Madness - 40th Anniversary .

Madness - 40th Anniversary.

By Pete Clemons

With the 2 Tone music genre rightly being applauded during 2019 for its fortieth anniversary, another branch of the movement will, this year, also have a fortieth anniversary to celebrate.

Although they were formed as The Invaders during 1976 and having had a turbulent early settling down period together, those nutty boys from North London, Madness, had to wait a while before they had their first chart success with ‘The Prince’ which was released on the 2 Tone Label during August 1979.

Legend has it that after a Specials gig in London audience member, Suggs, spoke afterwards with Jerry Dammers about the creation of the 2 Tone label. Jerry ended up staying the night at Suggs Mum’s flat. Madness recorded ‘The Prince’ and its B side ‘Madness’ and it unexpectedly peaked at number 16 as the single captured the moment perfectly.

A month after the singles release Madness had signed for a different label. A clause apparently existed in the 2 Tone set up where bands could leave after just one single. And that is exactly what happened by Madness as their next single ‘One Step Beyond’ was released on Stiff records during October 1979. Stiff records label manager Dave Robinson using his wedding day as a chance to audition the band.

Despite the label change Madness appeared on the legendary 40 dates 2 Tone tour alongside The Specials and the Selecter, during October and November 1979. However, they were replaced by Dexy’s Midnight Runners after, presumably being pulled from it by their new management.

On the 8th November 1979 each of the three two tone touring bands appeared on top of the pops. The Specials performed ‘A Message to You Rudy’ in the studio, The Selecter did ‘On My Radio’ via a previous TotP recording while Madness showcased ‘One Step Beyond’ – again, from the studio.

In just a few short months the 2 Tone movement, along with its label and music, had gone from an indie operation to a nationwide giant.

As a point of interest, also appearing on top of the Pops that evening was Matchbox with ‘Rockabilly Rebel’, Herb Alpert with ‘Rise’ (danced to by Legs and Co.), Sham 69 with ‘You’re a Better Man Than I’, Lena Martell ‘One Day at a Time’ and many others.

Madness were undoubtedly a charismatic and great visual band. All dance and movement. Musically they were sax heavy with very few guitar riffs. And they had an abundance of ammunition in their armoury of talent.

‘One Step Beyond’, by all accounts, was not intended to be a single and the band had only recorded a 30 second version of the tune. It was apparently, Stiff’s Dave Robinson who, after hearing it, suggested adding some studio magic to expand the riff and releasing the three-minute hit, top 10 hit.

The band’s debut album, also titled ‘One Step Beyond’ was also released during October 1979. And those with sharp eyes will notice that only 6 of the band featuring on the iconic ‘Nutty Train’ album sleeve. Well that was because Chas Smash, who came up with the ‘Hey you, don’t watch that! Watch this!’ phrase was not yet an official member of the band at the time that image was taken.

The next single was ‘My Girl’ released toward the end of 1979 which, by early 1980 had reached Number 3. This was the song that arguably shaped the future of the band as it thrusted lead singer Suggs to the fore as the accompanying video gave him the front man image.

Incredibly Madness’s first 20 singles all made the top 20. More surprisingly was that it was only ‘House of Fun’, released during 1982, that became the bands only number 1.

That aside, Madness were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, having had 15 top 10 records and totalling more than 200 weeks in the singles chart.

All these facts and figures coming about because Madness were a multi-talented band with many of its members being credited in the song writing process.

Having said that, after keyboard player Mike Barson left in 1984 the band, apart from the odd reissue, failed to break into the top 10 again. Madness announced they were splitting during 1996.

However, the nutty boys regrouped once more during 1992 and have since remained an extremely popular touring band and with Suggs still fronting the band alongside Mike Barson, guitarist Chris Foreman, saxophonist Lee Thompson, drummer Dan Woodgate and bass player Mark Bedford still finds itself mainly intact from the days of its classic line up. Trumpeter and dancer Chas Smash leaving during 2014.