Madpost September 1998
The Madness Mailing List
A few words from your mailing list maintainers, Robert Hazelby and Simon Roberts who look back at the month gone by and to the month ahead.
[2] – SUGGS ON THE RADIO ONE TOUR –
Earlier in August, Madness frontman, Suggs appeared at one of the venues on the yearly Radio One tour. His appearance went completely unannounced, but by a stroke of sheer luck, list subscriber Ashley Moore was in the right place at the right time. Here’s his report of the proceedings.
[3] – KEEP MOVING, MADNESS QUESTIONNAIRE –
Most of you Maddies will be aware that there’s a rather bizarre quiz printed on the inside sleeve of the “Keep Moving” album sleeve. Luke Roberts decided to put these questions up on his website – The Madniverse and invite fellow nutties to drop in with their suggested answers. Here are the results.
[4] – SUGGS IN LONDON’S “EVENING STANDARD”. –
If Ashley Moore or Chris Carter-Pegg miss a Madness-related newspaper or magazine article, you can usually rely on Chris Bryne to have spotted it and typed it up for your viewing pleasure. Once again, Chris does not disappoint.
[5] – ONE STEP BEYOND, THE PRINCE, AND THE 4 TRACK “3 PYRAMIDS CLUB” SAMPLER –
Chris Carter-Pegg with news on some unreleased Madness memorabelia which is doing the rounds at the moment
[6] – MADNESS IN “Q” MAGAZINE –
Ashley Moore returns with his second article of the Madpost with news of Lee Thompson’s flying skills and a short profile of Daniel Woodgate from his “Voice of the Beehive” days.
[7] – MADFAN’S MADNESS SITE –
A relatively new site by long time mailing list subscriber – Yvette Reader. Although the site is still under construction, it already contains some excellent information and is well worth a look.
[8] – MY KINDA TOWN –
Taken from a recent issue of `The Source` and kindly typed up by Chris Byrne. What do Chelsea Football club, The Dublin Castle and The Spreadeagle pub have in common? They’re all favourite haunts of the Suggster that’s what!
[9] – THE MADNIVERSE EXCLUSIVE –
For all you nutties who may have missed out on Suggs’ recent appearance on the National Lottery show you can stop panicking. Thanks to Luke Roberts and his Madniverse website, you can now view the video online!
[10] – NOT THE JACK DOCHERTY SHOW –
Thanks to a few informed maddies, we knew that Suggs was appearing on the show sometime last week, the only problem was, WHEN in the week. Some of us missed it, some of us forgot completely. Luckily Dominic Kearney caught the interview and has the review for your pleasure.
[11] – “I AM”, B SIDES REVIEW –
Ok, by now the majority of you have heard and read about `I am` until it’s coming out of your ears. However, the b-sides released with the single have received little or no comments. Mike has obviously managed to get hold of the single and is here with the lowdown on the extra tracks.
12] – THE ALMIGHTY `NAME THAT LYRIC` RETURNS! –
When Violeta Balhas announce that she was unable to continue running NTL the search was on for someone or some people who would be willing to continue this most nutty of competitions. Andrea Nans and Luke Roberts offered their services and were quickly appointed as the new NTL maintainers. Read the new (bendable) rules and website details.
[13] – MADNESS RECORD LIBRARY –
Shut up / A Town With no Name – Taken from issue 11 of the Madness fanzine – `Nut Inc`, and reproduced with kind permission of the editor – Stuart Wright.
[14] – CHRIS FOREMAN’S 1982 DIARY –
Thanks to Suggsylia who has kindly typed-up the June, July and August sections of Chris’ diary. After Suggsylia’s been sunning herself in the sun she’s almost managed to catch up with herself 
[15] – AND SO, TO BED –
Final words, next month, thanks and greetings.
[1] – MONTH IN VIEW
Hello, and a warm welcome to the September edition of the Monthly Mailing List Madpost.
It’s hard to believe, but later this month, the list will be celebrating its third birthday. We’ve come a long way since the early days and it’s all down to you, the subscribers. After all, a mailing list without subscribers is nothing and you’ve all helped to make this one of the nuttiest places on the net.
In the next (October) issue of the Madpost we’ll be taking a look back over the past three years on the mailing list reviewing the highs, the lows and all the stupid things we’ve got up to in the name of `The Good Ship Madness`. If you’ve been on the list since day one we’d really like to hear from you. I can’t remember who’s been here from the start. Are any of you still subscribed??
Anyway, that’s all to come next month, lets set our focus back to the month gone by and the month ahead.
