Original subtitles

[Music]

Hey, you don't watch that. Watch this.

>> We're very intense together, you know.

We were like constantly philosophizing,

arguing, laughing, dancing, you know. It

was just like we were in our own little

world. We didn't really look at the

outside world.

[Music]

All I was

>> said, we always had a way of working

things out between one another and

that's what's kept us going for a very

long time. Madness has so

self-contained as a unit of great

songwriting, great pop videos,

>> and become the most successful singles

band of the 1980s.

[Music]

>> Madness were pretty much a gang.

Everything was meant to be entertaining

and amusing, but all the it didn't mean

that you didn't say certain things. You

just couch them in different terms.

>> This summer has been the sudden

emergence of a new and forceful

independent record company called

Two-Tone. Their first hit was The

Specials Gangsters, followed by The

Prince from Madness.

>> Just chaos, but you know, we're thriving

chaos. It was brilliant.

Instantaneously, the British music press

adopted this thing called two-turn.

>> Together, they've spawned a revolution

in musical taste. A fusion of Jamaican

blue beat and British punk.

>> And that movement, it hit British

playgrounds like a tsunami.

>> It's time to welcome one of Brand's best

love bands. They've sold millions of

records, packed venues throughout the

world, and now they're playing on the

roof of Buckingham Palace. Go crazy for

madness.

>> Madness. They call it madness.

Madness.

Madness. They call it madness.

It's plain to see that what they mean to

me.

Medic.

[Music]

>> The police phoned the British Geological

Survey and they said that people have

been phoning in saying that there've

been an earthquake in London. It was an

intensity of about five.

>> Yeah. They were evacuating blocks of

flats because people thought they were

going to fall down and it was just

madness fans jumping up and down. You

know,

>> when I told the police that I thought

the cause of the disturbance was at

Madness concert at Finsbury Park, they

didn't believe me at first and I got a

phone call the next night from uh from

the police who said exactly the same

felt effects had occurred and so they

did believe me after all. So, uh so my

reputation as a seismologist still

remains intact. In

>> 1992, Finsbury Park was that um we

hadn't played for eight years. You know,

we'd kind of split up, but we hadn't

officially split up. we just sort of

drifted apart. And the plan was to do a

concert that was to celebrate our career

and our fans and to say to them, "Thank

you very much. You know, it's all over."

But we didn't say it properly. Now,

we're going to say it properly. So, we

we booked a play on the Saturday and it

sold out. 35,000 people. They said,

"We'll put it on sale for the Sunday."

And that sold out. So it was a big shock

to all of us that still there was this

love for the band which kind of felt it

had gone away but it wasn't. It was

there.

[Applause]

[Music]

This is

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

world.

>> It's moments like that you realize that

what you mean to people. I think because

the crowd re reaction was fantastic and

it was just quite it was a bit scary. a

bit sort of tearful and uh but

incredibly kind of joyous as well at the

same time.

We were friends a lot of us from being

at school, you know, and I think that we

did become some kind of dysfunctional

family. A lot of us came from broken

homes, what we used to say in England,

one parent family or whatever. And we

went on this journey together. Yeah. And

so there was always a lot of tolerance.

I mean, we were in a pretty rough part

of the world. We were pretty rough kids.

And you know, you could see sort of

crossroads with some of your mates going

into crime and all that and all that and

and various other options. boxing and

sport which I never had the dedication

for. But there was this slight chance

for music. You know, Mike, our keyboard

player, and Chris, our guitarist, I

remember going, we could take it a bit

seriously. But it wasn't like we were

looking to be famous. We just were

looking for something to do that wasn't

stealing money out of phone boxes or or

or cigarettes from news agents. Well,

this is the Dublin Castle and this is

the pub where um Madness or the Invaders

as we were called then got our first

residency

which is to say um we played every

Friday night I think maybe for a couple

of months and it's really um you know if

maybe the Beatles

uh got their thing going in Hamburg.

This was our version of it except

without the girls.

