tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post5413635049162061633..comments2024-03-28T17:44:11.289+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Madness - a very English ska-pop band Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-8772058242948757052022-09-17T16:38:27.260+01:002022-09-17T16:38:27.260+01:00@Anon - I don't often publish Anon comments - ...@Anon - I don't often publish Anon comments - so remember that for the future. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-87331876825930449722022-09-17T15:26:24.162+01:002022-09-17T15:26:24.162+01:00They were great. They did have a following in the ...They were great. They did have a following in the USA among the college crowd. I saw them perform I think in Austin Tx in 1981 or soAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-81920610770136094702022-09-17T15:17:03.300+01:002022-09-17T15:17:03.300+01:00@Mike - Yes, their high spirits and fund were cert...@Mike - Yes, their high spirits and fund were certainly at the opposite extreme to the likes of The Jam, and The Specials (you could also name Elvis Costello) - both of whom I liked a great deal as well, at the time - although less so now. For me, a very different person now than then - Madness has worn better than most. <br /><br />@AG - Glad to hear there was support for the Nutty Boys on your side of the pond. <br /><br />The era of Anglophilia was, as usual and understandably, for the upper class glamour and nostalgia - which was very different from the contemporary working class world of Madness. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-53513932351843337882022-09-17T14:13:03.302+01:002022-09-17T14:13:03.302+01:00I was a US Madness fan, even had one of their albu...I was a US Madness fan, even had one of their albums (7). I liked their song Night Boat to Cairo, the video for which had them looking like Tommy Adkins in pith helmets, etc. That era was the last hurrah of anglophilia in the US: Chariots of Fire, Brideshead Revisited (which everyone from my grandparents to my school friends watched), etc.. I also liked the other English ska bands of that time like the Specials, the Selector, the English Beat, Bad Manners. I even made a pilgrimage to some obscure theater to see the movie Dance Craze that featured a bunch of those bands. They had one hit here, Our House, but that was later, and they did a series if Honda commercials in Japan. Not bad for a bunch of (how you say?) yobs from North London.Avro Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005144579985210348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-75352123779530301952022-09-17T13:43:54.887+01:002022-09-17T13:43:54.887+01:00Great band very upbeat unlike other bands of their...Great band very upbeat unlike other bands of their time like The Jam & The Specials who I also enjoyed but were generally less positive and sung about getting beaten up on tube station platforms & inner city decay. Paul Weller said they were accused of being defeatist and pessimistic, looking back that is exactly what they were.Mike Bryantnoreply@blogger.com