Madness

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Madness (disambiguation) .

Madness
Madness performing in Amsterdam (2005)
General information
origin	Camden Town , London , England
Genre (s)	Ska , 2-tone , New Wave
founding	1976, 1992
resolution	1986
Website	madness.co.uk
Current occupation
singing	Graham McPherson (since 1978)
guitar	Chris Foreman (since 1976)
bass	Mark Bedford (since 1978)
Keyboard , piano , vibraphone , vocals	Mike Barson (since 1976)
Saxophone , percussion , vocals	Lee Thomson (since 1976)
Drums , percussion	Daniel Woodgate
former members
Vocals, drums	John Hasler (1976–1978)
singing	Dikron Tulane (1976–1977)
bass	Gavin Rodgers (1977-1978)
Drums	Garry Dovey (1977-1978)
bass	Graham Bush (2009-2013)
Keyboard, synthesizer	Steve Nieve (1984-1986)
Keyboard, organ	Seamus Beaghan (1986)
guitar	Kevin Burdette (2005-2006)
Trumpet, bass, harmonica, acoustic guitar, vocals	Chas Smash (1976-1977, 1979-1988, 1992-2014)

Madness ( English for madness , madness ) is one of the most famous British Ska - bands of the 1980s and after an interim separation (1986-1992) still active. Their music, a mixture of ska, punk and pop as well as their playfulness later became their trademark as "Nutty Sound".

Ska has Jamaican roots, is based on the offbeat and dates back to the late 1950s. In the 1970s and 1980s this style of music enjoyed great popularity , especially in Great Britain and Western Europe, and Madness was at that time, together with The Specials, one of the most important representatives of the first ska revival.

Band history

Original occupation

Madness was founded in 1976 in North London under the name The Invaders (The North London Invaders, according to Robbi Millar of Sounds , on the cover of Absolutely , but only there), with Mike Barson (called "Monsieur Barso") at the Keyboards, guitarist Chris Foreman ("Chrissie Boy") and Lee Thompson ("Kix" or "El Thommo", saxophone and vocals). In 1978, Graham McPherson ("Suggs", vocals) and Mark Bedford ("Bedders") on bass, Cathal Smyth ("Chas Smash", later Carl Smyth, vocals, trumpet and "movement on stage") joined as new front man and Daniel Woodgate ("Woody", drums) added.

1976 to 1986 - the first phase

The Invaders had its first public appearances from mid-1977; the different compositions of the band members in the early days are immortalized on the inner cover of the LP Absolutely . From April 1979 the band called themselves Madness, after a well-known piece by the Jamaican Ska icon Prince Buster . Accordingly, their first single, The Prince , released in August 1979 at the legendary record company 2 Tone Records , was a homage to Prince Buster. On the B-side is the song that gave the group their name.

They toured together with two other 2 tone bands , The Specials and The Selecter , but left 2 Tone and released their debut album One Step Beyond ... on the also independent Stiff Records label, also in 1979. The LP lasted longer than a month Year in the British charts and meanwhile reached number 2. The title song - a cover version of a hit by Prince Buster - became the “anthem” of the band.

Before their (first) separation in 1986, Madness released six albums (without the many compilations ) and were particularly successful with their numerous singles : The first 20 Madness singles all reached the top 20 of the British charts - a success that not even the Beatles , Elvis Presley or Cliff Richard . With the single House of Fun Madness reached number one in the British charts for the first and only time on May 29, 1982, displacing German Grand Prix de la Chanson winner Nicole from the top position. Madness certainly owes a large part of its success to the two people who have been its producers almost continuously over the years and who have provided the right "nutty sound" at the mixer : Clive Langer (formerly a member of the Deaf School band ) and Alan Winstanley .

In 1982 the film Take It or Leave It was released , which described the development of the band within North London and also shows some former band members as well as the "current" manager John Hasler.

In 1983 Madness had a world hit with Our House from the album The Rise and Fall , which climbed into the top 10 of the charts in Great Britain, Germany and even in the USA . After the release of the critically acclaimed fifth album Keep Moving (1984), keyboardist Mike Barson, who had shaped the "nutty sound", got out. McPherson and Smyth already tried the Fairlight in a solo project as The Fink Brothers and the band continued with more synthesizer sounds without Barson . Madness even founded his own record label, "Zarjazz", which was followed in 1985 by the melancholy album Mad Not Mad . (Among other things, Zarjazz released the first solo single by Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey .)

1986 to 1992 - The separation

In the fall of 1986, Madness broke up temporarily. Mark Bedford and Daniel Woodgate played for Strawberry Switchblade and then joined the band Voice of the Beehive .

After the unsuccessful attempt in 1988 to revive the group Madness as "The Madness" in the formation of McPherson, Foreman, Thompson and Smyth, these four went their separate ways again. Graham "Suggs" McPherson became a television presenter and manager of The Farm and, as in 1984, its producer. Smyth worked as the A&R manager for the Go! Discs . Thompson and Foreman continued with session musicians as "Nutty Boys" (1990/1992).

