Me and My College mates were having a debate today about who was more popular I said Mcfly but some people said Busted

I actually think Busted may just edge out in front, but for me it's McFly all the way.

McFly easily had the better songs imo.

Busted were probably more popular, just for a shorter space of time.

McFly or Busted?

Kicked in the nuts or punched in the face?

Dipped in warm dog poo or forced to drink a pint of pig's vomit?

Saw my own foot off without anesthetic or ram hot knitting needles into my ears?



These sort of questions are always tough to answer.

Both IMO.

Would have made sense if they'd have asked what you preferred rather than what was more popular.

I prefer McFly, primarily for 5 Colours in Her Hair, and All About You.

Obviously is also a great mcfly song

Busted really were massive throughout their second era and mcfly were when they started out as well, things calmed down for mcfly wheres busted were never along long enough for that to happen to them

Why did Busted split up? Their second (and final) album sold more than their debut and what became their final single became their fourth UK #1 single (and 8th consecutive top 3 single) in less than 2 years. Odd decision lol

I've always preferred Busted but McFly have some good songs

Well if you go out on a high I suppose people still debate 12 years later if you were better than a similar group with more longevity and success!

It'd be like Girls Aloud vs Sugababes. Both successful groups, but despite sugababes selling more (I think), people will class GA as more successful because of the messy last year of Sugababes.

Busted were way more popular and internationally as well. They inspired Jonas Brothers (redid two of Busted songs for their album), McFly (or their label at least which was the same and manager), 5 Seconds of Summer, The Vamps and One Direction. All have referenced Busted though haven't heard McFly mentioned by another group and especially any non British.
Busted had 'America or Busted' which was shown (though flopped) on MTV in America. Year 3000 has also been used in The Simpsons but that was probably from the Jonas Brothers top 40 US cover but is still exposure.

They also had Charlie Simpson and although he only showed thinly his musical capabilities within Busted which seemed led mainly by James's musical tastes it still gave them a pop rock edge more than anything I've heard from all of McFly. Charlie was chosen over Tom from McFly because of his overall musical ability.
Although his musicianship and songwriting has evolved immensely through Fightstar and his solo stuff even at a younger age his parts on the music drew people in in my opinion. He had been in rock bands through school whereas I believe Matt and James this was their first. Matt even said he learned bass for Busted. Lyrics wise all were James mainly in Busted and his humour/references.

Charlie was fed up being in a boyband and wanted to make proper music. Fair play to him for turning down the money as his other career hasn't exactly been as successful.

I love both, but if had to pick it would be Busted

Busted always win for me. I really liked McFly in their heyday but Busted were the original and best. They also remain, to this day, highly underrated. As musicjukebox123 said in his/her (excellent) post, they were very influential and you can still see that influence in many boybands today. They pretty much ripped up the rulebook for the nineties model of boybands, but even though their songs were rock-influenced, they were never anything but pure, joyful pop.

Although it's a shame they split up when they still had a lot to give, in a way it was very savvy of them to do so as they left a pretty much flawless discography in their wake.

It depends how you view successful though as yes in terms of sales nothing of his output has sold bulk quantities.
However he is in a well respected and acclaimed alternative rock band who have headlined most of the festivals of their type.
Both his solo albums went top ten even if they didn't hang around in the charts and Fightstar have had two top 30 albums and two top 20 albums. The type of band they are that is an achievement. BMTH are probably the biggest young Brit alternative rock group of the past few years and their highest currently was only Gold (100,000 sold). With regard to Fightstar Charlie isn't selling to a pop crowd (Busted were everywhere and music videos non stop on repeat) and so the vast majority outside Kerrang and Alt metal press probably wouldn't have a clue about their record hence the lower reaches of the charts.

Looking back, I think the issue with Fightstar was that all the commercial music channels that mainly catered for fans of pop music decided to playlist their first single Paint Your Target.

It was obvious they were only playing the song because it was "Charlie from Busted" but the video airplay helped the song get to #9 but it also made the song look almost like a novelty hit in some strange way.

Granted Fightstar were relatively popular for their first six months but beyond that all the buzz and "novelty" with the pop crowd wore off.

For me, McFly 100%

I meant more about money. He hasn't made much money from Fightstar compared to Busted.

Busted, for definite.
James' song writing skills are great, their voices all complimented each other and the harmonies were always great. Every song had a catchy hook that'd get stuck in your head for weeks, even months!
Though Busted were only around for a short period of time (2002-early 2005) they had an amazing and very successful carrer.
Hopefully the reunion rumors are true, it'd be good to see Charlie back, he could always balance both bands.

I disagree, I think James's lyrics were terrible and so cringeworthy. Therefore I prefer McFly.