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Madness - by Rick Tucker
THEY STARTED AS ONE OF THE 2-TONE SKA BANDS, AND HAVE PROGRESSED TO BECOME A WITTY AND VERSATILE SINGLES ACT
By early 1979, the excitment that the New Wave explosion of the previous three years had caused in the pop industry was on the wane. Most of the groups which had caused the initial stir had either split up or were unsure of their musical identity - a feeling that was reflected in the attitudes of record buyers at the time. Inevitably, nostalgia became the major inspiration for many new groups. The Jam, perhaps the most acclaimed of the established New Wave bands, had set the precedent with their Sixties' clothes and style. While the quality of their music remained high, most of the 'mod' groups that followed were much too amateurish to give the movement any impetus or credibility, and this left a definite commercial and cultural gap to be filled.
An interpretation of the 'ska' sound that originated in the West Indies in the early Sixties emerged to dominate the market for a while. The first exponents of this new sound were a Coventry-based multi-racial group called The Specials, who issued a single called "Gangsters" on their own 2-Tone label in the summer of 1979, so starting a new movement which took in punk, mod and skinhead elements. It was the defiantly British who associated themselves most strongly with the only all-white group playing the new ska, Madness.
Madness were also the only one of the original ska bands to come from London (the Beat and the Selecter came from the Midlands). Their story really begins in a Camden Town pub in 1978. Keyboards player Mike Barson, who has since become their chief writer, drew together five other musicians of similar persuasion to form the North London Invaders - with Chris Foreman on guitar, Suggs on vocals, Mark Bedford on bass, Woody on drums and Lee Thompson on sax. They changed their name to Madness (or so the legend has it) after hearing the Prince Buster track of that name. As always with a new group, gigs were hard to find at first, but the Specials, who had secured the right to sign whoever they wanted to 2-Tone, gave the Londoners their first break in June 1979 by signing them for one single. The A-side was a tribute to Prince Buster - "The Prince" (written by saxophonist Lee Thompson) - while the flip was a cover of his "Madness". It was released in August, and eventually reached No.16 in the charts. This was their only 2-Tone release, although they did record a demo of the two tracks before they signed up, and this was produced by Clive Langer (who has worked with them ever since). The demo versions are believed to be the same as those that appeared on the actual single - but either way anyone coming across one of the original demos could ask a very high price for it. Incidentally, all the original 2-Tone singles were issued first with paper labels, then with the more common plastic ones. Mint copies of the paper label version of "The Prince" are already attracting prices of up to £10.
WIDE BOYS
The 'wide boys' from Camden were fast becoming one of the most popular acts in the country, and after many offers from the majors Madness signed with Stiff, with whom they have stayed ever since. Around this time, they added Chas Smash to their line-up. Up till then he had just been one of the many skinheads in the audience, and he was added as much for his personality and stage presence as for his ability to play trumpet and sing. With his arrival, the unique 'Nutty Sound' of Madness was coined, and along with Suggs, the group's other main vocalist, he became the personification of the group's image.
In October 1979, Stiff released a single and an album of the same name, "One Step Beyond". Both were co-produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, as have all their subsequent recordings. The single stayed in the charts for thirteen weeks, peaking at No.7, while the LP entered the chart at No.16 and remained in the Top 75 for most of the following year. In addition, the group recorded an hilarious version of the single in Spanish, as "Uno Paso Adalante", which with its picture sleeve now sells for between £2 and £3. Madness suddenly became very big almost overnight, and tours of Britain and America were quickly arranged. They also became the comical subjects of a strip cartoon in a Japanese newspaper!
The only blot on the landscape was caused by the contingents of British Movement and National Front skinheads who attended their British gigs. They probably helped keep a wider audience away, but after a while the skins preferred to follow Bad Manners instead, and these days a Madness gig attracts a wide cross-section of admirers - including many kids.
The first album contained the two singles already released but not their B-sides, or the extra track ("Nutty Theme") contained on the 12" version of the Stiff single. Also included was the group's next single, "My Girl", but again neither the B-side ("Stepping Into Line") nor the extra track from the 12" ("In The Rain") appeared on the LP. Interestingly, Chas Smash didn't get his picture on the cover, although he was now an official group member. "My Girl" finally reached No.3 in Britain, and topped the charts in France for several weeks, and the LP reached No.2 over here - all within three months of their first release!
DROPPED
Sire were the first American label to pick up on the group - although they recently dropped their contract. There is a 12" Sire demo featuring "One Step Beyond" in circulation, and this item currently sells for about £7.
In February 1980, the group returned from their first European tour and went straight into another, albeit shorter, British schedule, playing a Saturday morning gig at Hammersmith Odeon for the under 16s, which was a huge success. By now Madness were working non-stop, alternating concerts with recording sessions, and their next release in March 1980 was an EP, aptly titled "Work Rest and Play". It contained four numbers: "Night Boat to Cairo" (also on the first album), "Deceives The Eye", "The Young And The Old" and "Don't Quote Me On That". The latter three tracks were unavailable elsewhere, except on a Stiff 12" promo which couples "Don't Quote Me" and "Swan Lake" and now sells for up to £10. Once again, this latest release topped the French charts, and reached No.6 in Britain during April. Not wanting to lose any of the momentum they had built up, the group went straight back to America for a second tour.
