History Music / MadnessBand

* LongRunnerLineUp: The core septet of Mike Barson on keyboards, Graham [=McPherson=] on vocals, Chris Foreman on guitar, Mark Bedford on bass, Daniel Woodgate on drums, Lee Thompson on saxophone, and Chas Smash on trumpet has lasted from 1978-84, and, apart from a year off for Foreman and a total of about four years off for Bedford, from 1992 onwards.

** Carl Smyth is generally considered to have taken Barson's place as "leader". Like Barson, he's not exactly invisible, but his importance within the set-up is probably even less obvious to the general public than Barson's was.

** "The Prince" is about Prince Buster. In the actual (now hard to find) single version, the song concludes with the words "Bring back the Prince." But in the more commonly available album re-recording (which is also the version found on most compilations and streaming services) at the end of the song, Suggs chants "Bring back the...Who is the...We want the..." -- but never finishes the phrase to say "The Prince".

* ''Music/OneStepBeyondAlbum'' (1979)

->''"You can make it your own hell or heaven\\

As one big family"''
-->--'''"We Are London"'''

* ''Music/OneStepBeyond...'' (1979)
* ''Music/{{Absolutely}}'' (1980)

* AnswerSong: ''Baggy Trousers'' was this to PinkFloyd's ''Another Brick In The Wall Pt 2''. Suggs liked the song but felt the song's portrait of authoritarian teachers making pupils' lives miserable didn't reflect his own schooling where the teachers had so little discipline that he and his fellow students spent most of the time skiving off.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Their album credits always listed their real names, but in pretty much every other context Suggs and Chas Smash were and are referred to almost exclusively by their nicknames. Suggs' real name (Graham MacPherson) is reasonably well-known, but hardly anyone apart from serious fans knows Smash's name (which is Cathal Smyth).
* OutOfCharacterMoment: The (usually) perpetually unsmiling Terry Hall is actually seen ''doubled over laughing'' during the Fun Boy Three's cameo in the "Driving In My Car" video.

* UnusualEuphemism: "House of Fun" has the teenaged protagonist blurt out a whole bunch of these because he's too embarrassed to ask the pharmacist he wants a pack of condoms in front of other people. Unfortunately, he only confuses her into thinking that he wants some balloons.

--> ''I'm as honest as the day is long,\\

* MindScrew: The music video for "(Waiting for the) Ghost Train", the band's last single before they split which is also about apartheid in South Africa, took the nuttiness UpToEleven.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: Suggs describes the ten-minute-long title track of ''The Liberty of Norton Folgate'' as 'progressive pop'.

A British band which originated as the North London Invaders in 1976, Madness started off as one of the premier bands of the 2 Tone ska revival and eventually became one of the most successful pop groups in the 1980s, spending 214 weeks in the singles charts. The group has been active for much of the past thirty years. The best-known line-up consists of Graham [=McPherson=], aka Suggs (vocals), Mike Barson (keyboards), Chris Foreman (guitar), Lee Thompson (saxophones), Daniel Woodgate (drums), Mark Bedford (bass) and Carl Smyth (vocals, trumpet and acoustic guitar).

* SocietyMarchesOn: When "House of Fun" was released (1982), buying condoms was as described a rather nerve-wracking experience for a young man, being only generally available from behind the counter at the local chemist or from barbers ("Something for the weekend, sir?"). The advent of HIV and AIDS shortly afterwards rapidly caused a change in social attitudes, de-mystifying and de-stigmatising condoms, and making them something you could pick up with your weekly supermarket shop with no more drama than buying a packet of crisps.

* CoolShades: Usually worn by Suggs, Smash and Barson, but the others will have them out from time to time.

* JukeboxMusical: ''Our House''.

* InfantImmortality: "Time For Tea" is an inversion (or strictly speaking, a potential inversion as the death is only implied).

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: Suggs describes the ten minute long title track of ''The Liberty of Norton Folgate'' as 'progressive pop'.

* SequelSong: "Close Escape" is a sequel to "In The Middle Of The Night" in which the PantyThief protagnist becomes an [[HarassingPhoneCall obscene phone caller]] instead. Even though the two songs are the work of different writing teams.

* SocietyMarchesOn: When "House of Fun" was released (1982), buying condoms was as described a rather nerve-wracking experience for a young man, being only generally available from behind the counter at the local chemist or from barbers ("Something for the weekend sir?"). The advent of HIV and AIDS shortly afterwards rapidly caused a change in social attitudes, de-mystifying and de-stigmatising condoms, and making them something you could pick up with your weekly supermarket shop with no more drama than buying a packet of crisps.

* WorstNewsJudgementEver: * In "In the Middle of the Night", a newsagent and compulsive PantyThief goes on the run after seeing a photofit of himself on the front page of the ''Sun'', a national British tabloid (referred to in the song by its Rhyming Slang nickname, the Currant Bun). Even given the reputation of the ''Sun'', it must have been a slow news day for a photofit of a local pervert to be front-page news.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Their sole Number One single "House of Fun" is also the only song about condoms (specifically, a boy who's just turned 16 trying to discreetly buy his first pack thereof) to reach the Top Ten. For added audacity, it did so during a visit to Britain by the Pope.

* SocietyMarchesOn: When "House of Fun" was released (1982), buying condoms was as described a rather nerve-wracking experience for a young man, being only generally available from behind the counter at the local chemist or from barbers ("Something for the weekend sir?"). The advent of HIV and AIDS shortly afterwards rapidly caused a change in social attitudes, de-mystifying and de-stigmatising condoms making them something you could pick up with your weekly supermarket shop with no more drama than buying a packet of crisps.

* TrojanGauntlet: "House of Fun" is about a sixteen year old boy trying to buy condoms from a pharmacist, but having trouble communicating because of his fear of being overheard by local scolds.

** The song "Johhny the Horse" is about an old tramp who was beaten to death by thugs for entertainment.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "House of Fun" is the only song about condoms (specifically, a boy who's just turned 16 trying to discreetly buy his first pack thereof) to reach the Top Ten. For added audacity, it did so during a visit to Britain by the Pope.

* {{Japandering}}: The band appeared in a Japanese commercial for the Honda City minicar, and wrote and recorded a song specifically for it. The song, "In The City", was released in the UK as the B-side to "Cardiac Arrest" and then on the "Complete Madness" hits album. [[TropesAreNotBad It's actually pretty good.]]

-->'''"We Are London"'''