Chapter 4: All In The Mind

Following the Christmas break, Madness returned to work in January 1982 with some rehearsals lasting through to the 20th. The South of France beckoned the band soon after, and the boys set off for the MIDEM Festival, a music biz get together where the band were the main attraction before they legged it to Paris the following day for a TV spot. As the month drew to a conclusion the band were on the move again, this time for an Italian TV special wich took place in a circus, apparentley Chris fell off an elephant but fortunately no damage was done.

February the 5th heralded the release of 'Cardiac Arrest' as a 7" & 12" single, backed by the highly rated 'In The City', an adaptation of the Honda car commercial the band were about to film in LA. After appearing on Top Of The Pops, the BBC decided that a song about a heart attack victim was not suitable for airplay and promptly banned the record from their playlist.

The desicion was apparently made following the deaths of DJ's relatives. At the time Radio 1 was still the most popular and influential station around, and the ban certainely hit the record sales, 'Cardiac Arrest' became the first Madness single since 'The Prince' not to go top 10, finally peaking at number 12.

During all of these goings on Stiff records were busy putting together a Madness greatest hits collection, after photo sessions for the cover proved fruitless the band got down to recording some new material on the 22nd, including a new track for inclusion on the compilation.

Dave Robinson: "...We had the greatest hits thing worked out, I always thought bands should put out a greatest hits several times in their career. So it was very crucial that we had a new single, I thought, well, the way to do it is we'll have a new single that we'll add to it so there's a couple of new tracks on the album as well as the oldies, 'cos their fans would buy everything, and you wanted to give them some kind of value for money.

"I used to pick a lot of new, upcoming singles just from little dabbles while we were making videos, while we were waiting for the camera crew to shift or what ever it was. 'House Of Fun' came up, I thought that's really good, that's the one for this greatest hits package. I went down the studio, and again we were right up to the edge with time, and they'd finished it, and I listened to it, and I thought, but where's the chorus?

So I made them listen to it 4 or 5 times, finally everyone said, you're right. So that got 'round the piano, banged out House Of Fun and I said that's it, get it together. What happened if you listen to that song, that's edited in to the song, that's got a slightly different beat. It's not totally in sync, and that was edited into the end of each verse, there was no time to do anything, so they recorded it once and we copied it and we edited it all in, and that's 'House Of Fun', their first number 1."

The new single was released on April the 30th, seven days after the release of the hits album 'Complete Madness'. The 16 track compilation featured all the singles, including House Of Fun, as well as 'In The City', 'Bed & Breakfast Man', 'Take It Or Leave It' and the Stiff version of 'Madness'. The album was even advertised on TV, a ploy not often used in the early '80's, and to complete the promotion Stiff gathered all the bands videos together for the 'Complete Madness' video.

The album went straight into the chart at number 2, and, after spending a month behind Paul McCartney's 'Tug Of War' hit the top slot on the 22nd of May. A week later and Madness were celebrating their first, long overdue, number 1 single, with 'House Of Fun' deposing the awful 'A Little Peace' by Nicole, a record that threatend to do a Kenny Rogers (see Chapter 2).

'House Of Fun' was the first Madness single to be released in Picture Disc format, although suprisingly Stiff passed up on a 12" edition. The B side was 'Don't Look Back', a strange attempt, apparently, at white funk that for the most part remains instrumental, with just a few vocal interjections. Incidentley, 'Don't Look Back' was first heard in the film 'Take It Or Leave', if you listen carefully you can hear it playing at the party scene at Si Birdsall's house where the Invaders debuted.

The video for the single was shot at a fairground in great yarmouth with additional footage filmed in a chemist shop, baffeling those who failed to pick up on the songs true meaning.

Suggs: "At that point, certainley, we weren't conscious about having a message, we were just writing about things that we'd experienced. And I think, maybe partly, because we were quite young and naive at that point, we were probably aware of the fact that it was, a bit risque at that time, so we probably were trying to cover it up a little bit. But, you know, I don't know it seems a bit funny now that you should worry about telling kids to wear condoms."

Woody: "Nowadays of course, in this climate of AIDS and being sensible, I'm sure the BBC would be the first ones to promote a song like that or even reveal it's true message."

