1984 Singles # 12 Madness

 

           'If there's one thing that's worse than a murderer. It's a dirty rotten stinking grass...'

Madness remained good. Even when they outgrew their baggy trousers and moved into suit, shirts and ties. The adult.Their chart positions faltered but that was the general public's failing and not theirs. People don't always like it when bands or artists move from the easily processed to the slightly more chzllenging. Demanding some input and active appreciation from the audience. Moving beyond the school Disco. Witness what happened to Squeeze, The Undertones or The Beat, whose chart positions suffered between '82 and '84 even though the quality of the prouct remained high, 

Michael Caine came out in January 1984 and hung around the charts for a couple of  months. Singles use to do that in those days. It peaked at Number 11. But its influence has outlasted its immediate historical moment. It's a song it's always a pleasure to hear. It has a melancholy, ruminative edge to it. The melody and lyrics are a cut above the average, I always love putting it on jukeboxes. It's a reminder of craftsmanship. Of an Englishness it's OK to like. In fact more than that, worthwhile being proud of.

Madness of course are London boys. They formed in Camden Town. They grew up in tight knit extended families. They all had grans telling them about what it was like in the Thirties or during the war. Mums and Dads who brought them up with The Beatles, The Stones and most of all those Ska, Soul amd Kinks singles. You can hear Ray Davies in what they do. Constantly.

Madness Videos were a treat from the start. Snapshots of London life.Feasts of detail. Mini Ealing Studios masterpieces. Wit, wisdom but often moments of sadness too. The Michael Caine promo is a particular treat. It has the man himself. It has Nigel Green, Major Dalby from The Ipcress File. Sat around in a darkened room with the boys in shorts, suits and ties watching black and white footage on a big reeled projector. All a bit sinister this time round.

The song seems to be about The Troubles. The Troubles were an ongoing shadow over proceedings growing up in Britain in the Seventies or Eighties. Permanent storm clouds overhead. Approaching storms, They was something on the news most evenings. Shootings, explosions, kneecappings, trials, Long Kesh, ructions. My mother as a social worker had clients who were hardened IRA guys in Wormwood Scrubs in the mid Seventies. You were used to it all. Bobby Sands, Ian Paisley, Gerry Adams.

Madness made light of it. Light Entertainment. But you knew instinctively they were getting serious on some levels this time round. That's what the charts were for really. Regardless of what Dave Lee Travis might have to say about the matter. What did the Hairy Cornflake ever know about anything anyway.