1982

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01/01/82      Appearance (Razzmatazz)

Madness give a tuneless new year’s greeting to the viewers of Razz-razza-razza-razza-razzmatazz in the days when it was ok to casually smoke a ciggie on the telly.

Click here to see: Appearance (Razzmatazz) 01/01/82

 

20/01/82      Bed & Breakfast Man/Disappear/Cardiac Arrest/Night Boat to Cairo/Shut Up/One Step Beyond/It Must Be Love (Les Enfants du Rock)

Madness travel to the Midem Festival in Cannes to attend the French premiere of ‘Take it or Leave it’.  They also perform a live set, part of which gets broadcast on French television on 11th March, giving us a chance to catch ‘Cardiac Arrest’ live before it gets the chop from the set for the rest of the eighties. The jerky Suggs of 1982 was probably peak Suggs for me and this is quite an excellent performance overall. Chas really gives it socks for “One Step Beyond” like it was ’79 or ’80, despite having turned the ripe old age of 23 the previous week. By the end of the year, Senior Smyth will be found sofa-bound on Top of the Pops, in beard and sandals.

Click here to see: Cardiac Arrest (Les Enfants Du Rock) 20/01/82

Click here to see: Shut Up (Les Enfants Du Rock) 20/01/82

Click here to see: One Step Beyond (Les Enfants Du Rock) 20/01/82

 

00/01/82      Unknown (Unknown)

Madness spend 3 days filming at the ‘American Circus’ in Rome as part of a 45 minute Italian TV special.  Chris is said to have fallen off an elephant, probably not on air though as otherwise it would’ve cropped up on endless repeats of “It’ll be Alright on the Night” along with Lulu the Elephant from “Blue Peter”.  Soon after this, the band fly off to Los Angeles to film more Honda Honda Honda adverts.
 
 

11/02/82  It Must Be Love/Appearance (Trois Fleurs Pour Miss Poorlish)

Coming soon.

Click here to see: It Must Be Love (Trois Fleurs Pour Miss Poorlish) 11/02/82
 
 

18/02/82      Cardiac Arrest (Top of the Pops)

Natty but nutty!  Madness open Top of the Pops in their ‘City Gent’ look, suitably suited and brimming with enthusiasm and bowler hats on head.  Which all sounds very respectable except that Suggs and Chas have umbrellas hanging off the back of their jackets and Lee is struggling with some stripping.  “It’s like a painting come alive” as Steve Wright would later remark on Top of the Pops 2. Chas and Lee can be spotted later in the show, grinning and leaning into host, Mike Read, as he introduces UB40’s latest single.

Click here to see: Cardiac Arrest (Top of the Pops) 18/02/82

 

20/02/82      Interview (Tiswas)

Suggs and Chas are back on Tiswas despite previous shenanigans and the reported ‘ban’.  There’s a short shouty interview and on this occasion their target is Den Hegarty who gets cream pied and ends up with a bucket on his head.

Click here to see: Interview (Tiswas) 20/02/82

 

20/02/82      It Must Be Love (Generation 80)

Madness make their first appearance on this Belgian TV music show with their inspired Labi Siffre cover.

 

21/02/82      Cardiac Arrest/Mrs. Hutchinson/Shut Up/It Must Be Love (Aplauso)

Madness are back on Aplauso in Spain as they mime to four tracks from ‘7’.  Interestingly, it’s the album versions of both ‘Cardiac Arrest’ and ‘Shut Up’ that get played.  There are some quick wardrobe changes between each track with the band transformed into a dose of doctors for the wry tale of ‘Mrs. Hutchinson’.

Click here to see: Cardiac Arrest (Aplauso) 21/02/82

Click here to see: Mrs Hutchinson (Aplauso) 21/02/82

Click here to see: Shut Up (Aplauso) 21/02/82

Click here to see: It Must Be Love (Aplauso) 21/02/82

 

00/02/82    Shut Up (Discoring)

Madness F.C. line up to receive a gold disc for their ‘One Step Beyond’ album in Italy before they’re on the beat with one of last year’s singles, dressed as bobbies.  It’s an entertaining performance and it looks like they’re threatening to strip by the end; alas only Chas makes it as far as bearing his chest.