You may be interested to know that I received a rather surreal e-mail from Mark around the middle of the month. In a small update he told me that Italian bass player and Mark Bedford lookalike – Mr. Gudio Baldi is back in Milan. Apparently he was responsible for the bass playing on stage whilst Mark met and chatted to the guests backstage before and after the concert! Mark says he’s interested to know if any of you noticed him playing. Bizarre or what?! I think Elizabeth Walker bumped into Mark on the day, perhaps she knows something we don’t
A few of you have e-mailed me to tell me that there are new promo versions of `One Step Beyond` and `The Prince` doing the rounds. Don’t get too excited, apparently these are re-mixes in the same vein as the horrific `Night Boat to Cairo` release which we had to endure a few years back and which the band apparently tried to stop being released but eventually failed. You can read the full report of these releases in Chris Carter-Pegg’s article further on in this issue.
I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but in this month’s edition of “Record Collector” magazine Madness and Suggs appear in the top 15 promos listing with the following; Number 9 – The One Step Beyond Remix 12″ (suggested price – 12 pounds), Number 10 – The Prince Remix 12″ (Suggested price – 12 pounds), and in at number 15 is the Suggs, I Am one track promo CD (suggested price 10 pounds). Again, Chris Carter-Pegg passed these details onto me, and judging by his past track record regarding Madness and Suggs collecting I would hazard a guess that he has all these (the remixes I’m sure of!) in his collection.
Cast your minds back to the heady days of Madness when they often frequented newspapers and magazines such as The Sun, The Mirror and the now defunct kids paper – Look-in. Not exactly the most respected of English establishments eh? Nowadays journalists must be under the impression that it’s far safer to be into things which have been, gone and shown their worth rather than something a little more contemporary. Take for example Suggs’ recent appearance in none other than The Telegraph towards the middle of last month. A whole half page of broadsheet is dedicated to the cheeky chap of Nutty pop.
Perhaps it’s worth asking Bedders if this is a sign that the band are voting Tory. That should stir him up a bit
Right, that’s me done. Time to pass you over to fellow list maintainer, Simon Roberts..
What a month! Suggsy new single ‘I Am’ launched, and the ‘3 Pyramids club’ being released this Friday.
Other highlights must include the ‘Madstock 4’ BBC Radio 2 broadcast, with the ever-so nice ‘Johnny Walker’, who described the Festival as ‘A good day out, a good old singalong’ A fantastic day out’, It’s the way he says it!!. A nice little bit in the middle comparing Madness with Kinks and London life, and a ‘The Madness’ obituary. He kept saying ‘It’s an annual thing’!! maybe he’s tipped off about Madstock IV – 20 Years of Madness next year!! (Rob, I know, the cheque is in the post), losing the plot slightly, Madness are booked for a ‘full’ Xmas tour, no I we didn’t get the information from Bedders, but the initial tip-off was from your friend and mine, Kev Tizzard whose mate tipped him off from the Brighton IA about the gig on the 20th December- We followed it up with Mark who confirmed the provisional bookings.
In August I also sat through the 2 hours of the Guinness Fleadh on VH1. It wasn’t that bad!, It took until late at night for the park to fill up- some good Irish bands on, Billy Bragg did an excellent set also.
We are still in communication with VH1-UK, I had a mail form them about official information’ and roomers of a ‘Suggs Chocolate shop’ ( A joke!! ) I sent them in Robs direction in case I put my foot in it!! As I type ‘The Estate agents’ program on ITV is using ‘Our House’ as the intro- another 500 cheque to Richard Branson!!
Personally, I have unraveled an old Madness mystery – I have found the 12″ single of ‘Mrs.Hutchinson’. Some of you may have noticed that ‘It must be Love’ 12″ Version cat number starts with ‘S-BUY’ (Cant remember the exact number! I’m not that Sad!! (I shouldn’t have said that, Lee Thompson!! I still cant think of anything better) but the cat number of Mrs.Hutchinson 12″ is ‘BUY’. I have the track on tape, and yes it is an extended re-mixed version, I spotted the 12″ on the WEB! of all places going for a measly 8.00!!, funnily enough, I was on the phone to a fellow MML member that evening (well earlier hours) for 3 hours and turns out they have it!! It’s not a promo nor a official release, it is in fact an German import!! So There!!
I think Darren has details of the 12″ single on his page, but his pages don’t work for me!!. (that particular page!!)
I expect next month to be full of criticism, or jubilation of Suggs second album, the ‘3 Pyramids Club’. Having heard the ‘3 Pyramids Club’ I am still digesting. I think on the whole, his album will be better than his first
On a slightly sadder note, I still hear from Yvette Reader (who doesn’t belong to any list 
), she has sent me her Madstock IV pics!! some good ones! which will appear on the new MML site soon….!
I’m off for 3 days soon- the final touches will be done, and hopefully the site will be up!! We are looking for mirror sites, so if you have at least 10mb to spare let me know. (so at least the front page and juicy bits will load quick!!)
True mirrors need 50Mb-, I’m on T1 BT Telehouse (at work) and 64k Uunet Pipex (home) so uploading is not a problem.