[Music]

I had to give him a

sofa.

I used to call him a lover.

[Music]

I never sung in my life in any real

capacity. My mom was a singer and I

certainly didn't get anything from her

cuz she was really good. She was jazz

singer. But I had some charisma, you

know, we all had charisma. That's the

thing, you know, around where we were,

everyone of the band was kind of famous

for their own individual personality and

I was we were just playing in pubs doing

covers like every other band. finding

more and more that that music got people

going and you learned how to play and

you learned what people liked, you know,

and that's how you started to, you know,

organize what you thought was the

progress of where the band wanted to go.

And more and more we found that Scar was

really working live. And we were very

lucky that it started quite quickly and

then obviously

the two-tone thing happened so fast.

We were suddenly on this like sort of

jet plane that was flying much faster

than we realized very quickly.

>> Here I am, Adrien Thrills, Cubby Porter

with New Musical Express on my way up

from London to Coventry, home of the

Rudies. The assignment to check out the

two-tone organization, the fastest

growing independent record label in the

country.

I got to give credit to my father. I was

born in Jamaica. Sir Winston Churchill

took to the West Indian island come to

England to rebuild England after the

last world war. My the wind rush

generation. My father is part of that

crew and they come over here rebuilt

England because Coventry was an

industrial city. All the big car for Jag

um Triumph Persia um um they're all here

you know. Coventry. So there's plenty of

work.

>> The thousands of West Indians who moved

here in the 50s and 60s imported their

own culture. Bluebeat and reggae were

played in clubs and private houses

almost every night, often all night

long.

[Music]

there.

>> Straight upstairs, right? This is where

the assault on the nation's airwaves was

planned with a unique mix of punk and

>> mega.

[Music]

>> What an an amazing combination. Jerry

from a middle- class background. Totally

different background.

me from rural Jamaica boy up in the

hills you know run around only wear

shoes on Sundays when we go to church

you know come to England you know I

remember when all with the sound system

and all that right that's my culture

that's where I'm coming from

>> the importance of British of Jamaican

culture and Jamaican music into British

culture goes exactly to the wind rush

and the various ships that came from the

Caribbean islands. When after Britain

had been the cities of Britain had been

flattened by the Lufafa, the British

government appealed to its citizens and

said come back to the motherland. And

obviously when those people came with

them, these people they settled, they

had relationships in England or they

brought their families over. And then

the first second generation kids,

British kids who had Jamaican clothing

or had adopted Jamaican clothing had got

had brought had their famil family's

records infiltrated with British kids in

schools and in youth clubs in

particularly in the 1970s.

there was a confluence of the influence

of Caribbean island influence, not just

Jamaican, but across the different

islands. And so you get bands like the

Clash and like the Ruts and then very

quickly after the two-tone bands where

it's a collaboration of first generation

uh Caribbean kids mixing with white

English and then you get this new genre

called British scar.

[Music]

Why must you record my phone call?

Are you planning a boole

[Music]

said you've been sent on my gers?

Now it's you.

[Music]

[Applause]

>> I remember the first time we met the

specials. It was in a pub called the

hope and anchor

and it had a basement that held 40

people and I saw all sorts of bands. I

mean really I saw the pretenders. I saw

D straits but only two numbers. They

were very long mind

Jesus. Can I go for a piss sultanss or

whatever? And then these guys came in

wearing tonic suits and pawpie hats

and they were from Coventry and I didn't

know whether to feel jealous or sort of

that that we'd actually we were on the

right track but on stage they were

amazing. You know, Neville Staples

blowing holes in the ceiling with a

starting pistol and they were jumping

about and so lively

and um suddenly we realized there was

someone else out there. It was like It

was like aliens coming from another

planet. What?

They dressed like us. Where have you

come from? It's like the Twilight Zone.

