Rocktrospectiva: The Underrated "Busted" Turns 35

Released on 27 June 1990 "Busted" was the eleventh studio album released by Cheap Trick, peaked at number 44 on the US album charts. After the success of "The Flame" from the previous album Lap of Luxury, the band recorded Busted with a similar format, especially on the singles "Can't Stop Fallin' into Love." The single peaked at number 12 on the US charts and "Whenever Would I Be" The album failed to be as successful as the label had hoped, and about a year after the release of Busted, Epic Records dropped the band.

By the time Busted was about to be released in the summer of 1990, the band was still recognizable because the huge success on the smash 1988’s Lap of Luxury.  Remember the singles "The Flame," "Don’t Be Cruel," "Ghost Town" and "Never Had A Lot To Lose" were so inescapable at the time. The radio and MTV kept satisfied the audiences with the sound of glossy, contemporary Cheap Trick.

The album opener "Back 'N Blue," was greeted with some moderately cool rock guitar riffage, some well placed na-na-na’s and a tough Robin Zander vocal. The title of the song continued band's tradition of having fun with words, "I Can’t Understand It" came next. This power pop also-ran was much more in the classic Cheap Trick mold. Then it comes the first cool one "Wherever Would I Be" despite it was written by Diane Warren and even sounded to cheesy back then, it's a cool one maybe a guilty pleasure 

With the next tune, "If You Need Me." Athe band sounds more like Foreigner than Cheap Trick, well, perhaps you can chalk that up to Foreigner's Mick Jones having co-written it with Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander. And then the side closes out with the big hit single, "Can’t Stop Fallin' Into Love" it actually only topped out at #12, but still, not bad). those guitar harmonies are a real ear-grabber, Tom Petersson's bass is mixed high as he plays a lot of trebly notes always a good thing 

"Busted"!  now this is more heavy Rick’s guitar screams in the opening seconds, unaccompanied, and then the whole band kicks in. Even those cheesy synths that were so popular back then couldn't mask the fact that this was a supremely kick-ass, positive, energetic Cheap Trick rocker, with this song, and much of the rest of side two, Cheap Trick definitely showed they could still at least try really hard to turn it all around. "Walk Away," in hindsight, was far and away the best ballad on the album, "You Drive, I’ll Steer" is another song that Epic unfairly relegated to B-side status, in favor of "Can't Stop Fallin' Into Love." perhaps it was inevitable due this song would only mean something to the Cheap Trick fan, "How Are You?" they're just totally ridiculous the main riff is infectious, and that Robin is singing in an unusually low register that could easily be mistaken for The Cars' Ben Orr. "If You Need Someone" was another silly and filler ballad, and finally "Had To Make You Mine" comes kind of close to that, then a Wizzard cover "Rock N’ Roll Tonight" was written by the band's hero, ELO and The Move co-founder Roy Wood. Whenever Cheap Trick covers Roy Wood, they sound positively boisterous. 

Critics were mixed while some stated the standard of songwriting and the overall delivery on Busted is high. The songs are sharp, economical and could all be regarded as candidates for release as singles, others commented: "There's nothing on Cheap Trick's new album but hard and happy rock & roll — oh, and drum eruptions, guitar fireworks, and enough irresistible hooks to last most other bands a lifetime. If there's any justice in the world, Busted should be even more successful [than Lap of Luxury]; not many records burst with this much strength and melody." "Like Lap of Luxury, Cheap Trick's latest album offers exactly what everyone's learned to expect from this band: fast and loud or mildly soft music buried in clichés that chronicles standard teenage shopping-mall angst. [They] are all capable musicians, but their songs are as dumb and generic as they come."

 

Busted Track List:  

 

1. Back 'n Blue

2. I can't Understand It

3. Wherever Would I Be

4. If You Need Me

5. Can't Stop Fallin' Into Love

6. Busted

7. Walk Away

8. You Drive, I'll Steer

9. When You Need Someone

10. Had To Make You Mine

11. Rock 'n' Roll Tonight 

12. Big Bang (Japanese bonus track)