On the very day House Of Fun hit number 1 Madness were touching down in Japan for a series of five gigs, a quick Honda commercial later and they were off, returning to London on the 10th of June, 2 days before 'House Of Fun' was finally toppled by Adam Ants 'Goody Two Shoes'. The band immediatley returned to the recording studio before recording a session for David Jensen on the 30th. The session gave the fans a chance to hear songs from the bands next album, 'Tommorows Just Another Day', 'Are You Coming With Me', 'Tiptoes' and 'Calling Cards' were the tracks aired, all were later re- recorded for the 'Rise & Fall' album.

More rehearsals and TV appearances followed and, with a new single in the pipeline, Madness set about recording a new promo video on the 12th and 13th of July. Come the 16th and Stiff unveiled 'Driving In My Car' to mixed reviews. The record was one of those songs you either loved or loathed, a somewhat inane ode to the joys of motoring. To be fair the record was far better than many critics would admit to, Mike's excellent piano work was interwoven superbley with the tinkling percussion and, although the lyrics were never going to win any awards, the song was a contagious little number that stubbornly refused to be dispelled from memory.

Stiff Records really went to town on this release, 7 " picture disc, 7" poster sleeve and a 12" edition all appeared alongside the standard release, with the 12" boasting a reworking entitled 'Riding On My Bike'. The B side was 'Animal Farm', an instrumental dub remix of 'Tommorow's Dream', a favourite from the '7 'album. Four day's after the record was released Suggs become a father for the first time, his wife Anne giving birth to a daughter, Scarlett, and the band celebrated with a secret gig at the Bull & Gate, Kentish Town.

The gig was arranged as a warm up for the following evenings Princes Trust Gala at the Dominion, Madness even managed a rendition of the National Anthem, on Kazoos! After all the excitment of the previous few hours, Madness spent a period of relative peace, rehearsing for the Castlebar Festival in Ireland on the 31st of July 1982. With 'Driving In My Car' peaking at a very respectable number 4, the band were again packed off to the recording studio, this time to record their 4th album, eventually titled 'The Rise And Fall'.

The sessions at AIR studios were interrupted by filming for comedy show The Young Ones, on which Madness played 'Our House', but come the end of September the album was complete. With the mix finished on the 8th of October Madness manage to fit in a quick tour of Australia where they play 9 gigs. November the 5th heralded the release of the new album, and again the critics gave it mixed reviews. The album had an overall very grim, nostalgic mood, as depicted on the sleeve photos shot on Primrose Hill. The title track yearned for days gone by whilst others such as 'Primrose Hill' and 'Mr Speaker' gave the record an almost 'Seargent Pepper' feel.

The album was inconsistent in it's overall tone and it's true to say that some of the songs are far from the bands best, ('Sunday Morning', 'Are You Coming With Me'), but of the highlights, 'Our House' stood out head and shoulders above the rest. The band and Stiff obviously agreed because a week later it was issued as a single, backed by the strange instrumental 'Walking With Mr Wheeze'.

Again Stiff issued a picture disc, complemented by a 12" and special juke box stretch mix, the latter being a cut down version of the 12" mix. The band were optimistic of a second number 1 and the record was a likely contender, with a strong piano part and unforgettable chorus, but it was not to be.

The main foil of the records success was another irritating novelty hit, this time Renee & Renato with 'Save Your Love', apparentley winter sales of cornetto's were never so good! 'Our House' amazingly run out of steam at number 5 but even more suprising was the albums struggle to reach the top 10, just managing to secure the tenth spot before falling from grace after a mere 22 weeks on the chart.

The 26th of November arrived with the band departing for their European Tour, beginning in Belgium for one date with Holland and Germany to follow in December. After much success and merriment the band returned home on the 6th of December in time to do their Christmas shopping. After a couple of TV shows the band sat back and waited to see what Father Christmas brought them, they recieved an early present when they were again named Singles Band Of The Year, the third year running they had recieved the accolade.

It had been a troubled year for many, the outbreak of the Falklands conflict was documented on the bands 'Rise & Fall' album on the track 'Blue Skinned Beast', for Madness it had been business as usual but a big change was on the horizon and things would never be quite the same again.

Andy Clayden, 1999.