Madness (band)
Madness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, north west London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late-1970s/early-1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, jointly holding the record with English reggae group UB40 for most weeks spent by a group in the UK singles chart during the 1980s.
Madness have had 16 singles reach the UK top ten, including "One Step Beyond", "Baggy Trousers" and "It Must Be Love"; one UK number-one single, "House of Fun"; and two number ones in Ireland, "House of Fun" and "Wings of a Dove". "Our House" was their biggest US hit, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2000, the band received the Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for Outstanding Song Collection.
Career
1976–1978: Formation
The core of the band formed as the North London Invaders in 1976, and included Mike Barson on keyboards and vocals, Chris Foreman on guitar and Lee Thompson on saxophone and vocals. They later recruited John Hasler on drums and Cathal Smyth on bass guitar. Later in the year, they were joined by lead vocalist Dikran Tulaine.This six-piece line-up lasted until partway through 1977, when Graham McPherson took over the lead vocals after seeing the band perform in a friend's garden. Tulaine went on to be an actor. Smyth, who left after an argument with Barson, was replaced with Gavin Rodgers, Barson's girlfriend's brother. McPherson was kicked out of the band by Barson for choosing too often to watch Chelsea instead of rehearsing. Thompson left the band after Barson criticised his saxophone playing.
By 1978, the band had allowed McPherson to return as a vocalist after he had filled in temporarily for Hasler. Thompson returned after patching things up with Barson. Drummer Dan Woodgate and bassist Mark Bedford also joined the band, replacing Garry Dovey and Rodgers, respectively, the latter of whom left due to his lack of faith in the band and their organisation. After briefly changing their name to Morris and the Minors, the band renamed itself as Madness in 1979, paying homage to one of their favourite songs by ska and reggae artist Prince Buster. The band remained a sextet until late 1979 when Chas Smash rejoined and officially became the seventh member of Madness as a backing vocalist and dancer.
1979–1981: Early success
During 1979, the band began to attract a live following in London, being regulars at the Dublin Castle in Camden Town. The band's first commercial recording was the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of the Specials founder and keyboardist Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts at number 16. Madness toured with fellow 2 Tone bands the Specials and the Selecter, before recording their debut studio album.That debut studio album, One Step Beyond... was released by Stiff Records. The album included a re-recording of "The Prince" and its B-side "Madness", and the band's second and third singles: "One Step Beyond" and "My Girl". The title song was a cover of the B-side of the 1960s Prince Buster hit "Al Capone". The One Step Beyond... album stayed in the British charts for 78 weeks, peaking at number 2. Smyth performed on the album but was not an official member of the band at the time of the album's recording or release. He would formally join Madness a few weeks after One Step Beyond... was issued in October 1979.
After the release of "My Girl", the band felt that they had exhausted the material from One Step Beyond..., and did not want to release any more singles from the album. However, Dave Robinson, head of Stiff Records, disagreed. Eventually, a compromise was made, and the band decided to release an EP featuring one album track and three new tracks. The result was the Work Rest and Play EP, which was headlined by the song "Night Boat to Cairo", from the One Step Beyond album. The EP reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart.
In 1980, the band's second studio album, Absolutely reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart. Absolutely spawned some of the band's biggest hits, most notably "Baggy Trousers", which peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. "Embarrassment" reached number 4 in the charts, and the instrumental song "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" climbed to number 7. Although the album reviews were generally less enthusiastic than those of One Step Beyond..., they were mostly positive. Robert Christgau gave the album a favourable B− grade, but Rolling Stone awarded the album just one out of five stars. Rolling Stone was particularly scathing of the ska revival in general, stating that "The Specials wasn't very good" and Madness were simply "the Blues Brothers with English accents".
A drama-documentary film titled Take It or Leave It was released in 1981, featuring the band members playing themselves in a re-creation of their early days to the then-current period. Live recordings of Madness performances as well as those by other 2 Tone bands were used in the 1981 documentary film and soundtrack album Dance Craze.
1981–1983: Change of direction
In 1981, the band's third studio album, 7, reached number 5 in the UK Albums Chart and contained three hit singles: "Grey Day", "Shut Up", and "Cardiac Arrest". In an article in 1979, Chris Foreman explained that the band's music would move with the times, and change styles as time goes on. This was shown to be the case, as unlike the two ska-filled, fast-paced albums that preceded it, 7 was something of a change in direction. Suggs' vocal performance changed significantly, and his strong accent from the previous studio albums had been watered down. The album strayed from the ska-influenced sound of One Step Beyond... and Absolutely and moved towards a pop sound; a trend that continued with subsequent studio albums.Near the end of 1981, Madness released one of their most recognised songs: a cover of Labi Siffre's 1971 hit "It Must Be Love". The song climbed to number 4 in the UK, and in 1983, the song peaked at number 33 in the US charts. In 1982, Madness released their only number 1 hit to date, "House of Fun" and also reached number 1 in the album charts with their first compilation, Complete Madness. In this period, the band starred in a series of commercials in Japan for the Honda City hatchback and Honda Motocompo scooter, in which they sang the original composition "In the City" and a modified version of their 1982 single "Driving in My Car"; a full version of "In the City" was released on Complete Madness.
In November 1982, they released their fourth studio album, The Rise & Fall, which was well received in the UK, but did not get an American release. Instead, many of its songs were included on the US compilation Madness, including "Our House", which was their most internationally successful single to date. "Our House" reached number 5 in the UK music charts and number 7 in the US charts; it was also performed on The Young Ones. Many reviewers compared The Rise & Fall to the Kinks' The Village Green Preservation Society, and it is at times retrospectively considered a concept album. The album also featured "Primrose Hill", which was more similar to the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever", containing similar psychedelic imagery and a layered arrangement.
1983–1986: Decline and break-up
In 1983, their single "Wings of a Dove" peaked at number 2 in the UK charts, followed by "The Sun and the Rain". Their following studio album, Keep Moving, peaked at number 6 in the UK Albums Chart, and two singles from that album reached the top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The album received some good reviews, with Rolling Stone magazine giving the album four out of five stars, applauding the band's changing sound. This was an improvement as the last album reviewed by the magazine, Absolutely, was heavily criticised.Mike Barson's Departure
As the musical lynchpin of the band, Barson had become increasingly exhausted by the pressure of being in the band by this time. This sentiment started in late 1982 during the production of The Rise and Fall, during which Barson moved to Amsterdam with his wife. Barson also became very reclusive from the band's public image and started to cover his face in photographs. And while rehearsing Keep Moving, Barson disappeared holiday throughout Europe in a camper van with his wife and dog, holding up the release of "Wings Of A Dove".On October 4th of 1983, the band were rehearsing and discussing a possible television series, which was being written for them by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis. Barson then informed the band that he would not be able to take part because he intended to leave the band, as he was tired of the music business and wanted to spend more time with his wife. Barson agreed to finish recording the album Keep Moving; he left after playing for the last time with the band at the Lyceum Ballroom on 21 December 1983.
James Mackie took Barson's place, appearing with Madness on the US television show Saturday Night Live on 14 April 1984. After leaving the band, Barson returned to the UK for the filming of two music videos as he had played on the tracks, "Michael Caine" and "One Better Day". Barson finished live performance with the band in 1983, and officially left the band in June 1984, following the release of "One Better Day". Paul Carrack took Barson's place whilst the band toured America in early 1984. The six remaining members left Stiff Records and formed their own label, Zarjazz Records, which was a sub-label of Virgin Records.