Someone's replicated us. We don't really

exist. We both come from the same roots,

you know. So with the the the the the

roots the brands might go off that way a

little bit and brands might go off that

way but um the foundation cuz as I said

the foundation

Prince Buster

>> one step beyond

[Music]

>> you know what an important part of our

lives you know we got our name from one

of his records our first hit was one

step beyond which was the be birus alapo

phone which the specials turned into

gangsters. Um and then our no our first

hit was the prince which was a homage to

roster anyway. So he was a very

important part of our lives

>> that link us together and obviously with

a with with a dress cord and everything

right I mean that was it.

>> We look very similar to one another. We

like the same things.

Uh, and we just felt that then we had to

check them out and they came and played

in London at the Hope and Anchor. Uh,

and that's where Sugs and Mike managed

to get in and saw them and talk to Jerry

and that's where the link started

between the two bands really.

>> They were down from Commentary. The best

place, the best chance you had of

finding a place to sleep was was was

pulling a bird as we used I don't think

you're allowed to say that anymore.

Finding a young lady and talking to her

nicely. But with Jerry Dams had no

teeth.

With teeth like that, he ended up

sleeping on my mom's sofa in my flat in

uh Tottenham Road at the time. And me

and Joey were just sitting there and uh

I found a cassette of what we were

doing. It was terrible.

But he said, "Look, if you keep going,

I'm going to start a record label and I

want it to be an English Mtown." And I

said, "Jerry, isn't that a smidge

optimistic seeing you just played to 35

people in a pub basement, an English

Mottown?"

Anyway, about four months later, he

phoned me up and he says, "I have." He

says, "Have you got anything a bit

better than that cassette?" And in fact,

we'd just been to Pathway, this studio

in

Stoke Newington, and done some demos and

one of them was the song The Prince.

Okay. So,

>> what's happening here?

>> Well, Woody ain't here. That's what's

happening.

>> Oh, got lost on his motorbike on his new

motorbike.

>> We were waiting to get in, waiting and

waiting, waiting for Woody because Woody

Woody was on his little motorbike and um

he didn't turn up.

Excuse

>> me. You know where Pathway Recording

Studios is?

>> Where?

We were supposed to come to Pathway, but

Woody got lost. Our drummer got lost and

never made it here. And and even within

those few weeks of missing the first

recording session, but coming back, we

kind of got better and the and the

prince sounded better as well. Probably

a lot to do with Clive Langanger as

well, who'd started to come to rehearsal

sometimes and like listen to the songs

and make suggestions about the

arrangements.

>> Buster, he sold the heat.

with a rock steady beat.

[Music]

An earthquake is erupting but not in

orange street. A ghost is preparing. You

got to help us with your feet. If you're

not in the mood to dance, step back.

This might not be uptown Jamaica, but we

promise you a treat about me with your

gun. She me up like

>> we play Jerry the Prince and he said,

"Yeah, I want to put it out on my new

label, two times.

[Music]

mept.

[Music]

>> And that was it. It was their first

single. It was a hit record. So I was a

producer, you know.

>> So all of a sudden we were on this

trajectory together

and it was becoming a phenomenon, you

know, everywhere all around the country.

Suddenly kids were all into this kind of

music and the way we dressed and all the

rest of it.

>> You've done too much too young. You're

married with a kid when you could be

having fun with me.

>> Oh no, no more.

>> You've done too much. Much too young.

You're married with a son when you

should be having fun with me. Before

[Music]

twotone came to prominence in 1979, the

summer of 1979,

there was a great sense of a rising of

right-wing factions

uh politically and socially. Uh the

streets of Britain became more and more

a a scene of confrontation. between what

was then the National Front or the

British National Party and Anti-Fascists

and the Anti-Nazi League and Police on

the Streets, violence.

Um, and that was all really building up

to the 1979 general election when the

Conservative Party and Margaret Thatcher

were coming to power. The birth of

twotone was really a new consideration

of conscience, of social conscience and

political conscience reflecting street

violence and offering an alternative in

something positive. That positivity was

to be felt in dancing and in in uh in

the coming together of different people

of

gender and race.

And you're on your way. It's another

good day with that endless great minute

hero. I want to be a dream minute hero.