Click here to see: Shut Up (Discoring) 00/02/82

 

23/02/82   Cardiac Arrest (TopPop)

An escape from some shimmering ground sheets reveals Chas on bass and err, Bedders on backing vocals, various shouts and fancy footwork. As fans of ‘Absolutely’ will know, Chas had of course played bass at their (North London Invaders) very first gig, at Si Birdsall’s party in 1977 but it’s safe to say that Bedders is brand new to this vocal lark; he literally can’t keep old of the mic. And it doesn’t end there for who is that on drums?!; our Woody doesn’t chew his gum like that! A pair of Sphinxes and other Top Pop props have hung around since the band’s last appearance on the show five months earlier which only adds further to the confusion. Yes, another classic performance.

Click here to see: Cardiac Arrest (TopPop) 23/02/82

 

11/03/82      Cardiac Arrest (The Kenny Everett Television Show)

An all out attack of Madness on the Kenny Everett Television Show! Suggs would later recall Kenny saying that people weren’t very visual which made the band determined to prove him wrong when they appeared on his show.   Suggs is at his jerky best again for this one although it’s Lee’s antics that mainly grab the spotlight, not to mention his silver Glitter Band suit n’ boots.

Click here to see: Cardiac Arrest (The Kenny Everett Television Show) 11/03/82

 

19/03/82  Shut Up (Attenti a Noi Due)

Back to Italian television and another plodding romp to “Shut Up”. More details coming soon.

Click here to see: Shut Up (Attenti a Noi Due) 19/03/82

 

21/03/82  Cardiac Arrest (Chansons a la Carte)

Madness get frisky to ‘Cardiac Arrest’ again.  This time they’re on a music show in Belgium, flanked by a half hearted audience lounging around on sofas.  All seven members wear suits which was actually rare enough back then and Carl’s penchant for cropped suit jackets with shoulder pads seems to begin around now….definitely a 1980s fashion faux pas.

Click here to see: Cardiac Arrest (Chansons a la Carte) 21/03/82

 

17/04/82      Appearance (Pop Quiz)

Suggs’ musical knowledge is put to the test on this Saturday tea-time quiz show and he does the boys proud by being part of the winning team with Martin Fry and a smoking Denis Waterman.

Click here to see: Appearance (Pop Quiz) 17/04/82

 
 

26/04/82     House of Fun (Cheggers Plays Pop)

It’s pop fun and games with Cheggers on BBC.  The camera zooms in through a giant mouth to find Madness performing the only new song on their newly released ‘Complete Madness’ hits package.  And it sounds like a future no. 1 if ever I heard one!  Chris and Bedders are to the fore with Suggs for a change but the mini horn section of Lee and Chas still catch the eye in the background before they charge off the stage at the end.  ‘House of Fun’ gets released as a single on 14th May and would in fact *spoiler alert, get to no. 1.

Click here to see: House of Fun (Cheggers Plays Pop) 26/04/82

 

23/05/82      Unknown (Funky Tomato)

Madness are on tour in Japan and make an appearance on this lunchtime pop and chat show.

 

31/05/82     House of Fun (Let’s Go Young)

Madness perform their current UK no. 1 single at the NHK Hall in Tokyo before taking time out to film more Honda City adverts.

 

00/00/82     Appearance (Wrok)

I’m not sure when exactly this was shown but it appears to have been around mid-1982, when this short-lived music programme used to be broadcast on Netwrok Network Ten in Australia.  It’s a short 3 minute piece which finds Marie Ryan catching up with Lee, Chris, Bedders and their push bike on the London Underground with the hyped up sax man recalling how he nearly drowned on Bondi Beach the previous year during their tour of Australia.

Click here to see: Appearance (Wrok) 00/00/82

 

03/06/82     Appearance (Top of the Pops)

Madness have finally hit top spot in the UK Charts but alas, they are still in Japan! However, through a satellite link-up, they get to send a thank you message to everyone back home from the streets of Tokyo…where Lee is dressed as a kendo warrior and is err, punching himself in the face.  The promo video for ‘House of Fun’ then gets shown.

