That's actually so interesting. Honestly, Mc Fly don't get the credit they deserve.Mcfly made 'boybands' look silly as they played their own instruments and wrote their own songs. That for a teen gaged pop band that was very rare as you usually just have songwriters penning all your hits. The music industry is like a load of sheep. as soon as someone does something and it's successful the rest of the music world will follow. in wonderland there's orchestral music in She falls asleep, all about you, i wanna hold and more for example. Suddenly having strings in band music was accepted again. 5SOS, R5, 1D, The Vamps etc have all said how mcfly influenced them hugely even if it was several years later. My point being Tom was the main creative force behind McFly especially in those early days and he left a little legacy. He brought back 60s chords, melodies and harmonies. It was like a mini Beatles come back, musically. I remember so many young guys at school starting bands because of Mcfly.
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McFly, Busted and wives #3 Mcfly are going on tour but James Bourne is no more
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That's actually so interesting. Honestly, Mc Fly don't get the credit they deserve.
Not to forget, Tom was also behind Busted as well which paved the way for many bands coming after and really changed the music scene. I do think though, had Busted had a drummer they may of been taken more seriously like McFly did.
One thing I do like now is McFly now share all royalties equally just like Take That. Before songs like All About You, Heart Never Lies etc only Tom would of earnt money from long term but now they have them all as songwriters (even if they didn’t write) to share the royalties equally which I think in a band and group is only fair. All of them made those songs great, not just Tom alone. Same with songs only Danny and Tom wrote!
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I don't think mcfly would've been as big as they were in 2004/2005/2006 if busted had stayed together. They were all over the magazines, music channels and so on when busted were gone because there was a gap to fill. And that's coming from someone who has always preferred mcfly to busted
I totally agree with this. When you listen to track from YDT or Half Way There you can tell which were Tom and James written songs. They’re fine, but like I just think they’re stuck in a previous era, whereas the others seem keen to try and move forward.
Completely agree, I think people are giving Mcfly/Tom a bit too much credit. It was Busted who were the trailblazers. Initially mcfly were seen as somewhat of a busted imitation. Whenever there is a successful type of band/music there always follows a load of copycats trying to capitalise on the originals success. Busted splitting up did mcfly the world of good as they filled the gap busted left. Mcfly had the talent and charisma to back it up so I'm not saying they didn't deserve their success, but I don't think it's right to say they changed the direction pop music was going...Busted had already done that. Busted were also the more rebellious and unconventional band too when they first came out, like kids who formed a garage band. There was an edge and lack of polish that hadn't really been seen in boybands before
thats interesting. where did you find that out?
Busted we’re definitely less polished than McFly! They always seemed a lot more cooler!
This is interesting and I don't disagree with you. what I would add though is McFly were a proper band compared to busted. Matt couldn't even play bass properly and they had a session guitarist on stage with them on APFE tour to aid the live sound. The chords, bass lines and guitar solos by McFly were so unique compared to busted which was more pop punk chords. McFly ended up channeling their musical journey more maturely and definitively. compare ROTTF to wonderland. Completely different. Busted 1st album compared to APFE, is a progression but sounds like a less conscious effort to change. Just turned up the distortion on the amps in many respects. So I think McFly would have achieved the same success regardless in my opinion. Don't forget Busted and McFly's management were the same so the marketing and formula were basically identical and the record label knew that.
'Rebellious and unconventional?!'
This is a bit of an exaggeration - they were hardly The Sex Pistols
Comparing boy bands, sex pistols weren't exactly a boy band. After years of take that, boyzone, Westlife etc busted were very different and more like the kids you'd see in school who started a band in their garage'Rebellious and unconventional?!'
This is a bit of an exaggeration - they were hardly The Sex Pistols
I know but I just think it's a bit of a reach to call Busted 'rebellious and unconventional' when they were appearing on Saturday morning TV being gunged and playing games every week.
