Exactly - can you think of another greatest hits as magnificent from end to end as "Divine Madness" that has every member of the band in the writing credits? Only Queen fans can claim parity in that regard.
touche ! I loved it for a very long time, but it has been very very over played, and so I have to skip it whenever it hits the playlist these days.
Good call to blend Madness in with some of those great '60s groups. They deserve it. On a tangent here, but re. your radio show, "Queuejumper" by the Divine Comedy is a catchy tune that seems to apply nicely to any number of situations in politics around the world.
I know you didn't hate it really, just hate hearing it far too much. It's one I've overplayed and heard too much. But it's a great single.
Thankfully, Madness have not yet joined the Beatles in my overplayed-can't-listen-to-them-anymore category.
And what a great lyric on "One Better Day." I remember visiting Camden in the summer of 1986, assuming that was the place to score some Madness vinyl (I was wrong, alas, but lucked out a few days later in Barnsley, oddly enough). Anyway, I happened upon Arlington House and I swear it was like walking into the middle of "One Better Day," so vivid was the song's description of the scene and the bag-toting folks who spent their days there.
Same with me and I've liked Madness for longer than any other band. I'm not sick of The Beatles or Queen either. Too much a part of my life for anything but affection.
I'm not a massive fan but I do have the first four Nutty Boys comic papers/fanzines from back in the day... how can anyone not be charmed? Was their more than four? Their videos were always the best too, and so often there were hidden depths! Plus there might not've been a Fishbone without 'em! Or Bosstones... Funny how Madness and Bad Manners seem to have been the ones to hold together the longest, yet they were also-rans a bit to me at the beginning I have to admit. Er, sorry, 'my bad'. I remember House Of Fun on one of those Rik Mayall shows (Young Ones, Bottom?... I fergit), and also the One Step Beyond and Bed And Breakfast Man vids got played over here on some local Vancouver program, might've been ye olde cable access or summat, never 'ad no badges though, just the comix... nowt wrong wi' bein' daft!
i think I have the full set of nutty boy comics. will check to see just how many I have. there was also the magazine that fan members used to get every month (lost my membership card decades ago .. grrrr). you got me wondering now. they really were THAT band for me before I discovered John Peel. when a new single came out I used to lie under my bed covers retuning my radio to try and pick up stations playing the new single again and again. with Los Palmas I think I got to hear it 3 times in one radio retuning session. and I still could not remember the lyrics.
ooh god this. there is a dreadful advert in the uk that uses this song with kids doing a funny take on it. painful beyond the extreme. for a long time I really was not over into 'Wings of A Dove', but I have come back around to it in recent times. thankfully, the albums had the songs I really loved with lyrics about the homeless, the suicidal, and kids dying in fridges.
in other news. as I was a member of the MIB I used to send letters to Chrissy Boy, and he would reply with hand written letters etc many years later, during the Madness fallow years (i.e. post break up/pre Madstock) I was on the guest list at an Age of Chance concert in London Town & Country, and Chrissy B was at the bar in the post gig party. Rather than chatting to AOC (something I could do every time I went to Morrisons in the Merrion Centre in Leeds), I decided to seize the day. Went up to CB and introduced myself, at which he said re remembered writing to me. I disputed this given Madness were the best pop band ever. He told me about the paper I used to write on. Basically my parents at the time were publicans of a lovely Yorkshire dales pub, and had some writing paper made with an image of the pub as an ingrained water mark. He said that the reason he used to write back was because he loved the paper. At the end of our chat he asked for my address, and gave me his phone number to call. He wanted to sent me a cassette of various live/session madness tracks. Due to my total WTF experience, I only ever called the number once - the Nutty Boys (Lee and CB doing ska), were playing in a pub in leeds and i said i would be there. We met up and chatted. The gig was not great as it was during the dark drinking days, and Lee was not in a good place, but still, for a fan ... wow.
I think there must've been at least six of the Nutty Boys comics. Saw the sixth one in a google search anyway, so I'm at least two away from a full set.
oh, and massive kudos/bonus points from me if anyone can figure out the connection between Age of Chance and Madness. Yes, there was one, CB was not just there for the booze.
If I'm correct, the 1st gig at which they were billed as Madness happened 40 years ago today, at the Hope and Anchor. Happy anniversary, and thanks to all the good people keeping this thread going.
You're right!.. MAY 3: Hope & Anchor, Islington, London Madness sell out the first show in the basement of their spiritual home after Carl and band pal Si Birdsall pester club manager John Eichler for months. One Step Beyond is now part of the newly-named band’s set. The show takes place on the same day the Tories win the General Election. http://sevenraggedmen.com/1979-2/
