I’ll hold my hand up. I was wrong about the Busted! album. It is terrific. I suppose what disappointed me back then was the lack of what Busted themselves called their High Concept songs. Instead there was a collection of chirpyish ballads and what I initially thought were rather bland pop songs. In the tradition of truly great pop albums though, it is one which changes the more you listen to it. So I will explain the gestation of my attitudes towards it:
Stage One : Love “What I Go To School for” and “Year 3000”, disappointed that nothing else is that silly. “Loser Kid” admired for its status as WIGTSF sequel.
Stage Two: Find “Crach and Burn” quite chirpy, and enjoy “Psycho Girl”. Hate the conceit behind “Dawson’s Geek” and the ballads.
Stage Three: Admit to self that the refrain in Dawson’s Geek is actually very catchy. Catch self singing along to Sleeping With the Light On, and find its sappiness oddly attractive.
Stage Four: Notice the way they sing “Me” in “Britney” is a rip of Ms Spears vocal stylings. Very impressed by this gag. Find self doing Busted! jump whenever walking down the stairs. Surprised when the album finished, thinking it was much long than that as it had all the rubbish songs at the end. Put it on repeat play.