Retro top 10

THIS WEEK IN 1982

1 House Of Fun Madness 2 Goody Two Shoes Adam Ant 3 Torch Soft Cell

4 Only You Yazoo

5 The Look Of Love ABC 6 Fantasy Island Tight Fit 7 Mama Used To Say Junior 8 Hungry Like The Wolf Duran Duran 9 I Won’t Let You Down PHD 10 A Little Peace Nicole

It’s hard to believe that even at their peak Madness, one of the bestloved British bands of the late seventies and early eighties, had just one UK number one hit.

‘House Of Fun’, released by the Camden ska band as a one-off single in May 1982, was originally recorded without the infectious ‘welcome to the house of fun’ chorus, under the title ‘Chemist Facade’.

Stiff Records boss Dave Robinson insisted on a chorus, prompting a very difficult editing process after it was decided not to re-record the whole song.

You may not guess it from the veiled lyrics but, according to Madness frontman Suggs, ‘House Of Fun’ is about ‘the embarrassment of going to a chemist’s shop to buy a condom for the first time’.

Most of the iconic video was shot on location at the Pleasure Beach in Great Yarmouth where the band allegedly travelled around on the rollercoaster 54 times before the director got the shots he wanted.

Despite their lack of other No. 1 hits, Madness are singles chart major achievers, with 15 of their singles reaching the UK top ten, including ‘My Girl’, ‘Baggy Trousers’, ‘It Must Be Love’ and ‘Our House’, their only major hit in the US.

To date, Madness have released 12 studio albums and 37 singles. They continue to perform today, with six of the seven members of the original line-up still in the ranks.