I want to be the red expression

the wrong impression cuz really I'm sad.

Oh sad

to be

strikes again. And the body snatchers.

Their first time on top of the Bob said,

"Let's do rock steady." They could

snatch my body anytime.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

>> I'm mixed race, so inevitably I was in

that instant anti-racist.

And it was something I could get behind,

but it's not as if it was something that

I'd just come across and just thought

about because we'd had rock against

racism for goodness sake and I'd been

going, you know, that that's something

that I'd come across and and got behind

prior to two-tone records being set up.

And to be honest, until I actually went

to Coventry, we went to the Midlands, I

didn't even understand really what the

big deal was because where I lived,

there were black and white people

working together and living together and

like, you know, going along about their

business side by side and had been for

years.

>> Was fighting racism every every day. You

know, it it was a is like a as a pitch

battle

every day going to the city center. You

know, God, I was going for a night. Come

on. I come I I'm still alive. You know,

>> I'm going out tonight. I don't know if

I'll be all right. Everyone wants to

hurt me. Assume a danger in the city.

I have to carry a knife because there's

people turning my life. I can't trans

just the way I want. I'll be chasing no

concrete jungle and all right

jungle. It ain't safe for the

jungle that I'm going to miss.

[Music]

I know that I'm black. You know you're

white. You know,

you know I don't hate you. Why do you

hate me? Because of the color of my

skin.

I don't get you. You want to You know,

do you think by taking my life your life

will be extended? You could die

tomorrow.

>> Well, Rody, what do you think in this

tape?

>> No. Who is it?

>> It's the specials. This is so crazy.

When we did the two tour together, us

all the selector madness.

I mean, what a time we had

>> cuz everyone traveled together in one

coach

and going through the experience of

watching that snowball. You know, every

gig was every gig was wilder. Every gig

was started to sell out. You know, the

people were just getting on stage every

night. Uh it always ended in chaos, you

know, but it was a very good kind of fun

chaos.

[Music]

Only just one more to this desert your

last bing on the river

doesn't seem to get any of the wind in

his air as he reaches his

he

[Music]

>> Madness's place in two-tone was

beginning to be undermined by a racist

skin head following.

As the only white band on the label,

Maddens became an easy target for the

National Front, who co-opted their gigs

for recruitment purposes.

>> Oh, it was horrible. It was absolutely

horrible to have that. There was the one

gig in Heml Hemstead which was ter

absolutely terrible where people stormed

through the doors and just started

randomly attacking people going to the

gig which was terrible. I mean, I will

say that there was a lot of that going

on at the time, not just two-tone gigs,

but but every gig. I mean, there was

just a lot of horrible people around.

>> I mean, primarily what we do is just get

a spotlight, you know, and just point it

on people who would zing or fighting or

anything. But it was very tumultuous,

you know, it was it was a bit scary,

but, you know, we were quite scary as

well. So, let's be fair.

[Applause]

He was a lot of skin age latched on to

us. But having said that, they they were

latching on to the specials as well. It

was just totally bizarre, you know, that

they couldn't see what was in front of

their faces. Concert and they got in on

the Zika. Oh, you know this time when me

and Neville and J got on the stage, got

these guys, give him a few slap around

the head, throw them out and get back on

the stage and carry on playing.

This one,

>> it's a message to you all. Message to

you.

>> What a way to deliver a message where he

says, "A message to you, Rudy. Stop you

messing around.

You better think of your future. Time to

straighten right out you'll wind up in

jail." As to everyone who youth growing

up who were having problem, it's a

message to you.

>> Stop your messing around.

Better think of your future.

Time is raining right now.

[Music]

A lot of people said to me, there's a

new band called Madness, Scar Band,

which they were at the time, that would

um

would be good for Stiff. And they

weren't playing at the time. They had no

v they had no shows,

and I don't sign anybody unless I meet

them and and see them. So, I was getting

married at the same time. And so I

thought, you know, I could do two things

at once. I could get married and I could

get a band from my wedding.

