It’s 2003 all over again as Busted have truly returned to the music industry with brand new track ‘On What You’re On’ and in some ways it’s almost like they’ve never gone, but the sound is clearly a huge progression.
Is the ‘new’ Busted any good, or are we all clinging onto the feeling of nostalgia and hoping for the best?
I mean, let’s start at the beginning, Busted in 2016 are in a completely different industry. Back in their heyday, people still actually went out to the shops and bought real CDs. In fact, people would pop into Woolworths or HMV to pay £1.99 for a CD single. Those who’d pay this would be split into two types of people – die-hard fans, and those who had a boogie to the track on the radio or seen it on the music channels.
But now, without any hype or build up, the new single was dropped along with the video in a spectacularly unspectacular fashion – does it work? For starters, you have completely lost the idea of a casual fan. This track which is officially out on Day 1 may take weeks or even months before more casual fans even hear the track and that’s before they decide if they like it. But then again because of this, Busted are at an even bigger disadvantage because there is so much more noise in terms of other artists, we can thank streaming for this. Back in the 00s, ‘Year 3000’ was a huge release and was loved by thousands before the track even was made available.
But, maybe all that doesn’t even matter? Busted’s new single has a very clear shift in sound and feels much more grown up when you compare it to the likes of ‘What I Go To School For’, or ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’. The new single feels heavily influenced by the likes of Daft Punk and has a very clearly more mature music video. So, maybe with this shift in sound, appealing to an older audience, then don’t need to bank on those casual fans hearing it on the radio? Because in order to get that new sound, it can’t possibly be completely commercial.
One thing is for sure, whether the ‘new’ Busted are successful or not. And that is that they have created a truly great pop song and however people manage to discover or hear it, they’ll appreciate the track and hopefully won’t even have to turn down memory lane and compare.
‘On What You’re On’ is now available to purchase or stream.