This is probably why they could never break America. There was no space for them. They didn't suit the pop market and they weren't credible enough for the rock market.
It's a relative term when comparing boy bands within their marketplace aimed at s tween/teen audience. They were not your squeaky clean, groomed boy band that had been seen up until then. There hadn't really been anyone like them for that demographic. They were more like the naughty boys in your class who messed aroundand got detention.
And I say that as not a particular fan of them
My memory is very blurry but at the You Said No video shoot in 2003 ,(I think!) I didn't meet Busted, but I sat with some of James friends. And one of them pointed to Tom and told me he'd been in the band but got kicked out. I didn't believe him, and said, what, really?? And Tom was a bit embarrassed but laughed and nodded. He gave me one of those gum strips that used to melt on your tongue 
but this memory is so faded and long ago I can't even picture it properly so could be wrong. Though that dialogue definitely happened. I think it was a skatepark in Birmingham. Tom looked very different when he was in McFly a year later, I didn't recognise him. To be honest I didn't pay much attention to it all at the time, as I wasn't really bothered about James's friends.
but this memory is so faded and long ago I can't even picture it properly so could be wrong. Though that dialogue definitely happened. I think it was a skatepark in Birmingham. Tom looked very different when he was in McFly a year later, I didn't recognise him. To be honest I didn't pay much attention to it all at the time, as I wasn't really bothered about James's friends. I agree. Musically mcfly have always been more talented than busted.
YDT credits have all 4 of them on every single song, even the ones they all didn’t write at all on such as Wild and Young and YDT. Look at previous credits, only a few songs had Harry on credits as he isn’t really a songwriter.
What gave it away was Wild and Young, that was a song Danny recorded for his solo album, he didn’t work with any of them for that album as they didn’t even know he was making an album, which upset Tom plus on the livestream he tells you who he wrote what sign with. Wild and Young his version and McFly version is identical! And I imagine it’s the same for YDT as McFly had nothing to do with Ink.
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You can tell Wild & Young is as for his solo because it’s SO Springsteen.
To be fair, the original poster said more rebellious and unconventional. As in, more rebellious and unconventional than McFly. And I agree they did come across that way, although obviously it was more marketing-related than anything real. No-one truly unconventional is going on Ministry of Mayhem
I think at a different time they could have managed America - let's say the early 2010s when every British act going was managing to get some kind of hit there. They'd need to be the age they were in their original peak though. Same goes for McFly - so many of their interviews and stupid videos that ended up online were hilarious and would have easily won them thousands of American fangirls, if only they'd happened a few years later when YouTube became huge. In the same vein, One Direction wouldn't have been as huge globally if they'd come about a few years earlier.
Honestly though, a more famous Tom or James would be even more insufferable, so it's all for the best.
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I do stand by, if Busted stayed together McFly wouldn’t have hit as hard as they did. They would have been like The Vamps. The Vamps came at the wrong time really, Fletch etc got the Vamps to replace McFly like they did with Busted for younger kids to grow with them but McFly were still going strong, had they come out around after McBusted era The Vamps would of been huge esp as 1D ended too!
Although I do think busted would've become a one trick pony (James one dimensional songwriting) and not evolved whereas mcfly would've and become bigger
wrong. Fletch had already left the previous management company, prestige management in 2013/2014 with mcfly which turned into mcbusted around that time and he created happy entertainment. The manager responsible for the vamps was richard rashman who co managed busted and mcfly with fletch. Rashman got a new personal manager after fletch left called joe O'neil who still manages the vamps to this day. fletch had nothing to do with the vamps. Fletch has always cared about genuine songwriting and talent and hence why it took him a while to find something credible after mcbusted which was chapter 13 who are now over but i think he still works with Tom from ch.13. Comparing mcfly to the vamps is wrong as the vamps got a record deal through being manufactured from the start by being hand picked, doing youtube covers and then on their first album they didn't even write any of the singles as they simply couldn't. Mcfly wrote everything themselves and knew the type of band they were.
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