Madness (band)

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Madness
From top clockwise: Barson, Suggs, Thompson, Bedford, Woodgate, Foreman, Chas Smash
Background information
Also known as	The Nutty Boys
Origin	London, England
Genre(s)	2 Tone, New Wave
Years active	1976–1986, 1992–present
Label(s)	Stiff, Virgin, V2
Website	http://www.madness.co.uk/
Members
Suggs Mike Barson Lee Thompson Chris Foreman Mark Bedford Daniel Woodgate Chas Smash

Madness are an English pop ska band that formed in 1976. A prominent band of the 2 Tone ska revival of the late 1970s, Madness achieved most of its success in the 1980s, spending more weeks in the UK chart than any other group.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 The Beginning 1.2 The late 1980s 1.3 The 1990s 1.4 1999 and early 2000s 1.5 2004-2005 1.6 2006 1.7 2007 2 Discography 2.1 Studio albums 2.2 Compilations 2.3 Singles 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] The Beginning

The band was formed in London in 1976 by Mike Barson (Monsieur Barso) on keyboards and vocals, Chris Foreman (Chrissy Boy) on guitar and 'Lee Thompson (Kix) on saxophone and vocals under the name The North London Invaders.

In 1978 they were joined by frontman Graham McPherson (Suggs) on vocals, Mark Bedford (Bedders) on bass guitar and Daniel Woodgate' (Woody) on drums. After performing periodically as The North London Invaders and Morris and the Minors, the group changed their name to Madness. Carl Smyth (Chas Smash) joined in early 1980 on trumpet and vocals after being an unofficial member for some time.

The band's first single, released September 1, 1979 on 2 Tone Records, was "The Prince". The song, written by Lee Thompson, was a tribute to the Jamaican ska musician Prince Buster, after whose song, "Madness", the band had named themselves (and which was released as the B-side of "The Prince"). This was followed by the album One Step Beyond... in 1979, named after another Prince Buster song. The album stayed in the British charts for over a year, peaking at number 2. One Step Beyond... was released on Stiff Records, which became the band's recording label.

Since 1979 the band have released 29 singles (21 top 20 hits) and eight studio albums (and two compilation albums, both UK #1 albums) in the UK. During the early 1980s, Madness was one of the most popular bands in Britain. In 1984 the band formed their own record label, Zarjazz Records. In 1985 the album Mad Not Mad was the first Madness album released on this label. The album was recorded at their own Liquidator studios, which also used to record the demos for the 1999 album Wonderful.

The band's first 20 singles all made it into the UK top 20, as the band's self-described "nutty sound" evolved to include polished pop elements along with large doses of ska, reggae, and other Caribbean music. The band only had one UK #1 single — "House of Fun" in 1982 — and narrowly missed the top spot in 1983 with the single "Wings of a Dove". They also made two guest appearances on the BBC comedy The Young Ones , performing "House of Fun" in the first season episode "Boring" (1982), and "Our House" in the second season episode "Sick" (1984).

They had limited success in the United States, with only two singles making the top 40. "Our House" peaked at #7 and "It Must Be Love" hit #33. However, the band had a strong underground following in the US, and their videos were a popular staple of MTV. Their videos, which were also popular on BBC's Top of the Pops, included much humour and storytelling. Years later, many American third wave ska, bands such as No Doubt and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones cited Madness as a major influence on their music.

[edit] The late 1980s

Mike Barson left the band and moved to Amsterdam in 1984, shortly after the release of their fifth album Keep Moving (UK #4). After Barson's departure, the band signed to Virgin Records and released the album Mad Not Mad (UK #16). They disbanded in 1986 after releasing the farewell single "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train," a song about the troubles in South Africa at the time. The song reached #18 in the UK charts and was the band's last top 20 of the 1980s. McPherson, Smyth, Thompson and Foreman went on to form The Madness and released a self-titled album on Virgin Records in 1988, reaching #66 in both the US and UK album charts.

[edit] The 1990s

In 1992, news spread that the original seven members would reform following the success of the Virgin compilation Divine Madness featuring the band's most successful singles, which entered the UK album charts at #1.

Madness performed to over 75,000 fans at the weekend concert festival Madstock at Finsbury Park London. The crowd danced so much that an earth tremor of over 4.5 on the Richter scale^[1] was reported during the song "One Step Beyond". An album featuring the best of Madstock was released. A single — a cover of Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They Come" — just failed to make the UK Top 40.

