Established Artist Research

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Madness

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Madness are an English ska band from Camden in London, that formed in 1976.  They were originally named The North London Invaders, and after briefly changing their name to Morris and the Minors, the band renamed itself as Madness in 1979, after one of their favourite songs by ska/reggae artist Prince Buster.  They are one of the most well known bands that were part of the two tone ska revival.

People consider The Dublin Castle pub in Camden the birthplace of Madness, as the members used to go here often and have also performed there.  The pub has pictures of Madness and other artists that have performed there on the walls.  This includes Amy Winehouse, Blur, Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, Supergrass and The Killers.

The band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince“ in 1979.  Along with the band's name, the song was in honour of their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records.  The song was a surprise hit, making it in the UK music charts at number 16.  A performance of "The Prince" Top of the Pops helped Madness gain public recognition.  Madness then toured with fellow 2 Tone bands The Specials and The Selecter, before recording their debut album.

They were most successful during the 1980s, spending 214 weeks on the UK singles chart, holding the record for most weeks spent by a group in the UK singles chart in that decade, along with UB40.  They have had 15 singles reach the UK top ten, with House of Fun being their only UK number one.  Can you name any of these singles?

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Singles

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Ska originated in Jamaica in the 1950s, and is a combination of Caribbean mento and calypso with rhythm and blues.

Ska was later adapted in England in the late 1970s.  This is known as the English 2 Tone ska revival.

The English adaptation meant Jamaican ska rhythms were combined with the faster tempos of punk rock.

Other popular Two Tone bands include The Specials and The Selecter, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers.

Jerry Dammers of The Specials also founded a record label named 2 Tone, which helped name the music revival.  The label released mainly ska and reggae music with punk rock and pop music overtone.  It was backed by Chrysalis Records and operated between 1979 and 1986.

Because of the English 2 Tone revival, ska bands including Madness didn’t have a particular image they were stereotyped with.  However, ska bands were generally associated with punks and skinheads due to the fast tempos of punk rock and as their music was quite popular with those subcultures

Due to Madness not particularly fitting in anywhere, it meant they were not another passing trend, which could be a reason for why they are still popular nearly 40 years on.

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Ska was popular with mods in the 1960s and later on with skinheads.  Skinheads were a British working-class subculture that had short hair, often shaved, hence the name ‘skinhead’.  Their fashion, music and lifestyle was influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods, but where mods had smarter clothes such as suits, skinheads preferred jeans and Doc Martens.  Ska music was popular among skinheads and because of this, Madness were linked to them.  However, this had a negative impact on the band’s image due to the racist associations with skinheads and people speculating the band were part of the subculture and if they were racist themselves.

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These are currently all of the albums Madness have released with their various record labels.

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Our House is a musical which created a story around songs by Madness and was named after one of their most popular singles.  The book was written by playwright Tim Firth.

Our House was first staged at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End from 28th October 2002 to 16th August 2003.  Despite the production winning the 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical, it received mixed reviews and closed after less than 10 months.  It was then released on DVD in 2004.

The musical did return on a few UK tours in 2008, 2012 and 2013, with a couple of songs being replaced by their newer hits, such as NW5.  There was also one off Gala performance at the Savoy Theatre in 2012, where it featured Suggs as the lead role’s dad.

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Madness’ image has changed significantly over the years since their early days that linked them to skinheads.  Their fanbase has grown, and they are now well established, performing for some huge events.

Madness performed Our House and It Must Be Love on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.  The final line of ‘Our House’ was changed to ‘Our house, in the middle of one's street’, in tribute to the Queen.

Another huge performance for the band was at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, where they also performed ‘Our House’.

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‘Shut Up’ by Madness discusses petty crime and sung in the point of view of the band trying to explain to the police why they are supposedly innocent for multiple wrongdoings as shown in the lines;  ‘pass the blame and don’t blame me’ and ‘it wasn’t me either I’m just his mate, he told me to stand here and watch the gate’.  Despite this topic, the song is upbeat and catchy, similar to a silent movie soundtrack.  The video matches this cheerful tune and silent movies by featuring the band as comedic cops and robbers; exaggerating their actions, chase scenes and pulling amusing faces throughout.  This is considered Madness’ typical childish and joking behaviour, and they even had the nickname of ‘The Nutty Boys’.

It’s possible that this song and music video could relate to some of the band members’ youth, and could have been involved with petty crime.  For example, the lead singer Suggs discusses his comprehensive school in his autobiography ‘That Close’.  He mentions how rough the students were and how he fell into the wrong crowd.

Slide 10:

One Better Day is one of Madness’ more serious songs. The music video is intended to make people aware about homelessness, featuring the band members doing stereotypical things homeless people are associated with.  This includes: busking on the underground, and being ignored and pushed out of the way by commuters; drinking and dancing cheerfully while seeming drunk; sitting and sleeping on the side, and even the middle, of the road; and huddling round a fire.  You can immediately tell this is a different tone to their usual lively music as the tempo is slower and the video is mostly in black and white.  The lyrics also show this; ‘he’s trying to remember one better day’.  However, it is balanced well with the idea of love hope of a better future with the happier parts in colour, for example, a homeless couple dancing, with the lyrics; ‘walking round you sometimes, hear the sunshine, beating down in time with the rhythm of your shoes’.

The description for the YouTube video states:  ‘This self-funded video was filmed mainly in Arlington Road in Camden and, more specifically, Arlington House, a homeless refuge which appears in the first line of the song.  A bittersweet track about hope and despair, the video sees the band members depicted mainly as homeless people and features Suggs dancing with his "homeless" wife, Bette Bright.’