>> Hello.

>> I am the governor of the I'm the Dublin

C.

>> You are? And this is my girl. Can I have

a gig now?

[Music]

>> So that was very first time I sold them.

was uh at that wedding and there was

there was a good crowd the stiff crowd

Elvis Costello Dury

um and a lot of other kind of musicians

as well as regular stiff people. So they

were good and I go I went into the

dressing room before we started and said

if there was going to be any problems I

would be really uptight. I would, you

know, I had a baseball bat which I'd be

very happy to bring in here and I'll

kill anybody who irritates my wife.

I tried and tried but I could not be

hurt.

Why can't I explain?

Why do I feel this pain?

Cuz everything I say, she doesn't

understand. She doesn't realize. She t

it all her own way.

>> I remember Chaz got Elvis Costello up to

dance and that was kind of funny. People

found that very amusing, you know. I

think it's partly what you you brought

up earlier. It was a very much Midlands

thing, you know, in England and and we

were definitely not part of that

and the two-tone label was building,

more and more bands were joining it and

it was it was kind of getting its own

momentum and we just felt like we just

wanted to do something a bit different.

Yeah. And it was just by chance, you

know, that we found Stiff Records, an

independent record label, you know, with

a one guy that you could talk to and do

whatever you want rather than some, you

know, great big corporate record

company. And at that time, you know,

Steve had Elvis Costello, Ian Jury, the

Dans, Kirsty McCall, Nick Low, you know,

all artists that we really loved, a lot

of maverick people who probably wouldn't

have survived on another record label.

So, it's perfect for us.

And um yeah, it was just a natural

progression. It wasn't like we didn't

like two-tone. We we had to give them

every credit for getting to where we had

got, but we just felt that we wanted to

do something that wasn't two time. The

reason why we signed to Stiff was Dave

Robinson was very

incredibly confident in letting us make

an album straight away. He he just said

there's no problem. Just go and make an

album. And we love that sort of we loved

him giving the confidence, you know, to

us to go and do that.

>> They were an interesting kind of bunch.

They were there's a lot of chat, you

know, a lot of twoing and throwing.

Years later, I discovered that George

Martin signed the Beatles because of

their because of their chat rather than

their music. But with Madness, I heard a

lot of songs in there. I heard, you

know, and they were tight. They played

them well and they showed them off very

well. They kind of exposed them well.

So, that's what you're looking for. You

know, if you're running a record

company, you're looking for something

that could work quickly. I'm changed a

lot since then, but some of his ways he

just can't make,

you know, 10 days I think we recorded

our first album and it was in the same

studio that the specialists had recorded

their album and it was like you could

still feel the sort of ganger in the

room that they'd only just left.

And I remember I was with Alan W Stanley

who worked with Clive Langanger

um as the engineer and we found a bit of

tape on the floor and we said quick

let's listen to what the special sound

like. Maybe it's going to be an

orchestra or I don't know what are they

doing. So we got this bit of tape and we

pressed play and it just went bong. It

was just a drum.

That was it. So, we knew what the drum

sounded like,

but I don't remember it being

particularly I mean, maybe Dave Robinson

was driving us, you know, I was just

happy to be in his studio making a

record. You know what I mean? I wasn't

thinking about the specials. I was just

happy to be doing music.

>> Dave was going, "Look, you know, their

release date is this date. If if we

hurry up, we can release our records

either a week before or on the same

date." And so there was a competition

created there. Um there was there's

compet, you know, healthy competition,

but they were all friends.

>> Hey, you don't watch that. Watch this.

This is the heavy heavy monster sound.

>> One Step Beyond um was just like a sort

of intro. I think we were only doing

about a minute of the song. We didn't

play the whole thing. It was just when

we came on stage.

Before that, we were doing Hawaii 5.

book him down and it was just a sort of

joke and then we changed it to One Step

Beyond. I'd really like to have them and

there's the first single One Step Beyond

and a good title for an album. I thought

I wasn't aware at the time that it was

Prince Buster Music. I didn't know. I

thought it was theirs and I was very

impressed with it. I went to the studio

when they had finished recording and uh

no one step beyond.