Click here to see: Appearance (Top of the Pops) 03/06/82

 

26/06/82      House of Fun (A Foggy Outlook)

Madness face the house of mirrors, resulting in some manic goings on.  Some girl has been plucked from behind the scenes to act as “Miss” and she looks quite excited when Suggs asks for his “box of balloons with a featherlight touch”.  This show was recorded on 11th May, at which point the track was already available on ‘Complete Madness’ however it appears that someone at Stiff HQ may have sent on the wrong mix of the song as it sounds like an unfinished version, being extra heavy on kick drum and organ as well as missing some sax parts.

Click here to see: House of Fun (A Foggy Outlook) 26/06/82

 

10/07/82      Driving in my Car (Saturday Live/Pebble Mill)

Madness are due to showcase their much anticipated new single on TV but Suggs’ wife is about to give birth! The show must go on so enter a ventriloquist dummy who performs as Suggs with some help from Chas’ hand.  Ingenious!  As a ‘sideshow’, Mike plays a skeleton and Lee emerges from under a car bonnet.  It’s undoubtedly one of their best television performances, veiling what did however sound like a disappointing follow-up to chart-topper, ‘House of Fun’.

Click here to see: Driving in my Car (Saturday Live/Pebble Mill) 10/07/82

 

21/07/82      Interview/House of Fun/Driving in my Car (6:55 Special)

It’s tea-time TV time as Sally James asks Suggs about the band’s appearance at the Prince’s Trust concert in London later on that evening but as this show was normally filmed in Birmingham, it was pre-recorded a couple of weeks earlier.  During the rest of the ‘interview’, Suggs is not being too expansive with his answers and seems to be playing games with poor Sally.  For ‘House of Fun’, Chas and Lee are hiding in the shadows, allowing Chris and Bedders to get in on the act more before they’re all out front in boater hats and at full throttle for the clunky ‘Driving in my Car’.

 

21/07/82      Madness/Baggy Trousers (The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala VHS)

Madness headline this charity fundraising concert at the Dominion Theatre and serenade Prince Charles in front of a giant ‘M’ on stage.  The track, ‘Madness’ has a bit of a pub-rock feel to it as Mike tinkles away on piano rather than playing keyboards on it.  Berets replace boater hats for ‘Baggy Trousers’ and Lee takes to the air in his Gary Glitter gear, somehow managing to blow a few notes as he’s swung around on a wire.  A video cassette of the evening was officially released which starts off with these two live Madness tracks however a rare Japanese laser disc release also features the rest of the songs in their set which were ‘House of Fun’, ‘Shut Up’, ‘Tomorrow’s Dream’, ‘One Step Beyond’, ‘Driving in My Car’, ‘It Must be Love’ and an ill-advised version of the national anthem on kazoos which doesn’t come-off so well, leaving Royal Chas & co. looking that bit puzzled.

Click here to see: God Save the Queen (The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala) 21/07/82

Click here to see: Madness (The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala) 21/07/82

Click here to see: Baggy Trousers (The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala) 21/07/82

 

31/07/82    Appearance (Sounds)

Suggs, Chas and Bedders take Donnie Sutherland, presenter of this Australian music show, on a cycling tour of London.  En route they pass by Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben and Trafalgar Square where they come across a skinhead and have a few words with him.  Just as his other skinhead mates join him, Donnie swiftly sets about introducing a music video and suggests moving on.

Click here to see: Appearance (Sounds) 31/07/82

 

05/08/82      Driving in my Car (Top of the Pops)

The BBC have pushed the boat out again.  Or in this case, pushed a morris minor into the studio!  Suggs and Chas are in the front seat of the maddiemobile but there’s something going on almost wherever you look.  Lee pops up from the back seat and can be spotted later playing two saxophones in the background.  Mike is playing a ciggie-smoking skeleton while Chris, Bedders and Woody do some choreographed moves in their garage overalls.  At the time, some of the band were training at martial arts and their instructor, Dave Lea, crops up here as “this copper”, to give Suggs a ticking off.  Lea can also be seen using some muscle to help push the car away at the end.

