History Music / MadnessBand

[[quoteright:338:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/madness_7.jpg]]

->''"Hey you! Don't watch that, watch this! This is the heavy heavy monster sound, the nuttiest sound around! So if you've come in off the street, and you're beginning to feel the heat, well listen, buster, you'd better start to move your feet, to the rockingest, rocksteady beat of Madness!\\
[[PunctuatedForEmphasis ONE! STEP! BEYOND!]]"''

** In "Our House", several band members are dressed as Gumbys, complete with handkerchiefs on their heads.

->''"Hey you! Don't watch that, watch this! This is the heavy heavy monster sound, the nutsiest sound around! So if you've come in off the street, and you're beginning to feel the heat, well listen, buster, you'd better start to move your feet, to the rockingest, rocksteady beat of Madness!\\

->''"Hey you! Don't watch that, watch this! This is the heavy heavy monster sound, the nuttiest sound around! So if you've come in off the street, and you're beginning to feel the heat, well listen, buster, you'd better start to move your feet, to the rockingest, rocksteady beat of Madness!\\

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).

Some of their better known songs include:

* CoverVersion: As well as the aforementioned ''Dangermen Sessions'', they've done quite a few covers of older ska songs, but noticably fewer than a lot of their 2 Tone contemporaries.

* ShoutOut: In the "House of Fun" video, band members dress up in drag as old women and look very like the "Pepperpot" characters from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. Likewise, in "Our House", several band members are dressed as Gumbys, complete with handkerchiefs on their heads.

* SpecialGuest: Music/{{Ian Dury|AndTheBlockheads}} performed lead vocals on "Drip Fed Fred". Before that, they also recorded an alternative version of "Tomorrow's Just Another Day" (one of their own songs) with Music/ElvisCostello, who was signed to the same label at the time. Creator/MichaelCaine also provided voice clips for the song "Michael Caine".

** "Embarrassment" was aimed at Lee Thompson's ''own family'' for [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4465666.stm seconds away from disowning his sister when she got pregnant by a black man]] [[note]]once the baby was born, tensions eased over very quickly[[/note]].
** "Ghost Train" targets the system of apartheid in South Africa, although if you saw the video the message would be harder to spot- not downright impossible, but harder.

** "Embarrassment" is a TakeThat against Lee Thompson's ''own family'' for [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4465666.stm rejecting his sister when she got pregnant by a black man]] [[note]]once the baby was born, tensions eased over very quickly[[/note]].

* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: "Cardiac Arrest", despite its bouncy music, is about a stressed-out commuter dying from a massive heart attack on a bus. It was the band's only single from its glory period not to make the UK Top Ten. The song Johhny the Horse is about an old tramp who was beaten to death by thugs for entertainment. Mrs Hutchinson is about someone visiting their mother in hospital and being told she doesn't have long to live

* ShoutOut: In the "House of Fun" video, band members dress up in drag as old women and look very like the "Pepperpot" characters from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.

* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: "Cardiac Arrest", despite its bouncy music, is about a stressed-out commuter dying from a massive heart attack on a bus. It was the band's only single from its glory period not to make the UK Top Ten. The song Johhny the Horse is about an old tramp who was beaten to death by thugs for entertainment

* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: "Cardiac Arrest", despite its bouncy music, is about a stressed-out commuter dying from a massive heart attack on a bus. It was the band's only single from its glory period not to make the UK Top Ten.

Noted for their energetic and 'wacky' style of playing and performing (especially in their earlier music videos), which earned them the moniker of 'The Nutty Boys'. Their music mainly consists of ska and reggae mixed with [[Music/TheBeatles Beatlesesque]], [[Music/TheKinks Kinksy]] pop. Their lyrics often featured humorous observations on growing up in London in a style influenced by IanDury. In 2009 they released the critically acclaimed album ''The Liberty of Norton Folgate'', their first new material in ten years which incorporates all of their main influences into something Suggs describes as 'progressive pop'.

** In "Drip Fed Fred" features guest vocalist IanDury playing one of these characters as he greets the "gentlemen and assassins, and ladies of the night" and boasts of his assassination of the eponymous Drip Fed Fred.

* SpecialGuest: IanDury performed lead vocals on "Drip Fed Fred". Before that, they also recorded an alternative version of "Tomorrow's Just Another Day" (one of their own songs) with Music/ElvisCostello, who was signed to the same label at the time. Creator/MichaelCaine also provided voice clips for the song "Michael Caine".

* TheCoverChangesTheGender: Sung from a female perspective, the Tracy Ullman cover of "My Girl" changes the title and lyric to "My Guy".

* SpecialGuest: IanDury performed lead vocals on "Drip Fed Fred". Before that, they also recorded an alternative version of "Tomorrow's Just Another Day" (one of their own songs) with ElvisCostello, who was signed to the same label at the time. MichaelCaine also provided voice clips for the song "Michael Caine".

Noted for their energetic and 'wacky' style of playing and performing (especially in their earlier music videos), which earned them the moniker of 'The Nutty Boys'. Their music mainly consists of ska and reggae mixed with [[Music/TheBeatles Beatlesesque]], [[TheKinks Kinksy]] pop. Their lyrics often featured humorous observations on growing up in London in a style influenced by IanDury. In 2009 they released the critically acclaimed album ''The Liberty of Norton Folgate'', their first new material in ten years which incorporates all of their main influences into something Suggs describes as 'progressive pop'.

** According to WordOfGod, the character being addressed by the protagonist of "NW5" is a gangster, although the lyrics don't make it so clear.

* LondonGangster: In "Drip Fed Fred" features guest vocalist IanDury playing one of these characters as he greets the "gentlemen and assassins, and ladies of the night" and boasts of his assassination of the eponymous Drip Fed Fred.

* SpecialEffectsFailure / StylisticSuck: Part of the charm of the video for "Night Boat to Cairo" is how badly done the ChromaKey is.

* TrojanGauntlet: "House of Fun" is all about this.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/madness_7.jpg
-->''Hey you! Don't watch that, watch this! This is the heavy heavy monster sound, the nuttiest sound around! So if you've come in off the street, and you're beginning to feel the heat, well listen, buster, you'd better start to move your feet, to the rockingest, rocksteady beat of Madness!\\
[[PunctuatedForEmphasis ONE! STEP! BEYOND!]]''

* ''One Step Beyond...''
* ''Absolutely''
* ''7''
* ''The Rise and Fall''
** ''Madness'', a compilation album released in the United States instead of ''The Rise and Fall''.
* ''Keep Moving''
* ''Mad Not Mad''
* ''Wonderful''
* ''The Dangermen Sessions, Vol. 1''
* ''The Liberty of Norton Folgate''
* ''Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da''

-->I'm as honest as the day is long,\\
The longer the daylight, the less I do wrong.

** ''The Rise and Fall'' was intended to feature songs about different aspects of the various band members childhoods. It didn't quite work out and only about three or four songs really fit the concept.