![High - they were just the right amount of sweary: There's nothing quite like the rebellious thrill, as a ten-year-old, of singing]()
High - they were just the right amount of sweary: There's nothing quite like the rebellious thrill, as a ten-year-old, of singing "'cus my life's such a bitch" at the top of your little lungs. And that meaningful pause after, "You stupid lying..." in 'Who's David?' - just the mere implication of cursing was enough.
![High / Low - they were basically our age: Brace yourselves for a piece of quite shocking news. When Busted formed, Charlie Simpson was just 15-years-old. When they released their eponymous debut, he was 17. They weren't grown men jumping around in school uniforms to appeal to tweens - they actually, genuinely should have been in school. It's a terrifying realisation now to realise how young they were, but at the time, it made fans' unrelenting love for them slightly less weird.]()
High / Low - they were basically our age: Brace yourselves for a piece of quite shocking news. When Busted formed, Charlie Simpson was just 15-years-old. When they released their eponymous debut, he was 17. They weren't grown men jumping around in school uniforms to appeal to tweens - they actually, genuinely should have been in school. It's a terrifying realisation now to realise how young they were, but at the time, it made fans' unrelenting love for them slightly less weird.
![Low - on the subject of their age, 'What I Go To School For' was properly creepy: Teenage schoolboys lusting after their 33-year-old teacher - it's a slightly uncomfortable premise, isn't it? Add to that the fact that the song's narrator climbs a tree to watch her changing, and it becomes really quite creepy. The final straw, though, comes at the end, when the teacher reciprocates the feelings and the two run away together, happily ever after. No. No. No. Absolutely not right.]()
Low - on the subject of their age, 'What I Go To School For' was properly creepy: Teenage schoolboys lusting after their 33-year-old teacher - it's a slightly uncomfortable premise, isn't it? Add to that the fact that the song's narrator climbs a tree to watch her changing, and it becomes really quite creepy. The final straw, though, comes at the end, when the teacher reciprocates the feelings and the two run away together, happily ever after. No. No. No. Absolutely not right.
![High - Charlie Simpson's eyebrows: Eat your heart out Cara Delevingne.]()
High - Charlie Simpson's eyebrows: Eat your heart out Cara Delevingne.
![Low - they split up: If you're the right age to be a Busted fan, you're also the right age to have seen the film Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen - released just before Lindsay Lohan and the rails parted ways. The way Lohan's character Lola reacts when her beloved Sidarthur split? It's like looking in a mirror. How could Charlie 'Yoko' Simpson tear the band apart before they'd even released a third album?]()
Low - they split up: If you're the right age to be a Busted fan, you're also the right age to have seen the film Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen - released just before Lindsay Lohan and the rails parted ways. The way Lohan's character Lola reacts when her beloved Sidarthur split? It's like looking in a mirror. How could Charlie 'Yoko' Simpson tear the band apart before they'd even released a third album?
![High - they split up: With hindsight, though, ending the band after just a few short, sweet years was what ensured fans' enthusiasm was nurtured into a warm, fuzzy nostalgia. They didn't get the chance to grow up and grow cynical, and so the band remained tucked in the same cosy pocked as pogs, yoyos, and anything else that might end up in a Buzzfeed noughties listicle.]()
High - they split up: With hindsight, though, ending the band after just a few short, sweet years was what ensured fans' enthusiasm was nurtured into a warm, fuzzy nostalgia. They didn't get the chance to grow up and grow cynical, and so the band remained tucked in the same cosy pocked as pogs, yoyos, and anything else that might end up in a Buzzfeed noughties listicle.
![High - the Busted jump: What more is there to say? The jump is iconic, it's a cultural institution, a move up there with Jackson's moonwalk. If you didn't attempt to pull off the Busted jump in the mirror throughout much of 2002, then you didn't live.]()
High - the Busted jump: What more is there to say? The jump is iconic, it's a cultural institution, a move up there with Jackson's moonwalk. If you didn't attempt to pull off the Busted jump in the mirror throughout much of 2002, then you didn't live.
![Low - how much Charlie slagged the band off: Charlie didn't want to be a popstar. Charlie was a serious musician. Charlie was talented and credible, and he wanted you to know that Busted was something of which he was deeply embarrassed.]()
Low - how much Charlie slagged the band off: Charlie didn't want to be a popstar. Charlie was a serious musician. Charlie was talented and credible, and he wanted you to know that Busted was something of which he was deeply embarrassed. "It was torture," he told The Guardian in 2006, his every word like a knife to fans' hearts.
![High - James' hat: I mean, look at it.]()
High - James' hat: I mean, look at it.
![High - James' bead necklace: Here he is again, looking like the 10-year-old brother they've brought along as a treat.]()
High - James' bead necklace: Here he is again, looking like the 10-year-old brother they've brought along as a treat.
![High - the reunion: Just over a decade was the perfect amount of time for fans' fondness and nostalgia to grow large enough to warrant a huge tour, and two London arena shows. Forget McBusted - they were merely the warm-up act, serving to tempt Charlie into changing his mind. Thank God he did.]()
High - the reunion: Just over a decade was the perfect amount of time for fans' fondness and nostalgia to grow large enough to warrant a huge tour, and two London arena shows. Forget McBusted - they were merely the warm-up act, serving to tempt Charlie into changing his mind. Thank God he did.