Splendid air vocals.
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[3.91]
Abby Waysdorf: When I was in London in 2005, my mom and I stopped at a cafe in Covent Garden to have a coffee before we killed each other. Next to us there was a woman with two girls, one early teenage and one younger. The girls were freaking out. Across the courtyard, one of the members of McFly was shopping. The older girl was too embarrassed to go ask for an autograph despite her mother’s prodding, so the mother went out and asked for the autograph itself. This continues to be the only thing I know about McFly, and I know even less about Busted, but considering that they were popular enough to have teens freaking about them ten years ago makes this kind of “oh I wish I was cool and a successful musician!” posturing ring ridiculous. Aren’t you already a rock star? Or at least a pop star? The girl you were shopping with looked enough like a model. But “Air Guitar” is still fun, catchy power-pop, well-balanced and well-done. Just stop pretending you haven’t sold millions of records.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: The most mind-bogglingly part of this rockstar-in-my-head narrative is the tangent about singing Beyoncé at karaoke, as it has nothing to do with the titular subject – that song doesn’t even have guitar in it! Doofus just wants to win points with the world because he likes Beyoncé, don’t wedge it in into your big dumb rock song. Anyway, the stupidest part is when he goes helium and sings “you think there’s nothing there/it’s simply made of air,” a staggering goofy line everyone should have kept bottled up.
[1]
Thomas Inskeep: British former boy bands (do boy bands last forever?) McFly and Busted have made a single together. From the title of the single to the group’s combo name to its clichéd use of guitar licks (even in a single titled “Air Guitar”), there’s nothing of interest here.
[1]
Iain Mew: NKOTBSB was the proof of concept for this kind of joining of forces, but McBusted’s proposition is different and a much more unequal partnership. Busted’s success provided the original launching pad for McFly’s continuing career but, with Charlie Simpson refusing to play ball, Matt Willis and James Bourne had little chance of making inroads on any nostalgia circuit by themselves. So in no small part McBusted is one band who have kept a big fanbase doing a favour for some old friends, with overtones of payback and a logical extension from the number of fans they initially had in common. That’s sweet, but doesn’t answer the question of what to do with their single. Their answer appears to be to record a McFly single but up the gimmick factor a bit, and it’s not a good one. They build up to a chorus that puts the power in pop and there’s a neat song about faking it until you make it in there somewhere, but the karaoke, riffing and constant shoving in of ill-fitting humour all get in its way.
[4]
Alfred Soto: The showboating is less interesting than the intro, the confession about wanting to fake it winning, the suspicion that he gets as much action as Hendrix and Page strong, the irony leaden.
[4]
Anthony Easton: Is the half-assed guitar solo near the end part of the joke? Is this entire thing a joke? I cannot tell wry British wit anymore.
[3]
Micha Cavaseno: For those of you who loved the Wheatus cover by 1D. I present to you: consequences.
[1]
Scott Mildenhall: For all their links, McFly and Busted are very different propositions. Busted didn’t spend too long in their cacophonous niche, but they barely left it. From the off, McFly were more melodic, but over a decade have diversified left, right and centre (more recently with a hint of bandwagoning). It’s easier for them, then, to slip into Busted’s shoes than vice versa, dissolving into an inferior band. Tom Fletcher is said to have written the majority of this, but it feels more the work of James Bourne. “Air Guitar” sounds most as if he ripped off “Gives You Hell” for his Loserville musical but backed out of its inclusion. There’s theatricality, narrative and a delight in their absurdity. Not hugely McFly, but an instance of a Busted song gone right.
[7]
Jonathan Bogart: They all laughed. “Air guitar,” they said. “What is this the eighties,” they said. “Even Guitar Hero® was ten years ago,” they said. But just wait. When someone decides to try to make a reality show out of air guitar competitions and they need a catchy theme song, who’ll be sitting pretty then?
[5]
Brad Shoup: Look, I’m in way too deep with this power-pop project, so the chorus hits me right in the research. It’s a perfect snapshot of how the genre charted in the late ’90s: twerpy vocals, a sad-sack story and guitars that wink at their own crunchiness. It’s a wonderful little comic portrait, and it will do absolutely nothing to bring rock back, thank God.
[7]
Will Adams: Could this be the world’s worst supergroup name? The conceit matches its dopiness; unfortunately, the titular solo does not.
[4]