So, um

so I said, "Well, where's the where's

the track? That's the first single."

They said, "Well, it's not really we

don't think it's the first single and we

don't want to do it." They said, "You

got to make that into a single." But

because we'd done the Prince, which is

homage to Prince Buster, we thought now

we're doing a cover of Prince Buster.

It's going to sound like we're

covers Prince Buster band. And I said,

"Well, you have to do it. It's, you

know, it's the name of your album,

possibly."

So they eventually went in and they did

a 1 minute 25 second version of it.

Uh which uh you know and I got somebody

to do an edit and we turned it into a

longer song

>> and that became the single that became a

massive hit all around the world. One

step.

[Music]

The fact that I could pick it and I

could make it into a hit meant that they

allowed me from then on to pick the

singles. So, our relationship blossomed

from that very early beginning.

[Music]

It just was difficult to get all seven

of us into a photograph. So, we just

found if we all squashed up, it'd be

easier like a sandwich. But, it was

just, I don't know, complete

abstract. They had the nutty train. It's

all there. They had various photographic

ideas of how they would look as a group

and it was very very useful.

>> I think that image helped yeah a lot

because it does make it makes you stand

out very you know people say oh can you

do that then people would try it

themselves which is always quite funny.

Madness came into the pop world at the

time when the single, the sevenin

single, the 45 RPM was king and they

matched at and came in with the great

pop singles of the age.

>> It's madness the prince.

>> We welcome madness.

>> Madness.

>> Madness.

>> Madness.

>> Madness.

>> Madness.

I know

>> they say stay away.

Don't want you home today.

Keep away from our door. Don't come

around here no more.

My dad don't want to know. He says this

is a serious matter.

>> I think for absolutely we wanted we were

under a lot of time pressure because we

had to record it very quickly to follow

up the first album. I think it it it was

a bit more organic. It felt that way

really more than thinking about moving

away from Scar.

>> We didn't know where we were going, but

we just realized we just wanted to push

ourselves musically a bit more. I mean,

Scar reggae always be in our f all our

records. There's two or three four scar

beggs.

So, you know, the kinks to the Beatles

to harmonies to,

you know, brass bands to calypso to

jazz, you know, just trying to make it

more interesting for ourselves.

>> I like music that's kind of folk music

and I to me folk music is not people

with beards going shush, you know, that

which a lot of the English folk clubs

used to be like. I like music that the

the songwriting. I like the song. I

always tried to get interested in

songwriters and also writing about their

place in society.

[Music]

I tell you why I didn't do it. Cuz I

wasn't there. Don't blame me. It just

isn't fair. You listen to their side now

listen to mine. Come think of a story.

Sure you'll find me some time.

now.

>> So, Madness, they were they were the

music of Count Town in my mind.

>> Uh, you know, like the Beatles were were

Liverpool.

>> It wasn't me either. I'm just his mate.

He told me to stand here and watch the

gate. I've got a wife and three kids,

you know.

I'm straight. At least I think so.

>> We would make up the script for the

shoot for the video on the day usually

in the morning over a coffee or

whatever. And uh the lines of the

lyrics, you know, we were keen. All

their songs are very descriptive and uh

and they were always very funny.

Marketing wise, it was fantastic cuz TV

stations would queue up to get the next

Madness video. So, we would get the best

possible TV exposure to a new Madness

video. I wish to get a move on drivers

taking his time. I just don't know. I'll

be late. Oh dear, what will a boss say?

Pull yourself together now. Don't get in

a state. Don't you worry. There's no

hurry. It's a lovely day.

>> We've always enjoyed what we do and

we've always had a sort of theatrical

element. I think that resonates with the

audience, you know.

>> 16.

