“Our…house…is a veryveryvery fine house!” Don’t you love that song?!!
PSYCH!! I’m not talking about the crappy TV show with Wilford “Diabeetus” Brimley, Chad Allen and Shannen Doherty (pre-Brenda) either.
Today’s entry comes from the ska/pop giants from the U.K. called Madness. Admittedly, until very recently (like in the past year recently), I didn’t know much about these fellas except for their association with the two-tone moment (I guess that explains the checkerboard design of a lot of their records…wait, that was The Specials. My bad.) and the fact that their lead singer is named Suggs. Yes, Suggs. Granted, that’s not his real name, but still. Seriously. Who names themselves “Suggs”? What exactly is a “suggs”?
Anyhow, a year and a copy of Madness’s “Ultimate Collection” later, I’m fond of more than one song by this band and if you’re an Eighties’ music fan, you should probably be too. At the very least, you should be madly in love(like me) with this song, which is absolutely fantastic. From the peppy horns (and tasteful strings) to Suggs’ baritone croak to the awesome opening 45 seconds or so before the vocals kick in (easily one of the decade’s ten best song intros), this is good shit, mister. It’s also a bit atypical of much of Madness’s previous work, with a more pronounced pop/rock sensibility.
And the chorus! Simple and catchy, folks. You’ve gotta love it! Enjoy!