We need mirrors for USA. South America, Asia, Australia, and Eastern Europe (East of UK!)
Must sign off, keep posting to the list! and thanks for all your mails of support.
Kind regards,
Robert Hazelby and Simon Roberts (MML Maintainers)
[2] – SUGGS ON THE RADIO 1 TOUR
Hi All fellow Nutties
I managed to catch the Radio 1 roadshow in my hometown of Southend-on-sea on Thursday. Imagine my surprise when Lord Suggs was introduced to the crowd. In my slightly drunken state I let out a huge WAAAHHHEYYYYYY!!! spilling a pint a lager all over the teenagers around me.
Suggs obviously performed “I Am” which sounded and looked quite good. He was sporting ‘typical’ Suggsy clothes of black 3 piece suit(improvement over pink at Madstock 4!) and of course the trademark bowler hat.
He was given a warm reception by the vast crowd that had gathered down the seafront(once all the little teenagers that seem to gather at these roadshows had been told exactly who he was and what excellent band he came from!)
I must say though he does look a little bit lost on stage without the rest of the Nutty Boys, it makes him seem a bit less at ease and under more pressure to put on a good show.
So if you’re in the UK and hear of a Radio 1 roadshow near you then check it out.
Cheers,
Ash
[3] KEEP MOVING – MADNESS QUESTIONNAIRE
Hiya fellow nutties,
I launched the launched the Madness Questionnaire from the “Keep Moving” album on my website earlier this year and the script has gathered 77 (magic number eh?) answers and decided it was time to let you all know the stats. Doctor Peter T “Stats Man” Gardner, this one’s for you!
The question you all agreed with most was question 4, One Better Day, It’s a lover’s concerto. That one was kind of obvious. The most disagreed one was question 12, Give Me a Reason – It’s just a
Thanks for doing the questionnaire. If you haven’t done it yet and want to give your input then visit the Madniverse at: http://www.madniverse.intervisors.nl
After you’ve cracked that brain you can sooth it with the 11 Madness songs waiting for you at the Real Audio JukeBox.
Cheers,
Luke
Here’s the answers.
Next results get posted after 777 answers!
Question + Answers total percentage
——————————————————-
1 Keep Moving – Is this the
A London Transport 40 votes – 52 %
B Fat Lip 6 votes – 8 %
C Recording Contract 31 votes – 40 %
2 Micheal Caine – Was it a
A Meeting in a Car 22 votes – 29 %
B Sack of Judas Gold 13 votes – 17 %
C Rendezvous 42 votes – 55 %
3 Turning Blue – Could be
A The Colder My Toes – Tiddly Pom 19 votes – 25 %
B A Poke in the Eye 28 votes – 36 %
C We’ve Never Had it so Good 30 votes – 39 %
4 One Better Day – Is it
A A Lover’s Concerto 47 votes – 61 %
B A Break From Fosters 17 votes – 22 %
C An American Washing-Up Liquid 13 votes – 17 %
5 March of the Gherkins – This is done
A On a Day in the Life of a Flu Germ 17 votes – 22 %
B After Large V A T’s 20 votes – 26 %
C In Strict Private 40 votes – 52 %
6 Waltz into Mischief – Is it
A A Lively Little Headtapper 26 votes – 34 %
B The House of Commons/Representatives 39 votes – 51 %
C A National Insurance Stomp 12 votes – 16 %
7 Brand New Beat – Is it
A Double Glazing 13 votes – 17 %
B Cold Bath in Eton 24 votes – 31 %
C A Size 12 Boot 40 votes – 52 %
8 Victoria Gardens – Do you
A Pay as You Enter 36 votes – 47 %
B Pellet your Swans 14 votes – 18 %
C Say Thanks to Mr Sussquatch 27 votes – 35 %
9 Samantha – Is she
A Warm Pillow – 26 votes – 34 %
B The Theme Music From Eraserhead – 8 votes – 10 %
C A Heavy Sleeper 43 votes – 56 %
10 Time For Tea – An Invitation To
A Cry Wolf 19 – votes 25 %
B Stick Some Custard Up Your Nose 30 – votes 39 %
C Kill Yourself 28 – votes 36 %
11 Prospects – Sounds like
A Trip to Poland 17 – votes 22 %
B All the Steps are Paved with Gold 29 – votes 38 %
C An Orchestra, Times 3 Rock Bands Falling Down the Stairs 31 – votes 40 %
12 Give Me a Reason – It’s just a
A Mother and Child Reunion 25 – votes 32 %
B House of Mirrors 30 – votes 39 %
C A Picnic in the Woods 22 – votes 29 %
13 Wings Of A Dove- Is it the
A Flying Sax Player 37 – votes 48 %
B Last Rites 28 – votes 36 %
C Crow’s Posterior 12 – votes 16 %
14 The Sun and the Rain – Could you
A Walk On Water 22 – votes 29 %
B Hear the Sun 37 – votes 48 %
C Testify 18 – votes 23 %
[4] SUGGS IN THE EVENING STANDARD
Thanks go to Chris Byrne for typing this up from the London’ Evening Standard earlier this month.