From 1992 to 1998, Madness reformed every two years for Madstock and an occasional Christmas tour of UK arenas. Suggs also had a brief but successful solo career. His biggest hit, a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia," sold over 500,000 copies in the UK. Suggs also had a modestly successful TV career, becoming a regular on panel shows and hosting a celebrity karaoke show, "Night Fever". He currently has two of his own slots on Virgin Radio "Afternoon Tea with Suggs" and "Suggs" Party Classics"

[edit] 1999 and early 2000s

In 1999, Madness released their first original album in 14 years, Wonderful, on Virgin Records. It became a top 20 UK album, spawning the singles "Johnny the Horse", "Drip Fed Fred" and "Lovestruck", the latter of which was a top 10 UK hit.

In 2002, Our House, a musical based on Madness songs, took the stage at the Cambridge Theatre in west London. It ran from October 28, 2002 to August 16, 2003 and had a companion book by Tim Firth. There was no cast album, but the show was recorded for DVD release near the end of the run. Madness played a role in the executive production of the show, and Suggs stepped into the production for a time, playing the central character's father. In 2003, the show won an Olivier Award for best new musical. In 2006, a new production of the show toured Japan, starting in Tokyo.

[edit] 2004-2005

In 2004, Madness played a series of concerts as The Dangermen, at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town. In late 2004, the band signed a one album deal with V2 Records, and in August 2005 they released The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1, an album of cover songs that reached #11 in the UK charts. The single "Shame and Scandal" became a success in France, and reached #12, and #81 in the official world top 100 singles. The album was the band's first not to be produced by Langer and Winstanley.

In May 2005, guitarist Chris Foreman left the band, citing "the petty time-consuming bollocks going on in the band" as the reason. During live performances, Foreman was replaced by Kevin Burdett.

In June 2005, Madness toured a number of the UK's forests and woodlands in conjunction with the Forestry Commission.

[edit] 2006

In 2006, the band began working on their first original album in seven years - ironically without Foreman, who (after his exit from the band in 2005) had complained about the fact that Madness had only recorded one album with new material since their reunion in 1992. The album is currently being produced by Clive Langer and White Stripes producer Liam Watson, and is due for release in summer 2007. In the summer of 2006, Madness toured Europe and Japan. On July 28, 2006, Madness performed at The Fuji Rock Festival, a three-day festival held at the Naeba Ski Resort. At the 2006 Reading Festival, Madness drummer Dan Woodgate appeared on stage with Franz Ferdinand, performing the song 'The Outsiders'.

In the summer, four members of the band (Suggs, Foreman replacement Kevin Burdett, Woody and Chas) filmed a video for their new song 'NW5' (set for release on their new album in summer 07) for the German film 'Neues vom Wixxer', due for cinematic release in early 2007. They also starred in a video for a re-recorded version of 'It must be love', also to be used in conjunction with the film. Both videos were shot in London.

In October 2006, Madness launched their official MySpace page with news that they planned to release their new single entitled "Sorry" in December. Madness performed at the Personal Fest 2006 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 17, 2006. On November 30, 2006, the band confirmed that Chris Foreman was returning to play in Madness' forthcoming UK Christmas tour. On December 2, 2006, Madness performed "It Must Be Love" on the BBC show "Strictly Come Dancing".

They started a UK tour at the Brixton academy on December 7, 2006 and had their last night of their UK tour at Wembley Arena on December 20^th 2006. The tour was recorded by concertlive.co.uk and limited edition live albums were released of all the performances on the tour. Limited editions of the bands new single 'Sorry' were also sold.

[edit] 2007

Madness will be playing a concert at the Isle of Man TT festival. The TT festival takes place at the end of May and beginning of June. Star acts such as Robin Gibb, Ronan Keating, The Arctic Monkeys and The Stranglers have all been confirmed for the event. The Peel Bay TT Festival - February 12, 2007

On March the 5th Madness released their new single, Sorry, with a version featuring UK rap artists Sway DaSafo and Baby Blue. The band brought it out via their own label, Lucky Seven Records and it entered the UK chart at #23 on Sunday 11th March, their highest UK chart single entry since 1999's Lovestruck.