[Music]

>> At the time when they did songs like

House of Fr. I thought it was I thought

it was a piece of genius to because it

was sold as like, oh yeah, this is all

fun. But it's like, you know, it had a

a great interesting lyrical idea about

what it means to be grown up and where

does that begin and, you know, when do

you take responsibility? Even when it

comes to House of Fun or something, it's

all like, but it's about, you know,

condoms and

other things quite serious situations.

[Music]

>> I'll be on my way.

Madness always had their roots in

British pop. And in the tradition of

great British pop,

record labels wanted a single, three

months later, another single, another

single, another single, an album,

single, single, single. That's what

sustained the Beatles, the Kinks, the

Stones. Madness had that always. They

all they just had this ability to

provide another great song, another

great song. And ultimately, despite all

the different genres and different

styles of music that were happening,

Madness always gave you the single on

chorus. And that's essentially what

Radio One wanted, what Smash Hits

wanted, what Top of the Pops wanted.

[Music]

I've been driving in my car.

takes us near. It takes us far

[Music]

city.

[Music]

>> Weren't they great? Those car adverts,

they were great fun. I think you could

do anything with that band. You know

what I mean? At the end of the day,

they're so talented.

>> But times have changed. The Nutty Boys

have grown up. Some like Sugs are

married with children.

>> Very hot.

>> Very hot.

>> Very hot.

>> Very hot.

>> They've changed in other ways, too.

Developed an interest, for instance, in

social issues. All this is a far cry

from the days when those unfair racist

jobs came their way.

>> I think inherently

we all had sort of socialist instincts,

but they just weren't. I mean, we were

all from pretty working-class

backgrounds, you know, and been brought

up in council flats and and and state

education. So, it's kind of inherent

that that was part of our phil

philosophy. But it just became more

apparent as time went on that we were

going to say more about it. Trying hard.

I thought I've done my best.

All my life

I can't get no rest

before say I can't carry on.

>> Rise and fall. That album was probably

getting a little bit conceptual and the

Kinks were a good example, you know,

from Arthur and all those albums. Yeah,

they wanted to be more serious. They

wanted to be, you know, they weren't the

Nutty Boys anymore. They were kind of

getting into their mid20s or is if you'd

pulled back Madness to 1979, 1980, they

would have found it difficult to

articulate what their social and

political view were. By the time of Keep

on Moving and Mad Not Mad, they had a

sense of who they were and and the

ability to articulate that. And the

conclusion of that in many ways was them

sharing royalties with an organization

like Greenpeace or going on a tour with

socialists like Billy Bragg and Paul

Weller and saying we now stand for this.

Whenever I get home, I tend to look at

London a bit nostalgically maybe, you

know. And I started writing this song,

One Better Day. And it was all kind of

optimistic and jolly. And then the next

day when I was more sober,

um, I kind of looked at it in a

different light, you know, and it is

isn't all kind of jolly and romantic,

you know, and I just

kind of added a bit of realism, which

was the old [ __ ]

of which the song is about.

>> You know, I always say they had sort of

politics with a capital P, but we did

have politics, but it was a small P.

>> Walking around

[Music]

here

with the

shoes.

We were in Heligan's Heap uh rehearsal

rooms and I said, "Guys, I'm leaving the

band." And there was a sort of shock

silence

and um yeah um and that was it really.

Yeah. You know, we didn't we didn't

really, you know, go into too much um

talk in those days about about things.

No,

>> it was a massive surprise and very very

difficult. Yeah. To take in really. And

I think he felt very he felt exhausted

at that point and he felt he needed a

rest from it, you know, from the whole

thing.

>> He just wanted to get out of the what he

saw as a bit of a kind of rat race of of

trying to create hits all the time,

which we were all feeling a little bit,

you know, for all the sort of fun that

we were having. We were starting to get

a bit bored of that process, you know,

of trying to be entertaining all the

time. So then you get things like

Yesterday's men and you get things that

are a bit more

reflective and down, I suppose.

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>> How far will you go?

When your race is run

and you already know

yesterday's man, hang on to today.

