of americanisms, such as "spring break", "high school", "pants"? I don't know either..