Take it away Chris!
I’m sitting in a restaurant with Suggs, formerly and still occasionally lead singer with Madness. We are drinking martinis as a loosener, and his is working particularly well. “Have you seen the poster for the film with that Ralph Fiennes? If only they’d asked me, I’d have played Steed. Me and that Uma Thurman, we’d have got on like a house on fire!”
“I’ve been playing Steed since I started out, bowler hat and all that lark. I’ve seen a trailer for the film, but I don’t think there’s anything else. I’ve been told that there’s been 22 different cuts of it and it’s still getting the thumbs down every time it gets shown. I think it’s probably very difficult for Americans to get across the irony and sarcasm of the original. Fiennes doesn’t wear a bowler hat too well either – he looks a bit like Freddy ‘Parrot Face’ Davies.”
Suggs is referring to the forthcoming movie of The Avengers, starring Fiennes as John Steed and Thurman as Emma Peel. There is more to it than just a trailer, despite Suggs’ misgivings, although it has to be said that previews have been thin on the ground. In fact, there haven’t been any, to my knowledge. Suggs’ involvement in the project is a song called I Am, from his new album The Three Pyramids Club, has been chosen as the key single from the soundtrack and will be played repeatedly until you submit to seeing the film.
By the time we’ve got round to the second martini, Suggs and I have wholeheartedly agreed that the world would be better off with his new LP and never mind the visuals.
The Three Pyramids Club was recorded with a variety of musicians, from old mate Rico, who is invariably described as “the veteran trombonist”, to Jah Wobble, and various members of Black Grape – Suggs is thinking of touring with the latter under the moniker of Suggs and the Sour Grapes.
“The Three Pyramids Club is an imaginary establishment. My mum’s always worked in clubs in Soho, and I’ve always hung around them – I used to pop up there to get my dinner money for school. After that, I worked as a butcher in Chapel Street market, and I used to deliver meat to places like the Colony Rooms, to Jerry’s, McCready’s.”
“Most of the formative experiences of my life have taken place in Soho. There was one particular place which has stuck in my mind called the Kismet Club, closed long ago. This is why I called the album The Three Pyramids Club, because you had all these clubs with the most exotic names which were, in fact ghastly dives. The Kismet Club had stars and moons cut out of blue cardboard on the ceiling, and it had Diana Dors and all that lot hanging round. It was full of theatrical types. And that’s what the album is about. I’ve used those places as a kind of metaphor for my life, not to get too poncy about it.”
Meanwhile, Madness just keep escalating, having belatedly made a big splash in America. Suggs describes the oddly rude health of his old/new band as being a combination of Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan: “We’re on a kind of never-ending last concert tour.”
He is sanguine about the fact that he will always be known as the lead singer of Madness, regardless of his fine solo output and ground-breaking TV appearances. “I’m very fortunate to have been in a band that I’m not embarrassed about, that’s something I’m very proud of. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of our first record, so I’m sure we’ll be making the most of that.”
Suggs is now approaching the status of renaissance man, with a finger in all sorts of cultural pies. I wonder how he sees himself when he looks in the mirror. His first response to my idle question is, frankly, unprintable. Then he slips into a more mellow gear: “I am a troubadour, a jester. I’d love to be described as a sculptor, but unfortunately I haven’t done any sculpting. Perhaps I’m a social sculptor. In order to be taken seriously in this world, it seems to me that you have to be serious about your work, which is something I find difficult. I don’t like pretension.”
“On the other hand, I am serious about this record I’ve made, I’m very serious about being a songwriter. I’ve got a great desire to succeed in whatever area there’s an opportunity. I’ve got that Yosser thing – I can do that!”
Suggs then breaks off conversation in order to tackle his lunch. On my recommendation he’s ordered scallops with a minty pea puree, a signature dish of the establishment in which we are lunching. “Very nice,” he says. “I quite like the fact that you’ve dragged me all the way to Kensington in order to eat mushy peas.”
The Avengers opens in London on 14 August. The single, I Am, is released on 24 August (!) on WEA records.
Chris
[5] ONE STEP BEYOND, THE PRINCE AND
THREE PYRAMIDS CLUB – 4 TRACK CD SAMPLER
Hiya all,
I Recently got hold of copies of the 12″ white label promos of both “The Prince” and “One Step Beyond” remixes [MADJ 98 & MADT 98] (no doubt pressed to help promote the Ska and Madness compilation albums Virgin’s recently released).