Click here to see: Driving in my Car (Top of the Pops) 05/08/82

 

19/08/82      House of Fun (The Young Ones)

The four bored students stumble across Madness in ‘The Kebab and Calculator’ pub (in actual fact, ‘The Cock of the North’ pub in Bristol) where they are entertaining some locals.  Bedders swaps places with Woody and it looks like he can hold down a drum beat pretty well.  It’s the proper single version of the song, complete with ‘crash’ ending, which gets used here for a change.  After they finish, there’s a funny moment as Suggs threatens to smash Rik Mayall’s face in after he asks the band if they know ‘Summer Holiday’ by Cliff Richard.

Click here to see: House of Fun (The Young Ones) 19/08/82

 

15/10/82     House of Fun/It Must Be Love/Driving in my Car (Countdown)

Wackiness overkill.  Madness take a ghost train into a studio full of fairground props for this Countdown Madness Special which they are hosting.  It’s probably one of those shows where the band are expected to be ‘nutty’ so they joke about a lot and sport clown’s noses and silly hats.  And as it’s the early eighties in balmy Australia, they wear very short shorts.  Chas also has a very nice Specials’ ‘Rat Race’ T-shirt on and his beard makes its television debut here.  This was broadcast a couple of days later on 17th October.

Click here to see: House of Fun/It Must Be Love/Driving in my Car (Countdown) 15/10/82

 

18/10/82      Interview (Hey Hey, it’s Saturday)

Approaching the mid way point of their Australian tour, Madness are interviewed by Ozzie the Ostrich on top of an open-air double-decker bus. The puppet apparently loses it’s tongue within 30 seconds of asking such questions as “What is Ska?”.

 

26/11/82  Interview (Bulletin D’information)

Coming soon.

Click here to see: Coming soon (Bulletin D’information) 26/11/82

 
 

27/11/82  Our House/Tomorrows Just Another Day (Generation 80)

Madness get set to embark on the European leg of their ‘Complete Madness’ tour but first there’s a stop off at the RTBF television studios in Belgium.  They arrive on set with suitcases in tow but it seems Chas has forgotten to pack his razor and brush again. With the baggage quickly packed away, the band get to present both a new and a future single from their new elpee, ‘The Rise and Fall’.

Click here to see: Our House/Tomorrows Just Another Day (Generation 80) 27/11/82

 

27/11/82      One Step Beyond/ Embarrassment/House of Fun/Our House/Interview (Pop-Elektron)

It’s another appearance on Belgian TV, this time on a popular children’s science programme which also features music.  This performance was not broadcast until 21st December.

 

07/12/82      Interview (CBTV)

Woody & Bedders get quizzed by an audience of eager children who fire out a series of questions about how they met, their Japanese car commercials and why they change their hairstyle so often.

 

16/12/82      Our House (Top of the Pops)

Despite some previous run-ins, the BBC have obviously developed a soft spot for Madness.  This time they’ve only gone and built them a front room in the studio and even put up a Christmas tree and some decorations.  And it pays off as it’s one of the band’s most memorable television performances.  Suggs bursts through the door to find the boys decked out in their Sunday best, playing their no. 5 hit.  And Chrissy Boy gets a nice dusting down from Lee during his table dance solo.

Click here to see: Our House (Top of the Pops) 16/12/82

 

26/12/82      Our House (Cheggers Plays Pop)

Madness are back in black for a Christmas special and back on Cheggers Plays Pop, on the same stage they performed ‘House of Fun’ on earlier in the year.  And they line out the same too with Chris and Bedders flanking Suggs up front, Chas and Lee in the holding role on horns , Mike on the wing and Woody at the back.  It’s a shorter than usual run out with the second verse and a chorus getting dropped from the song.

Click here to see: Our House (Cheggers Plays Pop) 26/12/82