House of Fun: The Story of Madness by Reed John

Author:Reed, John [Reed, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-78323-334-2
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Published: 2014-08-12T04:00:00+00:00

Chart positions might have been ebbing but it wasn’t due to their fading popularity within the media – although Madness’ anarchic sense of humour had caused some headaches for their promotional team. “Radio was never a problem because they made great records which were a dream to get on the airwaves,” says plugger Neil Ferris. “The videos were always superbly made by Robbo and TV people loved them. All of that was fine. The problems we had with them stemmed from them misbehaving. We had issues.” Despite the popularity of shows like The Tube , only one TV programme really mattered in terms of exposure for pop bands performing their latest single.

“Top Of The Pops was a heavily regulated show,” explains Ferris. “And the bands had to behave so everything happened exactly on time.” Dropping Madness into such a stiff-upper-lip environment was bound to provoke their penchant for pranks. It’s not as if Madness had a reputation for being unprofessional, though. Perhaps it was their reaction to an environment in which pop stars appeared to be taking themselves too seriously. “Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran and all those bands would turn up in limos and Madness would go there on a bike or on the bus,” says Stiff (and later Madness) press officer Jamie Spencer. “And I’d be taking them down to Top Of The Pops either in a battered old 2CV or an old Volvo estate. Madness thought it was a waste of money. They didn’t need to get a limo!”

Needless to say, Thompson was the principal source of disruption at the BBC. “If it was a dress rehearsal, Lee would do his sax solo to camera,” says Spencer, “but then in the proper filming, the camera turned towards Lee and he turned away from the camera! Stop recording! He thought it was funny but it was always a headache for the director. Another time, they did a dress rehearsal and went down in the clothes they were going to be in. They’d check all the cameras and the lights. Then it came to the show: Lee turned up and he’d painted himself green! What the …! You can hear it in the control box. Look, he’s got a green face! Lee would keep everyone on their toes but they were seven strong characters.”

Neil Ferris: “At one show, every time the camera came in for a close-up of Lee, he’d take the sax out of his mouth and his gold teeth would show. Cut! Let’s do it again!” For one particular episode, a stunning female singer in a chiffon dress was delivering a power ballad with a subtly lit silkscreen backdrop – that is, until such intimacies were interrupted. “Suddenly, behind the screen on this beautifully lit set, you see them doing the Madness walk across the stage,” sighs Ferris. “The director Michael Hurll went absolutely ballistic. It was like the third attempt. The floor manager put an earphone to his ear and said, ‘Neil, you’re required in the gallery.

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