Madness: "Madness"

6 September 1979

"The A-side is a cover version of the 1964 cult single, and the B-side is the band's own tribute to Prince Buster."

— Steve Bush

This would be an accurate summation of what's on the A and B sides if it wasn't completely wrong. Steve Bush's error may have been because he was sent a botched promo copy, because his Smash Hits mates purposefully gave him false information or because he made a careless mistake. And, while the purported flip is clearly the superior track, I can kind of understand why might have assumed "Madness" to have been their lead single's flagship song. It's an introduction to a new band where "The Prince" is a call back to a name from the past. Ver kids could have got their rocks out to some jolly rocksteady fun and it's easy to see why it could make a popular concert standout. And who kicks their career off by longing for an old ska veteran to make his return: didn't the members of Madness want to show off what they were capable of?

The late seventies ska revival seemed to come out of nowhere and, if you weren't a Coventry scenester, you would have had good reason for assuming so. Unknown acts became stars overnight as everyone came flying out of the gate. The old Coventry Automatics were now The Special A.K.A. and they debuted with the brilliant "Gangsters", catchy as all hell, something everyone would want to dance to but with a dark heart of aching melancholy in Terry Hall's vocals. Flip the single over and you got "The Selecter", an eponymous number which is almost as wonderful as its better-remembered A-side. Pauline Black's singing is an acquired taste and the group was never quite as "special" as their ska associates but it's a great track in its own right and you'd have every reason to believe they had as much of a future as anyone. The Beat chose to get things started with a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" (matched with their own "Ranking Full Stop" as a double A), something of a risk if you consider that Motown/Northern soul fans were still an influential presence at the time and their distaste for a tenth rate rendition of a Miracles classic could have torpedoed the chances of Dave Wakeling, Ranking Roger and the rest. Good thing they did it well and their Kingston-Motor City crossover may have only led to a more widespread acceptance of British ska.

Also recording their first single at this time was a group from Camden Town. Midlands groups could very easily have spurned a bunch of wacky Londoners but Specials leader Jerry Dammers saw something in them, even if he himself couldn't quite quantify it. "I went to see them and they were really basic," he observes, "just like a school band". Indeed, with Suggs being just eighteen, they were barely out of that playing-Cockney Rebel-records-on-full-volume-in-the-sixth-form-common-room-much-to-the-dismay-of-the-school-headmaster phase that we all go through. (Or was that just me, even if I went to high school in Canada, played Beautiful South albums in the school drama room and my teachers were the only ones who didn't tell me to turn them off) Their playing was rudimentary but they did have a couple songs including future hit "My Girl". Dammers signed them up for a one off 2 Tone single.

The result is not something you'll find on a Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Debut Singles list (notably, they also left off "Gangsters" so they may not have been looking at ska when they put it together) but "The Prince" is a tremendous work and a sign of things to come. In isolation, however, it may have seemed like a slight let down next to their 2 Tone compatriots. The Special A.K.A, The Beat and The Selecter had all been pounding out sweaty ska classics live but Madness didn't come from this same world. More closely connected to Ian Dury, they were entertainers and songsmiths. Politics played a part of their sound but there was so much more waiting to come out. Ska remained though more often in spirit than in practice. They weren't to know it at the time but they were set to be the group we would all want to bring back whenever they'd disappear like Prince Buster.

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Also Reviewed This Fortnight

Gary Numan: "Cars"

Taken all the way to the top of the charts then and regarded as a post-punk, synth-pop classic today, it's amazing there aren't more who see through the emptiness of "Cars". "Are 'Friends' Electric?" is still extraordinary and ought to be the one everyone remembers. Sure, Trent Reznor still reckons it's the bees knees (and he's right) but it doesn't get the love of this "disappointing" follow up. Far more purely synthy than its predecessor, "Cars" lacks the ecstatic thrill of the best records of its (or any) time. Gary Numan would admit trying to pen a hit and he certainly succeeded but a musical achievement this ain't.