| MAD FACTS |
| The original members of Madness were Mike, Chris and Lee. Mike had always wanted to start a band so he got two of his friends together and persuaded them to start playing instruments. The band was originally called "The North London Invaders", but had to change their name after they discovered that there was another band called that. "Madness" came from a title of one of their favoutite songs and was suggested by Chris Foreman. Chas was originally in the band as a bass player, but left after falling out with Mike. He re-joined the band as a compare after Lee asked him to introduce One Step Beyond, which was originally a sax instrumental. Chas' introduction became so popular he was asked by the others to come back as a compare/ nutty dancer. My girl was written in the style of an Ian Dury song whom Madness were big fans of. Suggs left the band for a bit because of the football season. Land of hope and glory was written by Lee Thompson about a reform school he spent some time in after getting into some trouble. Razor Blade Alley was written and sung by Lee Thompson and was about a schoolkid being taken to the red light district, sleeping with a prostitute and catching VD. He got the title from a line in the film The Boys in Company C, "I feel like I'm pissing razor blades." As far as I'm aware it's not autobiographical! Baggy trousers came out about the time of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the wall. It said that in their school, the teachers and students were allowed the same misery and that school wasn't really that bad. After that under 16's would start coming to the gigs and listening from outside because they were too young to get in. At that time they started playing matinee gigs for them. Embarrassment was written about Lee Thompson's sister who had had a baby with a black man, and who was having some difficulty with neighbours and relations. It was written as an answer to them. The second album is Bedders' favourite. Both the songs In the middle of the night and Close escape were written about George, an elderly newsagent who has a fetish for knickers. In In the middle of the night he steals people's underwear until he gets found out, and in the sequel, Close Escape, he moves on to making obscene phone calls. Grey Day was re-worked from a song that they'd originally played in the early days of the band. It was an attempt at dub reggae. In the video for Grey Day, all of the members of the band had to wear grey make up which they were all happy to do, except Bedders. If you look closely at him in the video, you can see how miserable he looks- then again, Grey Day was so depressing, I don't suppose anyone noticed! Mrs. Hutchinson was written by Mike about his mother. When she became ill she started going to the doctor, who told her that it wasn't serious and just prescribed lots of pills. However it turned out to be very serious. The video for It must be love caused controvicy as it featured Lee hurling himself backwards into a swimming pool whilst playing his saxophone. He joined Chrissy Boy who was already under the water playing his electric guitar. Because of this, the beginning of the video issued a "serious" warning from Chrissy Boy to not try this at home! Yet more controvicy followed with Cardiac Arrest, a song written by Chas about seeing a man have a heart attack on the London Underground. The song was actually banned from Radio 1, causing Cardiac Arrest to be their first single, since The Prince, to not get into the top ten. The house that Chas walks out of at the beginning of the Cardiac Arrest video is actually one of the places where Lee grew up. The band actually drove the bus in the video around and collected fares from people! The reason why the song Shut up is called that is because the original version was ten minutes long and contained the words "shut up" in it. The version that was released had to be cut down, but the title was kept for nostalgic reasons. The Rise and Fall was an album based mainly on childhood memories Our House was the band's first top ten hit in America Suggs has been asked out by Madonna! He said no of course... Mistakes was the first song the band ever wrote Suggs is named after a jazz flautist, and found the name in a music encyclopedia! Mike spent a year at art school before dropping out to pursue a career in spraying graffiti. Mike's brother was the singer in a band called Bazooka Joe, Adam Ant's first band Suggs' mum was a jazz singer Chrissy Boy's dad was actually a well-known folk singer As �research� for In the Middle of the Night, Suggs actually stole several pairs of underwear from washing lines! |