04/02/83 Tomorrows Just Another Day/Interview/Madness (Is all in the Mind)/Blue Skinned Beat (Oxford Road Show)
“It’s different live, innit”. So says Suggs anyway after ‘Tomorrows Just Another Day’ although it don’t sound ‘alf bad. Dick Cuthell, best known for his work with Rico and the Specials, chips in on cornet alongside Lee who pays tribute to him by sporting a large false handlebar moustache. Suggs talks briefly with Peter Powell about their upcoming UK tour before we’re later treated to ‘Blue Skinned Beat’ and a very rare performance of ‘Madness (is all in the Mind)’.
07/02/83 Tomorrow’s Just Another Day/Blue Skinned Beast?/Our House (Casablanca)
Madness score another No. 1, this time in Sweden with ‘Our House’, and the band make a flying visit to Stockholm for this television appearance. Dick Cuthell is on board again even though this performance is mimed. Three tracks from ‘The Rise and Fall’ get played, helping push the album to the top of Swedish album charts two weeks later. Suprisingly, Madness would fail to have another hit single in Sweden after ‘Our House’.
18/02/83 Our House/Tomorrows Dream/It Must Be Love/Tomorrows Just Another Day/Primrose Hill/Sun & the Rain/Grey Day (The Tube)
Madness head north to Newcastle and Tyne Tees Studios for Channel 4’s live music show. They’d also be kicking off their UK tour in the city three days later so they’ve the full tour line-up with them which includes Dick Cuthell and a string quartet comprising Cal Verney, Nick Parker, Jonathan Kahan and Suzanne Rosenfield. And even more impressive is that for this appearance, they’ve enlisted the services of the local Washington Welfare Brass Band who accompany them on a rousing rendition of ‘Primrose Hill’. Apparently this was the first time a full stage production was used live by a band in a television studio. A new song called ‘The Sun & the Rain’ (a scorcher!) gets its first public airing as the programme closes and it has ‘future single’ stamped all over it. It’s a slightly different arrangement to that which would later get released, featuring a keyboard solo instead, some different lyrics and a bit more bite. An extended version ending with ‘Grey Day’ (which was not broadcast) has surfaced in more recent times.
Click here to see: Live in Newcastle – TV Edit (The Tube) 18/02/83
Click here to see: Grey Day (The Tube) 18/02/83
26/02/83 Tomorrows Just Another Day (Jim’ll Fix It)
Another fan gets their wish to play with Madness on Jim’ll Fix It. This time a young girl duets with Suggs…who mimes. Afterwards the band present her with a guitar and a bowler hat which Suggs wore in the promo video for ‘Tomorrows Just Another Day’. If the girl still has this hat, she should have grown into it by now. Judging by Carl’s wholesome beard, this appearance was recorded a few weeks earlier.
Click here to see: Tomorrow’s Just Another Day (Jim’ll Fix It)
00/00/83 Appearance (Data Run)
Six of Madness (Lee is MIA) are up for fun as they return to the Escapade Fancy Dress Shop in Camden where they’d filmed part of the ‘House of Fun’ video a year beforehand. As they’re about to enter, a random passer-by gets caught up in the act of following Pope Woody in kissing the ground outside the shop. He then just rambles on, probably having no clue who these guys in fancy dress were or what was going on. Inside the shop, the band do some tricks, try on some masks and generally amuse themselves, to a ‘House of Fun’ accompaniment. I’m not sure when this was broadcast but it appears to be from around February 1983 when TV-AM and its Saturday morning kid’s programme, Data Run were both launched.
0/00/83 Appearance (Data Run)
Ditto above, sort of. Madness are on Data Run again, I’m guessing it’s sometime early 1983 again and it appears like they’re in a shop in Camden again. This time it looks like Holts Shoe Shop where Madness are showing off their clogs, doc martins and ski boots. It’s only a 20 second clip with ‘Return of the Los Palmas 7’ providing the musical backdrop on this occasion.