The summer of 1980 saw Madness riding on a wave of success. They completed another thirty-date tour of Britain and Europe, and returned to London with the material for their second album. The first of the new songs to reach the public were "Baggy Trousers"/"The Business", which was released in September, and after reaching No.3 became Stiff's longest-running chart single, with almost four months in the Top 75. The album, "Absolutely", followed at the end of that month, and contained a new version of "The Business", this time with lyrics and titled "Take It Or Leave It". It reached No.2 in the LP charts, and once again stayed in the Top 75 for ten months. A collector's item to look out for here is the white label test pressing of the album, complete with a group biography, which is currently selling for about £15 in mint condition.
NON-ALBUM
"Embarrassment" was the next 45 (with another non-album flipside), reaching No.4 in November 1980 - just as the group set off on their "Twelve Days of Madness" tour. At each town they played a special under-16s matinee (tickets only £1), as well as a regular evening show. In London they sold out the Hammersmith Odeon five times - twice to under-16s, twice to regular audiences, and once for a Christmas Eve benefit. They ended a year which had seen them out of the singles chart for only six weeks by being named as Top Singles Artists of 1980, in a table worked out on chart positions over the previous twelve months.
Their seventh single - yet another track from "Absolutely" - was issued in January 1981. That was the classic instrumental, "The Return Of The Los Palmas Seven" backed with "That's The Way To Do It". A 12" single was also issued, with two extra tracks: a live version of "Swan Lake" and an alternate take of "My Girl", recorded at the same time as the original 45. This 12" has now been deleted, and as time goes by is sure to rise in value. It's also worth noting that the 45 came in two different picture sleeves, and that Stiff promo singles are now starting to sell for about £4 each. "Return" stayed in the charts for eleven weeks, peaking at No.7.
Madness's next project was a film. In March 1981, the band went on location for "Take It Or Leave It", which was scripted and directed by Stiff supremo Dave Robinson. A documentary with music, the film traces Madness's brief history from their tentative beginnings in North London to their signing with 2-Tone. The group members played themselves, with actors taking the other parts. Filming was completed within a month, and then the group embarked on their "Absolutely Madness One Step Beyond Far East Tour" of Australasia, Japan and the States - leaving behind "Grey Day" as their latest British single, and their seventh consecutive Top Ten hit.
BAHAMAS
After a summer of writing and recording, "Shut Up"/"A Town With No Name" was released in September 1981, and reached No.7. Both the A-side and "Grey Day" were included on the band's third album, "Seven", recorded at the prestigious Compass Point studios in Nassau, The Bahamas, and released in October. A 36-date British tour was arranged to push the LP - not that much promotion was needed, as it entered the charts at No.9. It proved once and for all that the group were not trapped into just playing ska music. Their style had grown away from the 'rude boy' image, and their music now reflected their love of Motown, funk and pure pop.
"Take It Or Leave It" was premiered in October, though it was not the success that the band had hoped. The reviews were poor, and suspicions in the music press that the group's days of writing classic songs were on the way out were added to by the release of a cover of Labi Siffre's "It Must Be Love" backed by a version of "Shadow On The House" which had also appeared on NME's "Dancing Master" cassette. Whether the critic's suspicions turn out to be true remains to be seen, but their cover was superb, and was suitably rewarded with a No.7 slot in the charts.
Their next single is going to be "Cardiac Arrest" from the "Seven" album, backed with a new song, and there are rumours that a six-track EP is in the offing. Chas Smash has also recently been involved in the release of "Just One Cornetto" by Pookiesnackenburger on Stiff, which evoked this description from Melody Maker's singles reviewer last month: "An operatic ice-cream ad gives the backing, an orchestra of spoons completes the score!"
Collectors should watch out for the cassette single issue of "Grey Day" (Stiff Z BUY 112); promo copies of "Embarrassment" and "Shut Up", which sell for about £5; a French 12" version of the "Work Rest and Play" EP (Stiff ZPGCF 33402); a presentation pack of Madness singles available only through Stiff (Stiff GRAB 1); and various memorabilia from a shop that Dave Robinson ran in North London, called 'Nut Inc', which sold Madness T-shirts, badges, etc. The group also appeared in the much criticised film "Dance Craze", along with the Beat, the Specials and the Selecter, and they appear on the soundtrack album playing "One Step Beyond", "Razor Blade Alley" and "Night Boat to Cairo" - all live versions. Finally, 'Event' magazine recently gave away a free flexi-disc, which features snippets of music and dialogue from the "Take It Or Leave It" film. Again, this is liable to be a collector's item, and already some people are offering it for sale for as much as £6!
CRITICISED
Madness could be criticised for their policy of releasing so many singles off each of their albums, but at least each time they have included a new B-side, and the extra tracks on their 12" singles are also either new songs or else reworkings of old ones, unavailable elsewhere. As a result, all their releases are liable to become collectable in the future. Despite the cynical rumblings in some of the more fickle music papers, there is really no evidence to suggest that Madness's days as highly commercial singles artists are over. Already ten of their eleven singles have reached the Top Ten, and although they haven't yet had a No.1, that success can surely not be far away. They seem destined to stay as one of the country's most popular groups for many years to come - which will make anything from their early, formative years highly collectable.
- Contributed by Lee 'Loobyloo' Buckley
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