After the success of "The Flame" from the previous album Lap of Luxury, the band recorded Busted with a similar format, especially on the single "Can't Stop Fallin' into Love."

Upon release, Cash Box wrote: "Cheap Trick built its reputation on gutsy power-pop in the 1970s and continues in that vein on Busted.

"[11] Greg Sandow of Entertainment Weekly 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.

"[12] Chuck Dean of Rolling Stone wrote: "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.

"[13] In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated: "This vacant, radio-ready rocker finds the group at an unquestionable nadir.