The new song NW5, along with a slightly remixed version of It must be love, features in the German Edgar Wallace spoof movie Neues vom Wixxer (a sequel to a hugely succesful first Wixxer movie), which opened on March 15. Members of Madness feature - along with the cast - in a video clip to It must be love accompanying the end credits of that film. Both tracks will be released as a double-A-side single in Germany in late March via SonyBMG. The accompanying soundtrack album also features The Wizard from Madness' 1999 album Wonderful - the first Wixxer movie had used that song, but had to resort to a cover version recorded by Right Said Fred for legal reasons.

It is currently rumoured that Madness will appear at the this year's Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts.
While guitarist Chris Foreman, who had left the band in 2005 and returned for the 2006 christmas tour, will apparently be playing with Madness on their forthcoming festival performances, his status with regards to the new Madness album is currently unknown. Most of the recording sessions took place in 2006, when Foreman was not an active member of the band, and only his six colleagues can be seen playing in the video clip to the band's Sorry single.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

One Step Beyond... 1979 UK #2	Absolutely 1980 UK #2	7 1981 UK #5	The Rise & Fall 1982 UK #10
Keep Moving 1984 UK #6	Mad Not Mad 1985 UK #16	The Madness 1988 UK #65	Wonderful 1999 UK #17
The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 2005 UK #11

[edit] Compilations

• UK #6 Madness Work Rest and Play EP Apr 1980
• UK #1 Madness Complete Madness May 1982
• US n/a Madness Madness (US only release) 1983
• UK #29 Madness Utter Madness Dec 1986
• UK n/a Madness It's... Madness Sep 1990
• UK n/a Madness It's... Madness Too 1991
• UK #1 Madness Divine Madness Nov 1992
• UK #22 Madness Madstock! Nov 1992
• UK n/a Madness The Business - the Definitive Singles Collection 1993
• US n/a Madness Total Madness - the Very Best of Madness (US only release) 1997
• UK #19 Madness The Heavy Heavy Hits Jun 1998
• UK n/a Madness Universal Madness 1998
• UK n/a Madness Our House - the Original Songs Oct 2002

[edit] Singles

• UK #16 Madness "The Prince" Sep 1979
• UK #7 Madness "One Step Beyond" Nov 1979
• UK #3 Madness "My Girl" Dec 1979
• UK #3 Madness "Baggy Trousers" Sep 1980
• UK #4 Madness "Embarrassment" Nov 1980
• UK #7 Madness "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" Jan 1981
• UK #4 Madness "Grey Day" Apr 1981
• UK #7 Madness "Shut Up" Sep 1981
• UK #4 US #33 Madness "It Must Be Love" Nov 1981
• UK #14 Madness "Cardiac Arrest" Feb 1982
• UK #1 Madness "House of Fun" May 1982
• UK #4 Madness "Driving in My Car" Jul 1982
• UK #5 US #7 Madness "Our House" Nov 1982
• UK #8 Madness "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)"/"Madness (Is All in the Mind)" Feb 1983
• UK #2 Madness "Wings of a Dove" Aug 1983
• UK #5 Madness "The Sun and the Rain" Nov 1983
• UK #11 Madness "Michael Caine" Feb 1984
• UK #17 Madness "One Better Day" Jun 1984
• UK #50 Fink Bros. "Mutants in Mega City One" Feb 1985
• UK #18 Madness "Yesterday's Men" Aug 1985
• UK #21 Madness "Uncle Sam" Oct 1985
• UK #35 Madness "Sweetest Girl" Feb 1986
• UK #18 Madness "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train" Nov 1986
• UK #44 The Madness "I Pronounce You" Mar 1988
• UK #92 The Madness "What's That" May 1988
• UK #6 Madness "It Must Be Love" (re-issue) Feb 1992
• UK #40 Madness "House of Fun" (re-issue) Apr 1992
• UK #27 Madness "My Girl" (re-issue) Aug 1992
• UK #44 Madness "The Harder They Come" Nov 1992
• UK #56 Madness "Night Boat to Cairo" (re-issue) Feb 1993
• UK #10 Madness "Lovestruck" Jul 1999
• UK #44 Madness "Johnny the Horse" Oct 1999
• UK #56 Madness "Drip Fed Fred" Jan 2000
• UK #38 Madness "Shame and Scandal" Aug 2005
• n/a Madness "Girl Why Don't You?" Oct 2005
• UK #23 Madness "Sorry" Mar 2007

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Official Madspace
• The Madness Information Service Online
• The nutty forum.
• Fabchannel.com - Watch a full-length video recording of a Madness concert in Amsterdam, 2005
• Madness-Sorry
• Madness-NW5 From 'Neues vom Wixxer'