Trivia / Madness (Band)

• Black Sheep Hit: Their one remembered Top 40 American hit, "Our House", is a straightfoward pop-based New Wave song (with some small elements of post-Disco, R&B, and soft rock) as opposed to Ska. This might actually be why they didn't hit it big in America, as ska itself wouldn't really catch on there until the third wave of ska. (The closest there was before then was Oingo Boingo.)
• Career Resurrection: Twice. First in the early nineties when they got back together to perform the first Madstock concert, had a number one greatest hits album and re-charted several of their older songs. Second was in 2009 when they released The Liberty Of Norton Folgate, which demonstrated that they were still a creative force and not just another oldies act.
• Creator Backlash: Most notably the 1986 album Mad Not Mad, which was made after Mike Barson left the group. Suggs famously described this one as "a polished turd".
• No Export for You:
  • "Driving In My Car" remained unreleased in the USA for many years, probably because of all the British geographical references.
  • The Rise & Fall was never released in the USA, which is especially ironic since their only remembered American hit, "Our House", is from that album.
  • "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train" has never been released in the USA, not even on greatest hits albums.
• One-Hit Wonder: Viewed as one the United States, with "Our House" hitting the Top 10, although they had one other Top 40 hit ("It Must Be Love") and "One Step Beyond" was an early MTV staple. In the United Kingdom, they were one of the most successful artists of the whole 1980's.
• What Could Have Been: Ever wonder why Madness was the only band to perform on The Young Ones twice? The band had been offered a deal for their own sitcom, and The BBC was trying to see how well viewers responded to the band. However, the band's popularity was beginning to wane by the time the project could be green lit, and was therefore no longer a good investment. Fortunately, its failure allowed writers Ben Elton and Richard Curtis to revive a different Britcom.
• Word of God: "Michael Caine" is supposedly about an IRA informer during The Troubles. Good luck working that out from the lyrics.

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