Struggling with this one. I derive absolutely no pleasure from hearing Madness, in fact I find them actively irritating. Everything about that screams “1”. But are they as bad as Oasis? Definitely not. Saying that, I still believe there should have been a sub-1 score for Oasis, so a 1 for Madness is probably correct.
In my experiences the people you’re describing really weirdly and fucking aggressively love reggae. Obviously they’re still cunts and I get your point about Madness, just think they had a run of really good pop singles regardless of how they’ve been co-opted by Brexit wankers.
Not sure I can answer this. They were everywhere when I was growing up and yet I don’t really feel like I rate them even though their songs are pretty much all ones I have fond memories of
Love them. A far far better band than the incoming tsunami of hot takes will give them credit for. Can see why they might be off-putting to some, but can’t help but feel that’s down to this notion of them being some sort of lightweight frothy end-of-the-pier red nose trouser-dropping-to-a-swanee-whistle act. Give the later albums a shot and there’s more than a healthy dollop of melancholia in there to offset the jauntiness (that’s why I’ve gone for One Better Day as my singles vote).
Sure, they’ve been a bit patchy since they came back, but the good stuff’s still there. Liberty Of Norton Folgate is as good as anything they’ve ever done.
A band that remind me of being a kid as my siblings listened to them a lot. Tainted somewhat by seeing them at Finsbury Park in 1998, just before the world cup, where Finley Quaye supported. He proceeded to say that England didn’t have a chance in the tournament and got a torrent of racist abuse and was bottled off. As a 13 year old it really skewed my feelings about Madness and haven’t quite shaken it off since.
