I guess they have that sort of Chas n Dave London (white) working class down the boozer image that can attract a certain type of idiot. Also weird how a lot of ska bands had a racist following. Donât know if thatâs still the case.
Deffo is
there you go, bringing Labi Siffre into it again⊠Chas & Dave played on some of his records, including one which was sampled on My Name Is⊠by Eminem, which is useful to know if anyone is threatening to kill you unless you can provide a link between Snooker Loopy and Fuck The Police in less than five steps.
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yep
I donât even like Labi Siffre
I got theâŠ
Genuinely great song that.
I hated Something Inside So Strong so much as a kid it took a lot to get over.
Not for me, Clives.
Good pop band, only really know them from my dad having a best of tape, Complete Madness, but some great songs and helped introduce me to early ska/reggae. Good storytelling in their songs too, like Our House, Cardiac Arrest, House of Fun, all paint vivid pictures of slightly grubby real life
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Top band, loads of fun. I like how they write songs about unusual subjects (school, house growing up, driving a normal car, lampposts) - they remind me of Talking Heads in that regard. Bands like The Specials could do politics, but Madness made drab suburbia fun and surreal, they had their own âworldâ, and if you liked skanking and sax solos, it was great there
Also: no Madness, no Bosstones - think on that before you rate them
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In my first week at uni, I saw a Madness and Bad Manners covers band called Badness.
Anyway itâs a 3/5 from me.
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Madness are bloody great.
Although primarily seen as a singles band their early albums hold up pretty well too.
Can see why they get tagged as a bit blokey but they became a bit more introspective, certainly during the eighties. You can hear it setting in around âThe Rise and Fallâ (âBlue Skinned Beastâ is a great bit of Tory-kicking) and by âMad not Madâ they sound downright depressed.
Reunion albums have been a bit hit and miss although âThe Liberty of Norton Folgateâ is great.
5/5, fuck the lot of yers. 
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Some alright singles, but fall into the category of âfunâ rather than triggering any sort of emotional response. I can confidently predict I will never be in the mood to put an album on. 2/5
RE: the Brexityness mentioned upthread, Suggs did refer to Brexit voters as âtiny-minded anarchistsâ and say the the country was on the âhighway to hellâ after the vote, so they get a pass from me on that one.
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I know theyâre not racist, hate the Tories and have been very vocal about the conservative party using their image and music in the past and have publicly gone on record about it.
Other than a few outbursts from Shuggs I donât think so though. Apparently British First and BNP would recruit at their shows early on. I just think its the music had a âBRITISH WORKING CLASSâ angle to it and was PROPAH that they gravitated that audience who erroneously interpreted their message as Britain for Britain
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I was going to go 3/5 because I had in my head they had some good singles but then viewing that list there were hardly any I actually like so went for a 2.
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And âEmbarrassmentâ is a song about Lee Thompsonâs niece being mixed race and subsequent reactions in his family.
Getting a song condemning negative attitudes to mixed race relationships to number 4 in 1980 is pretty good.
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Terrible. 1.
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Is this intended to be an argument in favour or against?
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A solid 3 for some classic singles alone.
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- Cheers
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Madness are good and have lots of good songs. Plus they were the only band to appear twice in The Young OnesâŠ
Caught them live at Camp Bestival a couple of years back - were extremely entertaining live 
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