The Prince has been done reggae style, One Step Beyond as a house / dance track. Both are better than the terrible Night Boat remix of a few years back, but why can’t they just leave such classic tracks alone?
Also picked up a 4 track CD sampler of Suggs’ new ‘Three Pyramids Club’ album. It contains ‘I AM’, ‘Girl’, ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘Three Pyramids Club’.
All in all, I’m fairly impressed and looks like the new album is going to be rather more lively than the last.
Whilst the single I AM seems to have a rather ‘Boney M’ sound to it, at least he’s taken the trouble to back it with a couple of half decent B sides.
‘Girl’ has a strong reggae influence and is’nt too bad. The rap-type sections in it aren’t really my cup of tea, but at least they’re not done by Louchie and Michie.
‘Dazed and Confused’ is a great track, the follow up single most probably. It has a brilliant chorus, probably the best of any Suggs track I’ve heard so far, but it could do with stronger vocals and is a bit let down by the variety of gimicy noises that its padded out with.
The title track ‘Three Pyramids Club’ is also excellent. The song is a kind of Eastern Mediterranean cruise around a seedy night club and its clientele: ‘If you don’t fit in you fit in here’, quite a mellow track but with a ‘Night Boat’ edge to it. On first listening its easy to get irritated by Suggs’ rather muffled voice (he seems to be singing through a megaphone) but you get used to it.
Anyone on the look out for articles and reviews, I’m reliably informed that there will be major features in Q, Loaded, Timeout, NME and Mojo; Evening Standard, ES Magazine, The Guardian, The Sun, The Telegraph (20/8), The Express and The Independent on Sunday.
September’s Mojo is also worth picking up for the double page article by Carl and Chris on their favorite Ska tracks.
Hope the rest of ‘The Three Pyramids’ album is as good as the sample tracks, just a shame it wasn’t released two months earlier as it would have made a great summer album.
Chris
[6] MADNESS APPEAR IN “Q” MAGAZINE
In what now seems to be a monthly Madpost tradition, Ashley Moore makes a welcome re-appearance with a selection of snippets from a recent issue of “Q”.
Does this chap ever stop scouring the press for Madness-related material?!
Over to you Ash…
Hi All Nutties, In this months “Q” magazine there’s a couple of interesting articles regarding Madness.
“Q” have compiled a top 20 chart of people who can fly! and our beloved Lee Thompson is in at number 2….only beaten by the nanny everyone loves to hate – Mary Poppins!………
2.Lee “Kix” Thompson
Madness were many things in their heyday – short-staffed wasn’t one of them. In order to stand out from the rest of the other 15 or so members ,saxaphonist Thompson took to flying through the air in the “Baggy Trousers” video, thus ensuring a footnote in SKA history and humorous comments at airports (“Thank you for flying with us Mr Kix!”)
Another good article in the same issue regards a “Where Are They Now?” on “Voice Of the Beehive”
Sorry I haven’t the time to type the whole article but here’s the bit about Woody……
Dan “Woody” Woodgate (drums)
Left the band in 1992 to reunite with his old muckers Madness. In-between commitments, he co-founded funk-metal rockers FAT. “I always loved stuff like Rage Against the Machine, so we put together a young band and got a deal with A&M America. But I wasn’t cut out for touring America. My new wife and I had a family on the way, so I left, plus Madness’ workload was increasing. To be honest the moneys really good, which is half the problem. I’ve tried to move on but you have to be free for a couple of gigs every year. Plus I absolutely love playing with Madness. I cant get enough of it.”
Ambient-style soundtracks for amateur film-makers gives him outside projects to do. “That and being a half house-husband, and shopping at IKEA!”
Cheers
Ash
[7] MADFAN’S MADNESS SITE
I was having a clear-out of my mailbox the other day and came across an e-mail from Yvette Reader saying she had changed the URL of her website and that it had been updated slightly.
As I hadn’t got round to visiting the site previously I decided now was a good a time as ever to take a look…
Once I connected to the site and the main page appeared I was pleasantly surprised to be looking at a nice, simple and easy to read main page.
Chas Smash is in animated gif form performing a range of moves from his nutty-dance. The animation frames have been scanned-in from the back of the One Step Beyond album and then painstakingly stuck together to form the animation. Jacco Van’t Reit’s Madness site (which can be found on the `Absolute Madlinks`) was the first to incorporate this idea.
Moving further down the page we’re greeted with that famous pose of the lads which was featured on the cover of the third Madness album – 7.
Below this and we’ve made it to the site contents. With a swift clicking on the “An Introduction to Madness” link we’re whisked away to a brief history of Madness which goes through their early days as the Invaders, the invention of the now trademark “Nutty Sound” and a selection of chart hits they’ve had through the years.
Below that we’re treated to an image of the Madness totem poll where they’re all stacked up on top of each other. Click on a link beside each band member and it brings up details of their birth dates, star signs eye colour and what part they play in the band.
Back to the main page now and we click on the “Mad Music Section” which takes us to a nicely presented listing of all their singles (displayed in order of release). Next to each image is the relevant release date and catalogue number.
My favourite part of this section is when you click on the image of a single you’re then taken to another page which includes a review of the single from various band members and includes song lyrics. At present The Prince, One Step Beyond and My Girl are the only singles that have this in-depth analysis. Hopefully over the course of time this library of information will be increased to all the singles.
All in all the site shows promise. It’s still in its early stages, but it’s nice to see a site which is well put together, isn’t overly heavy on the images and has some great info.
If you’d like to pop along to the Madfan’s site, please follow this link: www.madfan.home.ml.org
Enjoy!
Robert Hazelby
[8] MY KINDA TOWN
Hi everyone,
Just seen an article called ‘My Kinda Town’ in The Source featuring Suggs. You can get it by buying today’s Sun newspaper, or just read it below:
Scientists have calculated that, if the present rate of increase continues, by the year 2000 every celebrity in the entire world will be a Chelsea fan.
Damon Albarn, David Baddiel, Suggs, Madonna, Dame Barbara Cartland, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bernie Clifton’s comedy ostrich.
OK some of those are made up, but not our Suggs.
Stamford Bridge has always been his field of dreams, here’s what else tickles the Suggmeister’s hormones.
Favourite romantic location? (Thinly disguised attempt to get celebs to discuss their sex lives – success.)
Suggs: “You’d need 14 encyclopedias to log all the unusual places I’ve had sex. But for my honeymoon I stayed at The Ritz. After ‘whatever had been occurring’ a member of the hotel staff arrived with a big table full of grub for the two of us. I jumped out of bed wearing no clothes and sat down to eat. The door opened and in came four guys with another table of food for my wife. I had to do the old tablecloth trick rather quickly and wrap it round to hide my embarrassment.”
The Chelsea factor: (A thinly disguised attempt to try and get Suggs to trash some other celebs – failure.)
Suggs: “I go to The Finches in the Fulham Road before games, you find a lot of the nouveau Chelsea fans in there and, yes, they are getting a bit ‘celeb’. I’ve been in the new Shed Bar as well. But you can’t help reminiscing. When I look at the chandeliers I think ‘Ah, that’s where West Ham went steaming in, in 1974’. Obviously the violence isn’t missed because I can take the kids there now, but I’d like to see the terraces back. But I do sing when the mood takes me…like when we beat Arsenal.”
Suggs favourite clubs: (Thinly disguised attempt to find out where he drinks so we can accidentally bump into him – jury’s out.)
Suggs: “You’ll find me at the Colony Rooms in Soho, and reggae gets my hormones going. I like anything else apart from industrial techno. I move like James Brown, free form jazz. Do women ask me to dance? No, they just say ‘Who’s that sad old geezer in the corner?'”
Favourite places to chill? (Thinly disguised attempt at a genuine question).
Suggs: “In the heyday of Madness it used to get pretty out of hand in pubs. Now people just come up to me and say ‘didn’t you used to be Suggs?’ I tell them ‘yes, but now I’m Sting’. I’m not telling you my local. But I love Camden Town. My favourite is The Spread Eagle and Dublin Castle in Parkway and the Crown and Goose. To chill out, the Mango Rooms in Chalk Farm.”
Suggs’ new single, I Am, is released on August 31.
Chris Byrne
[9] MADNIVERSE EXCLUSIVE!!
Dear friends,
Well I promissed you earlier this week that I’d get Suggs’ new single “I am”, which he performed at the British National Lottery, online as soon as possible.
I’ve kept my promise and have encoded the video with real video for modem users AND ISDN+ users. So you should all be satisfied. All you need is Netscape or Microsoft internet explorer and at least real player 5.0.
Have fun at the Madniverse:
http://www.madniverse.intervisors.nl
Cheers,
Luke
PS. If it doesn’t work for AOL users please complain to AOL as that’s their mistake, not mine.
[10] NOT THE `JACK DOCHERTY SHOW`
Hiya all,
Did anyone see Suggs on `Not The Jack Docherty Show` last night?
Clips of the videos for `I Am` and `Baggy Trousers` were shown, to massive applause from the audience.
Suggs said that he wasn’t allowed to say anything derogatory about the film, but it was good that the film was getting slated but his single wasn’t! He said that he should have been playing Steed in the film, and sounded serious, and pissed off that he wasn’t asked in the first place!
Page 3 bimbo, Melinda Messenger was hosting the show, and she asked him how he got his name, so Suggs told the story about the jazz encyclopaedia. Melinda then said that it all could have been different if it was a medical encyclopaedia, and got Suggs to pick a random word from a medical encyclopaedia, and it turned out to be ‘Uterus’! It’s Uterus from Madness, everyone!
That’s about it!
Dominic
[11] `I AM` – B SIDES REVIEW
Went out and got it first thing and obviously it’s wicked .
The title track I think everyone is familiar with and the general consensus is good .
The first B -Side “Same Again” Harks back to the Madness Days with an excellent Piano and sax/trumpet arrangement and is a song that starts in the vain of Waiting for the ghost train but ends on a really bright note and is really rocking song.
The second B – Side starts off with a sort of low key guitar and string arrangement and starts “You were born two streets from here.. I shared my first cigarette with you, we were together everywhere, there was nothing we wouldn’t do “ And the chorus picks up, “It really would be nice to see you again … I know it ended bad some things you just can’t job” the second verse sounds like Suggs is talking about having split up with a FRIEND and is wandering whether they have “got that proper job ”
“have you got any kids”
“did you settle down ”
“make your parents proud ”
“do you have a wife ”
“are you happy together ”
“are you still a dreamer “
“have you got a son or maybe a daughter”
Then the chorus comes in as “it really would be nice to meet them all now the past has gone, it really would be nice to see you again”
“did I never call you did you never call me”
“I don’t know it seemed like years “
and then another chorus with different bits and a short instrumental where you would normally expect a solo but instead what sounds like a flute picks up the melody and then the strings come in at they end .
Then back to I Am .
This is all for now I hope it’s mostly right. Some of the words are in the wrong order on, “It really would be nice” which incidentally I think is one of the best B – Sides I have heard in recent times, and it’s so nice to see Suggs released new songs instead of a remix and an instrumental, which is what far too many bands do these days .
Oh and one more thing it’s I AM not I A minor lets not have all that Rocking in Ab malarky again.
Mike
[12] THE ALMIGHTY `NAME THAT LYRIC` RETURNS IN STYLE!
Hey Maddies!
After a short break, Name That Lyric is officially starting up again by the work of myself and Luke Roberts.
It was decided that I would make and tally up the postings and those would then be set up on a NTL website hosted by Luke Roberts’ Madniverse.
First maybe I should introduce myself. My name is Andrea Nans and I’ve been on the list for 2 1/2 years. I currently live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I know I’ve been somewhat of a lurker but it’s time for me to step up and join the discussion. 
Alright then?
Now with the changes and rules-
***BACKGROUND INFO***
Name That Lyric will be posted every Tuesday. At the end of the month, the person (or people) with the highest total of points will be awarded the title, “Lyric Legend”. The results of NTL are set up on Luke’s NTL website.
Now see how well that works out?
Here’s the tricky part, each week the lyric gets more difficult to decipher.
-Week one is easy with an entire phrase as the ‘Lyric’.
-Week two is moderate, with half of a phrase…enough to detect which song it’s from without doing some research.
-The 3rd week would require actual listening to songs or scoping out a Lyric server (gasp) because the lyric would consist of little more than 3 or 4 words.
-And finally, the 4th lyric of the month will have a whopping 2 words. If there are duplicate lyrics in another song, that would be accepted also. And I think a week is plenty time to find the song. 
The following month, the cycle will start again with an easy lyric.
***POINTS***
For every correct lyric:
Week 1: 2 points
Week 2: 4 points
Week 3: 6 points
Week 4: 8 points
***WHAT IF THERE’S A TIE??”***
We’re not sure. If there happens to be a tie, the Lyric Legend Title shall be shared right now.
***ARE THERE ANY PRIZES IF I WIN??**
Well, as of now, NO. Hey, the Lyric Legend title should be enough for you! But Mad Donations are accepted.
***WHO TO SEND IT TO***
All answers or questions on NTL can be sent to me privately at:
Lyric suggestions are always welcomed.
***Results from the UNOFFICIAL START***
“Some shirts Some Trousers”,
Deceives the Eye-
Those who answered this correctly are:
Peter Gardner
Julianne Woodson
Jim Roth
Jeff Young
Morris Minor
Geordie Al
Bazzy03
Sorry folks, you don’t get points for that, but a job well done, anyways.
Hope to hear from you nutters later! This mail is long enough..:)
Cheers,
Andrea and Luke
[13] MADNESS RECORD LIBRARY
The following article is taken from issue 11 of the Madness fanzine – `Nut Inc` and has been reproduced with kind permission of the editor – Stuart Wright.
For more information on Nut Inc including how to subscribe and a selection of articles and artwork, please point your browsers to: http://www.jabba.demon.co.uk/nutinc/
Title: shut up / A Town With no Name
Label: Stiff
Cat.No: Buy
Released: Sept. 1981
Chart pos. No. 7
After a brief hitatus, Madness came back onto the scene armed with another suitcase full of heady, spirited pop nuggets. The infectious `Shut Up` was a taster from the soon-to-be-released third album `Seven`.
