| 1979 |
madness Suggs bought a scratched version
of Madness along to a rehersal and we put it in our set. We were called
the Invaders, but another band with that name came along who had a major
deal, and Mike had the bright idea of calling us Morris and the Minors
and no one dared to argue with him ad he owned the Morris van that we used.
However one day whilst discussing this sad name someone said "let's
pick a song from the set" I replied "Oh, yeah; like Madness".
And the rest is, as they say...
mistakes Mistakes was one of the first songs
we ever wrote, therefore it is a unique significant piece of work from
the Madness cannon. It only has two chords. However, you can find a few
more in the middle eight.
nutty theme "Another early work
which we played a lot live. It was supposed to be our theme
tune and it was for a while. We were going for the style
of the 'Steptoe and son' theme tune, (an important
influence to be under)"
| 1980 |
"WE WERE TOURING SO MUCH THAT MY SUITCASE BECAME
MY BEST FRIEND"
(Mark Bedford)
Mike and Lee had written embarrassement
before an English tour so we played it and baggy trousers live a few times
before recording them. As they were both very successful, a theory developed
that we had to play songs live to make them hits.
I was really proud to have finally written something that
was going to be a single and we knew baggy trousers was going
to be a big hit. However, when asked by Stiff who the authors were Suggs
said "Chris, Mike and me" So when I finally saw the label my
look of joy turned a bit sour. Not just for egotistic reasons but the deadly
thought that somewhere amongst the labryinthine accounts system some of
my royalties might find their way into Mike's massive coffers. It is a
thought that haunts me still. I'm sure Mike would return any money that
wasn't his though...
crying shame, great guitar solo. I was going
for a mexican tijuana type feel and I quite suprised myself. In those days
you had to get in quick with a solo or Thommo and Mike would be all over
the shop.
the business qas also known as 'Take it
or Leave It'. This is an instrumental version of that song. But you knew
that already didn't you?
| 1981 |
We were doing a session for Radio I which was always
a good reason to try out new material. However, on this occasion we found
ourselves a bit short. Mike had just heard the Labi Siffre version
of it must be love on the radio so we spent some time trying
to learn it. We didn't actually do it on the session but we started
to play it live on tour. Dave Robinson was so eager to release it that
he booked us into a studio mid-tour which didn't really work out, but we
finished it off eventually. shut up was supposed to be a
bit like Slade and for the video I wanted a guitar I had seen in
a shop that was shaped like a gun (the guitar not the shop). However, it
was unavailable and I ended up with a 'SUPER-YOB' guitar, whith
one careful previous owner, only 2,000 riffs on the clock. Come
on down Dave Hill of Slade! The video was seen by Marco from Adam
and the ants and he eventually bought the guitar.
"TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT WAS THE BEGINNING AND THE END
OF MY ACTING CAREER"
(Woody Woodgate)
house of fun was another gem from Lee and
Mike, the lyrics inspired in part by a scene in the film Summer of '42
where one of the protaganists has to buy some condoms for the first time.
On persual of the lyrics we could tell the subject matter, but we decided
not to mention it in interviews before it was released for fear of getting
banned. Of course about two days before it came out, Woody explained the
whole theme of the song in Record Mirror. Oh, how we laughed!
don't look back was a nod in the direction of chinless white
funk. The lyrics weren't much cop. But there was a great Chic inspired
one-note guitar solo!
| 1983 |
When we did the video for the sun and the rainLee
had the idea of an exploding piano. So we got the Stiff carpenter to make
a balsa wood one. He was up all night and ready to drop when the fruit
of his lavours were destroyed in about 2.5 seconds, right in front of him.
We filmed it in slow motion though, so he could examine his craftsmanship
in great detail. A right good old time Madness foot stomper, this still
has them rolling aisles. fireball xl5 demoed round my house
on my trusty 4-Track this was then recorded at Pathway (where we made our
first single) and it's the reason Lee wears that Rocket pack in the Sun
and the Rain video.
behind the 8 ball: lock us in the studio
for 24 hours to do a b-side and this is what you get.
Rather liks "Wings of a Dove" Carl had the idea of a song called michael caine. Then he heard some music Woody played him.
| 1984 |
sarah Recorded at our own studio, Liquidator.
This was going to be about Sarah Tidsall and the GCHQ scandal, but Lee
never finished the lyrics.
guns The first entire song I ever wrote
i.e. words and music. A gigantic artistic struggle which produced this.
Ths lyrics came after reading that there were 4 guns to every person (or
something) in Texas, with a little something about the arms race in the
Reagan era.
Victoria Gardens was going to be a single
but Dave Robinson (Stiff M.D.) changed his mind which was unusual and marked
the end of a truly beautiful relationship with Stiff records.
one better day "Mark had a set of very emotive chords which instantaneously produces these lyrics in my mind which Mike wove together with an on the spot melody. By the way the title refers to the phrase "He's seen better days." "One of the last and best songs that we all worked on together before Mike left.".
| 1985 |
yesterday's men By now, every one in the
band was writing stuff and most of us were using keyboards. Chris borrowed
one of those casio one finger bassline type things and wrote this on it.
As soon as he'd finished he knew it was just right for Suggs and we polished
it off in no time, once again using his 4-Track. The demo ended up on the
12".
all I knew Something of the mystifying realisation
that the more well read/ bolder I (Suggs) became, the more confused/stupid
I felt.
"Originally performed by Scritti
Pollitti, this cover version was suggester by Sugg's and
before you knew it became a top 40 smach which would have
been plenty for a new band but wasn't good enough for us. We hadn't
really intended it to be a single and wanted to release 'I'll
compete'. But it's no good complaining now"
(waiting for the) ghost train One dark night
we developed this dark song that Suggs had written in out studio and before
you knew it, we had roped in Mike to re-record the last Madness single
ever, seven years after the first.
| 1986 |
IT WAS 1986 AND THE BAND THAT BEGAN AS AN IDEA OF MIKES
HAD COME A LONG WAY SINCE WE ALL FIRST MET SOME HOW WE ALL NEEDED MADNESS
IT WAS OUR THING OUR PLACE ALL THE WORDS IN ALL THE SONGS ALL THE CONVERSATIONS
THE PEOPLE WE MET THE PEOPLE WE HURT THE ONES WE HELPED THE ONES WHO ARE
NO LONGER WITH US AND SHALL NEVER FORGET EVERYONE OF US HAS PUT SO MUCH
OF THEMSELVES INTO MADNESS THAT FOR US IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT INTO WORDS
HOW WE FEEL ABOUT IT AND EACH OTHER OUR PATHS HAVE CROSSED AND OVER THE
YEARS HOW WE HAVE TOUCHED AND INFLUENCED EACH OTHER GOODBYE GOD BLESS AND
SEE YOU ALL VERY SOON.