1992 - The comeback

When various re-releases of singles in higher regions (and the hit compilation Divine Madness even shot to number 1) in the British charts in 1992 , Madness re-formed for two concerts in Finsbury Park in London in the summer of the same year and gave in front of 72,000 spectators Original line-up made their much-acclaimed comeback on August 8th and 9th, 1992 . The concerts were - based on Woodstock - under the title Madstock! marketed and published as a live album. Because of its great success, they played a Madstock every two years from then on ! Concert and occasional Christmas tours limited to Great Britain. For the time being, however, they were limited to these live concerts, while Graham McPherson was able to book further top 20 chart successes in Great Britain between 1995 and 1998 with solo singles and albums under his nickname and stage name Suggs.

It wasn't until 1999 that a new Madness album followed - the first in 14 years. It was called Wonderful and brought the band the top ten hit Lovestruck in their home country .

Since 2000

After the release of Wonderful , whose sales fell short of expectations despite the respectable sales of the first single, the band again limited themselves to playing live concerts.

Between 2000 and 2003 Madness did a number of - all sold out - Christmas tours in the UK. In addition, the musical Our House premiered in London at the end of October 2002 . The Madness members acted as executive producers and singer Suggs played the main character's father himself in the musical at times, also in order to stimulate the relatively poor ticket sales. Although the musical won the Laurence Olivier Award for the best new musical in 2003 , it received mixed reviews and finally had to be discontinued in August 2003 due to a lack of visitor demand. A modified production of the musical toured Japan in July 2006 and was scheduled to travel through Great Britain in August 2007.

In July 2003 Madness gave her first full concert outside of the UK in over ten years in Bonn and played some club concerts in her home country as "The Dangermen".

In August 2005, The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 was released , an album with cover versions of ska and reggae classics. For the first time since the 1980s, the band also completed a full tour outside of their home country in 2005 and 2006.

Founding member Chris Foreman can no longer be heard on all tracks on the album as he left the band during the recording. He announced his departure belatedly in May 2005 on the Madness website (see below) and justified it with “ the petty time consuming bollocks that goes on in the band ” (for example: “the petty, time-consuming shit that goes on in the band goes "). In an interview shortly thereafter, he also criticized that Madness had only recorded an album with new own material, the 1999 released Wonderful , since the reunification in 1992 . He would have preferred to follow up on this than to release an album with cover versions. When performing live, Foreman was replaced by guitarist Kevin Burdette after leaving.

Madness played a number of concerts in British forests in June 2005 - with Burdette on guitar - (sponsored by the Forestry Commission ) and in September 2005 was a guest at a surprise concert in Cologne's E-Werk , which was announced just the day before. On July 6, 2006, the band gave their first of several concerts in Germany in 2006 in the Olympiapark in Munich. On July 14, 2006, a concert followed in the Spandau Citadel .

In 2006 the formation began working on a new studio album with their own compositions, the first since the 1999 Wonderful . Ironically, you worked without founding member Chris Foreman, who left the band in 2005, among other things, because Madness had not produced a new album with his own tracks for too long. As with all Madness albums before, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley are responsible for production, together with White Stripes producer Liam Watson .

In November 2006 it was confirmed that guitarist Chris Foreman, who had dropped out, would be a member of the band again on the upcoming Christmas tour in Great Britain in December of the same year.

Since the contract with V2 Records only included the 2005 cover album The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 and was not extended, the band released the single Sorry in Great Britain in March 2007 on their own new label Lucky Seven. The name is a nod to the number of members of the full Madness cast (including Foreman).

In Germany, the new track NW5 was released as a single in March 2007 (via SonyBMG ), together with a new recording of the Madness hit It Must Be Love as a double A-side. Both pieces were by Madness for the German film Neues vom Wixxer provided and are included on the accompanying soundtrack album, as well as the play The Wizard from the album Wonderful (for legal reasons in the previous film was The Wixxer only a Right-Said- Fred cover version of the piece used; the new soundtrack album now provides the original). For both NW5 and It Must Be Love , the Wixxer leading actors shot videos with four Madness members (Suggs, Foreman replacement Burdette, Woody and Chas) in London in the summer of 2006, with the NW5 video paying homage in terms of content and style to the movie The Usual Suspects is.

On May 3, 2008, Graham "Suggs" McPherson and Chas Smash performed with the Pet Shop Boys at a benefit concert in London's Heaven club, singing a new version of My Girl , edited by the Pet Shop Boys.

On May 18, 2009 the ninth studio album The Liberty of Norton Folgate was released , which was sold a month earlier on the Madness homepage as a special edition box set and contained a double disc, a vinyl version, a live CD and other extras. The Liberty of Norton Folgate peaked at number 5 on the UK album charts, the highest Madness studio album ranking since Keep Moving in 1984.

With the exception of NME magazine , reviews for the album in the UK have been mostly positive. The BBC called it the band's "great magnum opus ". The Liberty of Norton Folgate was also number 3 on the BBC's list of the best albums in 2009 (in the rock and pop category) and number 9 in the annual list of British magazine Mojo .

In an interview with RTÉ 2fm presenter Dave Fanning explained drummer, on 24 May 2010 that the band is currently doing pieces for the follow-up album to Daniel Woodgate The Liberty of Norton Folgate to finish and hope in 2010 begin shooting .

