Luke's Madniverse, A tribute to the Nutty Boys.. . . . . .


This introduction to Madness was printed on the back of the Absolutely album


We've had punk and funk, pub rock and disco. We've got mod and ska. So what's next then? Get ready for the 'nutty sound' of Madness! What's that ya say? 'Aven't seen Madness yet? Where have you been, reader.
It's the Hope and Anchor tonight. So humid that even the walls are sweating and a heat haze hangs over the seven incredibly energetic performers. Odd, mixed bunch, the audience. Punks and students and mods and skins. And they're all dancing. In spite of the risk of annihilation by evaporation.
It's not surprising though, cos this is the purest form of dance music that I've heard in many a long gigging session. It's totally irresistible.
Take a fairground sound.. . . . . and add some Cockney humour type vocals. Throw in a saxaphone for good measure to pick out a spine-tingling melody along the way , and you've got it. Madness!
Guitarist, Chris Foreman explained: "The nutty sound's something that Lee Thompson, the sax man, thought up. It's 'cos our music sounds like fairgrounds and organs and things. It just sounds nutty." So which nut writes the songs?
"We all do really, though reading and writing music isn't a strong point," said keyboards personality, Mike Barson. Suggsy intervened to point out that he doesn't play anything, he writes words. But it is all done TOGETHER. Tahat's one of the strongest feelings about the group. Though they don't really socialize together, they're a working team. They really WANT Madness to be successful. It's gonna happen, and soon.
Incidentally, Prince Buster's 'Madness' inspired the only name that all the group would accept. Previous to the sudden suggestion of Chris, they'd been known as the North London Invaders but Madness certainly captures the spirit of the proceedings, a spirit that is obviously infectuous.
Suggsy told me: "At first just our friends came to our gigs, but over the last few months the audiences have just got bigger and bigger and now the're 'aving to turn people away from places like the Hope 'cos there's not enough room. We play dance music but there's neverenough space to dance to it in."
With an eye firmly fixed on the future, Chris said: "We want people to talk about the Madness sound in years to come. We don't like to be thought of as part of any revival 'cos after that fashion's dead, the groups that rely on the fashion aren't heard of anymore." Madness will, they say, move with the times and they've a good deal of new songs in the making.
It's simple really. There's these six ordinary kids (the seventh, Chas Smash, was away on a private assignment that was very secret and he sent his best wishes) and musically they're very much better than they realise (I think). They do ordinary jobs like gardening, which seems most popular, painting and decorating and making tea. Some of them haven't even got jobs. And they all live in North London. That must say something for this particular area of London.
By way of a conclusion, The last bit's by Chris. He said that when you're tuning a guitar, if you look after the thin strings, the fat ones will take care of themselves. A pretty true comment on the music business really, especially the way Madness are going about it.
So if you still haven't got 'round to seeing this splendit septet, get going quick! It'd be madness to miss 'em

Robbi Millar, Sounds Magazine September 1979




This introduction to Madness' film was printed on the sleeve of the 7 album


TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

The 'Madness' film
Here is greatness...
Wonder...Majesty
...A motion picture no
human words can
describe...But wich
every human heart can
feel...And Share.

STARRING MADNESS




This introduction to Madstock! was printed on the back of the video-box


"HEY YOU! DON'T WATCH THAT! WATCH THIS..."


Finsbury Park, August 1992
So what was this little thing they called Madstock?
I suppose you had to be there but...


It was the moment when the seven lads who shook the world asked their fans for one last dance.
It was the circus and the Cup Final hitting town on the same day with a soundtrack of some of the greatest pop songs ever.
The audience showed up in their thousands, Madness in seven black limo's complete with police escort from their secret hide-out in a Camden Town pub.
As dusk fell you could cut the air with a sta-press crease. Then, after eight years away Madness took the stage beneath a giant M. A deafening roar went up from the crowd and a huge shiver ran up and down 36,007 spines.
In a performance packed with all their greatest hits from "The Prince" to "It Must Be Love" and "My Girl" to "Baggy Trousers" (plus a triumphant version of Jimmy Cliff's classic "The Harder They Come"). Madness were alive and kicking and better than ever.
A tidal wave of emotion swept from the seven on stage into the crowd and back again. "Love, Love, Love" they sang. North London had seen nothing like it since Charlie George!
Seventy thousand pairs of dancing feet created tremors and the earth literally moved (as well as a few tower blocks, tellys and sofas). A nutty night that registered on the Richter scale. "The World's 1st Rock & Roll Earthquake"!
And the next day they did it all again for good measure.


This video is dedicated to who couldn't be in Finsbury Park that weekend for what was truly unrepeatable performance. But now at last, you too can feel the earth move...


Wlecome to the House of Fun. Welcome to Madstock!