Details of Madness and the Ticket Luck value
Madness
Madness is an English pop band from Camden Town, London, which formed in 1976. As of 2007, the band continued to perform with their most recognized lineup of seven members, although their lineup has varied slightly over the years. They were one of the most prominent bands of the late-1970s 2 Tone ska revival. However, as their career progressed, the band moved away from ska and closer towards more conventional pop music.
Madness achieved most of their success in the 1980s. Both Madness and UB40 spent exactly 214 weeks on the UK singles charts over the course of the decade. The bands therefore hold the record for most weeks spent by a group in the 1980s UK singles charts.
The core of the band formed as The North London Invaders in 1976 (although their name was often shortened to The Invaders), and included Mike Barson on keyboards and vocals, Chris Foreman on guitar and Lee Thompson on saxophone and vocals. They later recruited John Hasler on drums and Cathal Smyth on bass guitar. Later in the year, they were joined by lead vocalist Dikron.
This six-piece lineup lasted until part way through 1977, when Graham McPherson took over the lead vocals after seeing the band perform in a friend's garden. Smyth was replaced by Gavin Rogers, while McPherson was kicked out of the band for too often choosing to watch football instead of rehearsing. Thompson left the band after Barson criticised his saxophone playing.
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition The Prince. The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster which was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts at number 16. A performance of The Prince on popular UK music show Top of the Pops helped Madness gain public recognition.
Madness then toured with fellow 2 Tone bands The Specials and The Selecter, before recording their debut album, One Step Beyond..., which was released by Stiff Records. The album included a re-recording of The Prince and the band's second and third singles: One Step Beyond and My Girl. The title song was a cover of the B-side of the 1960s Prince Buster hit Al Capone. One Step Beyond... stayed in the British charts for 37 weeks, peaking at number 2. After the release of My Girl, the band felt that they had exhausted the material from One Step Beyond..., and did not want to release any more singles from the album. However, Dave Robinson, head of Stiff Records, disagreed.
Eventually, a compromise was made, and the band decided to release an EP featuring one album track and three new tracks. The result was the Work Rest and Play EP, which was headlined by the song Night Boat to Cairo, from the One Step Beyond album. The EP reached number 6 in the UK singles chart.
In early 1992, It Must Be Love was re-released and reached number 6 in the UK singles chart. Following that, the singles compilation Divine Madness was released and peaked at number 1 in the album charts. Madness then announced plans for a reunion concert, Madstock!, which was held at Finsbury Park, London on August 8 and 9 of that year. The original lineup reunited, performing together for the first time since Mike Barson left the band in 1984. Over 75,000 fans attended the weekend festival, and during One Step Beyond, the crowd danced unforgettably. A subsequent live album was released, and the associated single, The Harder They Come (a cover of Jimmy Cliff's 1973 song) reached number 44 in the UK, with the album reaching number 22.
Although Madness were seen by many as somewhat of a humorous band with catchy, bouncy songs, they sometimes tackled, what were at the time, controversial issues in their lyrics. Embarrassment (from the Absolutely album) was written by Lee Thompson. The band criticized the National Health Service in Mrs. Hutchinson. Madness' final single prior to disbanding, (Waiting For) The Ghost Train, commented on apartheid in South Africa.
The band's first notable musical award came in 1983 when they won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Song for the international hit Our House. They received another Ivor Novello Award 17 years later for an Outstanding Song Collection. In 2005, they were awarded the Mojo Magazine Hall Of Fame award, notably for being 'an artist's artist'. As of 2007, a campaign is taking place by fans of Madness for the band to be awarded a Brit award. Many fans feel they have been overlooked over their past 30 years in the music industry.