On June 5, 2012, Madness played the classics Our House and It Must Be Love at the Diamond Jubilee Concert on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's throne on the roof of Buckingham Palace . On August 12, 2012, the band performed their best-known song, Our House , at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics .

On September 27, 2012, the group performed as the main act of the evening at the iTunes Festival 2012 at the London Roundhouse . The concert was streamed live via the Apple server.

The single Mr. Appels was released on September 7, 2016 . The song is also featured on the new album Can't Touch Us Now , which was released on October 28, 2016.

Discography

→ Main article : Madness / discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1979	One Step Beyond ...	DE14 (37 weeks) DE	AT11 (10 weeks) AT	-	UK2 platinum (79 weeks)UK	US128 (9 weeks) US	First published: October 19, 1979
1980	Absolutely	DE21 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	UK2 platinum (47 weeks)UK	US146 (4 weeks) US	First published: September 26, 1980
1981	Madness 7	-	-	-	UK5 gold (29 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 2, 1981
1982	The Rise & Fall	DE15 (20 weeks) DE	-	-	UK10 gold (22 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 8, 1982
1984	Keep moving	DE47 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK6th silver (19 weeks)UK	US109 (8 weeks) US	First published: February 20, 1984
1985	Mad Not Mad	-	-	-	UK16 silver (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: September 30, 1985
1988	The Madness	-	-	-	UK65 (1 week) UK	-	First published: April 25, 1988 as The Madness; Producer: The Three Eyes
1999	Wonderful	-	-	-	UK17 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 1, 1999
2005	The Dangermen Sessions - Volume One	DE81 (1 week) DE	-	CH67 (4 weeks) CH	UK11 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: August 1, 2005 Producers: Dennis Bovell, Segs (John Jennings), Steve Dub
2009	The Liberty of Norton Folgate	-	-	-	UK5 gold (13 weeks)UK	-	First published: March 23, 2009
2012	Oui Oui, Si Si, Yes Yes, Da Da	-	-	-	UK10 gold (18 weeks)UK	-	First released: September 28, 2012 Producers: Liam Watson, Stephen Street , Charlie Andrew, John Avila, Owen Morris, Clive Langer
2014	One Step Beyond: 35th Anniversary Edition	-	-	-	UK54 (1 week) UK	-	First release: October 13, 2014 New edition of the 1979 album with bonus DVD including videos, BBC appearances, documentation
2016	Can't Touch Us Now	-	-	-	UK5 silver (11 weeks)UK	-	First released: October 28, 2016 Producers: Charlie Andrew, Clive Langer , Liam Watson, Madness

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

* Producers of the albums listed in the table (unless otherwise stated): Clive Langer , Alan Winstanley

Filmography

Since Madness always had original little films about their hits, the following video releases were also available:

• 1981: Take It or Leave It
• 1985: Complete Madness
• 1986: Utter Madness
• 1992: Divine Madness
• 2009: The Liberty of Norton Folgate (by Julien Temple)

Soundtracks

• 1989: In the film “ Das long Elend (The Tall Guy) ” the play “It Must Be Love” is shown, including an appearance by Suggs.
• 1998: The song "I Am" by Suggs plays in the film " Mit Schirm, Charme und Melon ".
• 1999: In the film "10 Things I Hate About You" with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, the title "Wings of a Dove" runs.
• 2004: In the film " Der Wixxer " the song "The Wizard" is played in the version of Right Said Fred .
• "On the Beat Pete" and "The Return of the Los Palmas 7" from the album "Absolutely" are often heard in the Sat.1 comedy programs "Die Wachmänner", "Zack, Comedy nach Maß".
• 2007: In the film “ Neues vom Wixxer ” Madness contributed two songs, including the track “NW5”, for which a video was shot with the two main actors Oliver Kalkofe and Bastian Pastewka . In the credits, the band appears with the actors for the song "It Must Be Love".

Band and solo projects

The Nutty Boys

• 1990: Crunch! (Album)
• 1992: It's OK, I'm a Policeman (Single)

The Fink Brothers

• 1985: Mutants in Mega City One (single)

Suggs

• 1995: The Lone Ranger (album)
• 1998: The Three Pyramids Club (album)
• 1995: I'm Only Sleeping , Camden Town and The Tune (Singles)
• 1996: Cecilia and No More Alcohol (Singles)
• 1997: Blue Day (single, as "Suggs & Co. featuring Chelsea Team ")
• 1998: I Am (single)

Web links

Commons : Madness  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)

swell

1. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/one-step-beyond-madness-find-liberty-in-record-deal-1205891.html
2. ↑ http://www.madness.co.uk/
3. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Mike Diver. BBC Music's Best Albums of 2009 (January 6, 2010)
4. ↑ MOJO Magazine Top 50 Albums of 2009
5. ↑ RTÉ 2fm: Dave Fanning Interview with Woody of Madness (May 24, 2010) (MP3; 4.3 MB)
6. ↑ Madness performs 'Our House' at Olympic closing ceremony , Examiner.com, August 12, 2012
7. ↑ Chart sources: Singles Albums DE UK US
8. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .