1978-1986Lee ThompsonSaxophone1978-1986; 1988 -
Chas SmashHorns, vocals1978-1986; 1988 - 2014
Mike BarsonKeyboards1978-1983 1992-
Chris ForemanGuitar1978-1986; 1988 -
Danny WoodgateDrums1978-1986
1992-
Mark BadfordBass1978-1986
1992-
Graham 'Suggs' McPhersonVocals1978-1986; 1988 -
It's hard to imagine a band more influenced by another artist than Madness was by the ska pioneer Prince Buster. The group not only emulated his sound, but named themselves after his 1963 song "Madness," which conveniently repeats the line, "They call it madness."
The first Madness single was "The Prince," a tribute to Prince Buster; their second was "
One Step Beyond," a cover of a Prince Buster song.
Formed in 1978, they went through a few different names, including The Invaders and Morris And The Minors, before settling on Madness in 1979.
Madness had a brilliant run of hits in their native UK, with their first 19 singles reaching the Top 20. Their debut album, One Step Beyond (1979), stayed on the UK charts for 78 weeks, peaking at #2.
The band was great on camera and made madcap music videos early in the style of the quirky Beatles films and the zany Benny Hill Show. In 1981 they starred in a movie, Take It or Leave It, that portrayed their own rise to fame.
One of the most successful UK bands in the 1980s, Madness spent 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart during that decade.
The band cultivated a "nutty boys" image that wore on them after a few years when they wanted to be taken more seriously. Mike Barson left the group in 1984, which is when they mothballed songs like "One Step Beyond" and "
Baggy Trousers" in an effort to move forward. It didn't go well, and they broke up in 1986. In 1988, they re-formed as a four-piece (Suggs, Foreman, Thompson, Smash) under the name The Madness. They released an album that year called
The Madness, but it stiffed and they called it off a short time later.
All members of the band contribute to the songwriting, but they write separately, a recipe for dissension as everyone battles to get his song recorded. Madness addressed this problem by agreeing that half of the publishing credit for each song be distributed among the entire band, with the other half going to the actual writers.
They were still finding their way when they started recording, but their musical deficiencies were overcome by their creative energy and enthusiasm. "We were just about competent enough to play in time and complete a song from the beginning to the end," Mike Barson said in a
behind-the-scenes video.
The original members all reunited in 1992 to promote their Divine Madness compilation album with two open-air concerts at Finsbury Park in London known as "Madstock." It was a raging success, with about 75,000 fans attending the shows; the album climbed to #1 in the UK.
Madness started touring annually again and revived Madstock in 1994, 1996 and 1998. In 1999, they released their first studio album in 14 years.
Like every British ska band of the '70s and '80s, they didn't fare very well in America, although MTV played a fair sampling of Madness videos after they launched in 1981. "
Our House" got a lot of spins and even earned some radio play - enough to push the song to #7 in America, giving them their only substantial hit there.
When they became The Madness in 1986, the band was augmented by Jerry Dammers of The Specials and Bruce Thomas of The Attractions.
They influenced several ska bands of the 1990s, including No Doubt, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Reel Big Fish.
Formed their own label, Zarjazz, in 1984, but it lasted only a few years. The only Madness album released on the label was Mad Not Mad in 1985.
A musical based on Madness songs, Our House, opened at the Cambridge Theatre in London on October 28 2002. It ran to 16 August 2003 with Suggs playing for a period of time the central character's father. The production won an Olivier Award for best new musical of 2003.
Frontman Suggs real name is Graham McPherson. The band hand-picked his performing moniker at random from his mother’s encyclopedia of jazz musicians (Peter Suggs) after people made fun of his Scottish surname.
Madness' compilation album Hit Parade, released on November 21, 2025, was inspired by a numerical coincidence. The band realized they'd hit 45 years together and had released exactly 45 singles: perfect symmetry for a collection celebrating their legacy of classic 45 RPM records.