Click here to see: Appearance (Data Run) 1983
00/03/83 Profile (MTV Weekend Concert/The Story of Madness)
Suggs, Carl, Lee and Chris are interviewed by Paul Gambaccini for this one hour documentary, co-produced by Stiff Records and Geffen Records. It was hoped that the doc would be taken up by Channel 4 in the UK but it only ever ended up being shown on MTV in the USA. No complaints though, such MTV exposure Stateside would pay off handsomely very soon after. The documentary was filmed over a few weeks and it also features some superb live clips which were recorded on the 5th March at the Brighton Conference Centre. And it’s not the obvious hits on show for a change. ‘Rise and Fall’ and ‘Mrs. Hutchinson’ are in there as is ‘Primrose Hill’ with the Washington Welfare Brass Band. But probably most interesting of all is the encore of ‘Tomorrows Just Another Day’, featuring a guest vocal from Elvis Costello. There was talk at the time of this concert being broadcast on TV or being officially released on video but sadly neither happened, as it arguably captures Madness at their peak.
Click here to see: The Story of Madness (MTV Weekend Concert) 00/03/83
17/03/83 Tomorrows Just Another Day (Musikladen)
Madness are back in Germany minus Mike who was said to be in the process of moving to Amsterdam, the first hint of his unrest perhaps. His place is filled by Suggs’ cousin, Hector Walker, who was working with the band as a wardrobe assistant no less. There’s the usual capers on stage from the Suggs & Carl double act however Lee does look somewhat ‘distracted’. One moment he’s clapping, the next he’s fixing his hair by the camera and then he’s ‘forgetting’ to play his sax. This appearance wasn’t broadcast until the 21st April.
Click here to see: Tomorrows Just Another Day (Musikladen) 17/03/83
10/04/83 Appearance (Countdown)
Suggs, hipster Carl and Chris give a 10 second shout-out to the Australian viewers of Countdown, against a tasty backdrop of ‘Rise and Fall’ and ‘Complete Madness’ posters. Suggs’ sheepskin hints that they didn’t travel to Australia to record this.
Click here to see: Appearance (Countdown) 10/04/83
10/04/83 Madness/One in Ten (Too Hot To Handle VHS)
Madness join leading names from the world of music and comedy at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London for this concert which helped raise money for the Stop Sizewell B (nuclear power plant) Inquiry Fund. The band appear on stage with UB40 for a collective effort on ‘Madness’ and some members then stay put for UB40’s, “One in Ten”. It all sounds a bit like an unrehearsed jam. A 60 minute video featuring these two tracks plus other highlights from the evening was released in 1983 on Virgin Video.
Click here to see: Madness/One in Ten (Too Hot To Handle) 10/04/83
16/04/83 Appearance (Pop Quiz)
A chequered Bedders impresses with his musical knowledge but fails to emulate Suggs and ends up on the losing team alongside Ian Gillan and Junior.
Click here to see: Bedders Appearance (Pop Quiz) 16/04/83
07/05/83 Appearance (Switch)
Madness join another bunch of names from the music scene, this time at Brockwell Park in Brixton where they headline the Festival for Peace CND Youth Rally. Peaceful it may not exactly have been as fans of the Damned decided to try ‘smash it up’ (the stage, that is) before the likes of the Style Council and John Peel got pelted with mud. Madness too got a muddy reception at times but generally went down much better, in front of a crowd of over 20,000 people. Switch unfortunately didn’t show any of the concert footage and all we get here is about 20 seconds of Madness backstage…with babies, Scarlett and Tuesday making an appearance too. For those of you curious enough, a home video recording of ‘It Must Be Love’ and some lots of mud can be found elsewhere on YouTube.
Click here to see: Appearance (Switch) 07/05/83
30/05/83 Appearance (Mike Read’s Replay Selection)
Carl, Lee and Bedders pop in briefly to chat to Mike Read about their plans for a video album (which unfortunately never materialises) before the video for ‘Our House’ gets played. Carl gets to demonstrate his ball jugging skills too.
03/06/83 Appearance (The Old Grey Whistle Test)
Not Madness but for completists, I thought I’d just give this a mention…Bedders guesting on double bass with Robert Wyatt on The Old Grey Whistle Test for live renditions of ‘Born Again Cretin’ and the monumental, ‘Ship Building’.
Click here to see: Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding (The Old Grey Whistle Test) 03/06/83
00/07/83 Interview (Freetime)
A young girl wins a competition to meet Madness so Suggs, Carl and Bedders drop into the Thames Television studios to meet her. Suggs mentions that they’re recording their next single, ‘Wings of a Dove’ and they all then answer some questions including one on what their favourite Madness video is. The video for ‘It Must Be Love’ has been lined up for play so they all conveniently opt for that one.
Click here to see: Interview (Freetime) 00/07/83
07/09/83 It Must Be Love (Solid Gold)
Following the Top Ten breakthrough success of ‘Our House’ in the billboard charts, Madness spend over a month touring the USA to promote their self-titled compilation album which had just been released there. They’ve brought the extended line-up from the UK tour with them and the string quartet are present here as they plug new single, ‘It Must Be Love’ on this very popular music show. It’s reminiscent of when they performed it on the Little & Large Show with black clothes (mostly) and flat caps the order of the day. This episode wouldn’t be broadcast until 1/10/83 and ‘It Must Be Love’ would peak at no. 33 in the charts the following week.
Click here to see: It Must Be Love (Solid Gold) 07/09/83
29/10/83 Sketch/The Sun and the Rain/Interview (The Noel Edmonds’ Late Late Breakfast Show)
Madness advertise ‘Mac & Jack’s Wonder Potion’ in a comedy sketch which sees Lee losing his hair. Carl’s beard has been set free by now too and it’s good to see him clean shaven again. Madness and bushy beards (…or long hair) just do not fit. Hairy stories aside, Madness lay bare their brand new single, ‘The Sun and the Rain’ which had just been released that day. The song has undergone some tweaks since its’ TV debut on The Tube and Suggs’ voice seems to have become a bit quivery too; it has lost its edge somewhat. There are some clouds on set so they all wear rain macs, just in case. Chris scores bonus points for executing some impressive robotic moves and after the performance, Noel Edmonds has a few quick words with Suggs about their latest Japanese car commercial.
00/11/83 Appearance (The Saturday Show)
It’s children’s TV and a member of the audience has written in to the show for some ‘nutty dancing lessons’. Carl doesn’t show up as planned so it’s left to a pumped up Lee to teach the young lad some not-so fancy footwork. Suggs is happy to just smile and look on.
17/11/83 The Sun & the Rain (Top of the Pops)
Jimmy Saville leads the audience in a chant of ‘Madness, Madness, Madness’ as the camera pans to the stage, catching Lee chucking a bowler hatful of glittery stuff around the place. He has his Fireball XL5 rocket strapped to his back as a nod to the single’s B-Side and he has also painted himself black, probably for no particular reason. There’s a bit of a party vibe going down in the studio with balloons bouncing around but there are no celebrations in the Madness camp as this turns out to be Mike’s final TV appearance, having announced his departure the previous month.
Click here to see: The Sun & the Rain (Top of the Pops) 17/11/83
00/11/83 Appearance (Freetime)
The competition winner returns to the show, having featured in the video for ‘Wings of a Dove’. There follows a short clip showing the girl meeting the band on video location at Blackbushe Airfield in Camberley.
16/12/83 Appearance (The Tube)
Mr. Bassie, Mark Bedford goes gospel and performs with The Inspirational Choir of the Pentecostal First Born Church of the Living God who had recently backed Madness on their ‘Wings of a Dove’ single. The choir had also just released their own single, ‘Pick Me Up’ on Stiff Records and they included that in their set here.
24/12/83 Appearance (Data Run’s Christmas Party)
Carl, Lee & Bedders arrive at the studio late but in time to lead a singalong of “Ding Dong Merrily on High”, just as the credits roll. This show was always pre-recorded so they weren’t missing out on Christmas pud at home.
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