When Mike said he wanted to leave, we

should have just stopped and let

everyone sort of do their own thing for

a bit. Then Mark and Woody went.

I mean, should just should have taken

some but inevitably we did take some

time out and that was the best thing

that happened from whenever it was till

92.

>> And now time for some complete madness.

The pop group Madness are splitting up

after a string of chart successes. is

they had a zany and jaunty style which

made them one of the most popular bands

of recent years.

Madstock is is quite an incredible

moment in the history of Madness. Not

only is it the first time that they play

together as a band in 8 years, it's

really the first time that they ever

celebrate their greatest hits.

as much as I do.

In 1992,

Madness go to the top of the album

charts in the UK because of a

compilation album. And here's now an

opportunity to play all the songs back

to back, the greatest hits for the first

time.

The concert reached some kind of

crescendo of the band realizing what

they mean to their fans and the fans in

turn showing their love of what this

band has given to them for so many years

and hadn't had the opportunity to say we

love you.

[Music]

>> And the band going back, thank you.

>> Thank you. Thank you. My god, there's a

lot of people out there. There is.

Oh no. And I know some of them

little whisk. She's streets ahead

on top of the day break and the last one

in bed

should keep the gizmo

under.

>> There's two ways that bands operate.

There's bands that have a leader and

there's bands that have that are a gang

and they have a gang mentality and they

go around and and

um from what I've seen quite often the

bands with a gang mentality last longer

simply because they have a common

purpose which is not even stated. It's

not even necessarily written down

anywhere but they have a common purpose

and they all know that there is a common

purpose. everyone throw in their ideas

and even if we don't always agree, you

know, it might take a long time, it's

much more fun to then come out at the

other end with something we've all

agreed on than to dictate what you think

it should be. You know, that's what I

find. Not that I could because they'd

all beat me up.

Oh, life begins at 5 to8. No time to

waste. It will not wait. A laying that

was yesterday. Up an atom into the fry.

There will be no time to catch your

breath. The enemy of life is death. So

sweep the hallway, mob the wall, your

destiny is about to call.

>> Whenever it's the social club, for

instance, I seen long time ago now, I

don't know if he's still alive, is he

far, whatever his name is. They come on

stage with two walking sticks. It must

have been 80 and he threw him in the air

and he started dancing and I thought,

you know where these people are from?

They're from Havana in Cuba. Do you know

what I mean? They couldn't be from

anywhere else. And that is what I mean

about madness is it couldn't be from

anywhere else you for better or for

worse.

[Music]

And I think the realization

comes in in two really major events

where madness are crowned as national

treasures by the people of the nation.

The first one is when they are invited

to perform at the uh 2012 Olympic

ceremony and then of course they end up

playing on top of the Queen's roof of

Buckingham Palace with the Jubilee.

They had a very they had the idea of

what they wanted to do and it sounded

really really good. Um with the

projection they were projecting on

Buckingham Palace and we would go on the

roof. I remember when it was when we

would have such a very good time, such a

fine time, such a happy time. And I

remember

>> we were playing on a sort of scaffolding

platform and there were the the snipers

were just like lined up along the roof

and they were all like juggling along

while sort of like

our house.

in the middle of our street, our house,

in the middle of one's street.

>> And it was an amazing night. Yeah, it

really was.

>> You realize as much as the royal family

is part of British culture, as much as

stately homes are British culture or

Shakespeare, so are the Beatles and now

so are madness. And they hold that

reverence and that status and they and

it's richly deserved for everything that

they've given to the nation because

simply they've just given us joy through

pop music.

[Music]

Lots of girls and lots of boys.

A lot of smell. A lot of noise.

Playing football in the park,

kicking push bikes after the dark and

know what fun we had.

But did it really turn out bad? Cuz all

I learned at school

was how to be a break.

and know what fun we had.

But the time it seems so bad trying in

different ways

to make a difference

to the days

back

to the days

back to the days

back

to the days.

To the days

I trust.

To the days

I trust. To the days.

[Music]

You're on the pentalone.

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