From the opening piano slamming of the keyboards followed by the jaunty pub-piano melody, you knew the band were onto another winner.
The song tells the eternal tale of two herberts getting caught stealing `red-handed` and then passing the buck to one another.
The title of the song isn’t mentioned once, but according to Suggs, the original version contained a chorus of `Shut Up` and he was fond of the title and decided to use it regardless. The accompanying video was one of their best, and featured a classic keystone cops `n robbers routine, running through backstreets.
Also in the video, Chrissy Boy can be seen playing his `Super-Yob` guitar which originally belonged to Dave Hill who was lead guitarist with 70’s glam-rock superstars Slade who Chris was really into. Chris eventually sold it on to his mate Marco Pirroni, who played with and co-wrote all of the Adam & The Ants’ hits. Which leads us to the instrumental b-side `A Town With no Name` which wouldn’t sound out of place on the Ants’ `King of the Wild Frontier` album! The title is even a play on the words of `A Man With no Name` which was the role played by Clint Eastwood (a big Adam Ant influence) in all those great sixties spaghetti westerns. The 12-inch contained the mysterious `Never Ask Twice`, a strange tale about hallucionogenic drugs and swirling mists, wherein the Nutty Sound embraces tenative psychedelia and comes up trumps! Stick seven Camden music-hall spivs in the Caribbean tropics and this is the result! (The `7` sessions were recorded in the Bahamas). As Madness were a band who moved with the times, `Never Ask Twice` may have been inspired by the short psychadelic revival of 1981 bands like `Teardrop Explodes`.
[14] CHRIS FOREMAN’S 1982 DIARY – JUNE, JULY, AUGUST
As usual, thanks to Suggsylia for typing this little lot up…
JUNE
We’re still in Japan. We are doing another Honda advert. For this one we are doing Kung Fu. Also, we are dressed as Arabs.
On the 9th we leave Japan. On the 10th we arrive back in London. It’s always quicker on the way back! Meanwhile we were in the Studios again until the 24th when we do a Radio One session for Kid Jensen (30th). Then Lee, Mark and I cycle from Wolverhampton to Worcester about 30 miles to raise money for charity.
We are with the Radio One Road Show and Simon Bates. That night Lee and I stay in Birmingham and go to see Roy Orbison.
JULY
The next day 1st July we do the 655 Special with Sally James and old blue eyes David Soul. This is in Birmingham which is why Lee and I stayed there (geddit!).
We rehearse until the 10th when we are back in Birmingham again for Saturday Live TV show with Simon Bates.
Suggs refuses to come on the reasonable grounds that his wife is about to have her baby any minute. We stop him a week’s pay though.
On the 12th we do the video for “Driving in My Car”. On the 13th the same again.
We rehearse like demons until the 20th. We played a secret gig at the Bull and Gate, Kentish Town, to warm up for the next day which was the Prince’s Trust Gala at the Dominion.
Anyway, on the 20th Suggs and Anne had their baby, a little girl who they named Scarlett.
Much rejoicing was done at the Bull and Gate that night, and the next day we played in front of Bonny Prince Charlie!
Then back to rehearsals once more until the 31st when we played a festival in Ireland called Castlebar.
AUGUST
We start to record “Rise and Fall”. We stop on the 5th to do Top of the Pops, then carry on.
The 8th was my birthday and thanks for the cards (both of you).
We press on until the 17th when we rehearse for The Young Ones, which was very funny. On the 19th we film The Young Ones and then back to the studio until the end of the month.
[15] AND SO, TO BED
Well, that’s about your lot until the same time next month.
Hopefully, we’ll actually be able to release the October Madpost on the 1st of the month unlike this issue’s slightly delayed release. Apologies for that.
During the next week the new MML web page should start to appear where the old one is located at the moment. We’ve had some great support regarding the re-vamp, and it looks like this major update will be handled by Jacco Van’t Reit, Luke Roberts, The Elusive (but informative) Madsource, Simon Roberts and myself, Robert Hazelby. With four of us contributing, the new site should be up and running in next to no time and updates should appear with little or no delay.
Also this month you can expect to see reviews and opinions on the list relating to the new Suggs album `The Three Pyramids Club`. We have tried our very best to get hold of the album before its release date, but our suppliers who let us have `The Heavy Heavy Hits` before its official release were not able to do the same with the new Suggs album as they haven’t been sent it yet.
Keep the quality and quantity of the postings up, and if you have anything you think may be worth including in the next issue of the Madpost, please mail us at: robert@jabba.demon.co.uk and simonr@wavenet.co.uk and we’ll be more than happy to include them in the next issue of the Madpost.
Until then…
Stay Nutty,
The Author
