"Lee was insistent he wore the baggiest pair of trousers we could find"

September 5, 2020 9:48 AM

40 Years of Baggy Trousers. Though I'm not sure you need another oral history, here's one on the making of the song and video "Baggy Trousers" by Madness, a weird bit of early-80s ska that was a surprise hit (in the UK) with its novelty chorus and flying saxophonist.
posted by ardgedee (26 comments total)

Not exactly a surprise hit. They'd already had three UK top twenty singles from their first album. Not really that weird either - 2 Tone groups were adored by everyone I knew at school, no matter what their nominal musical allegiance was supposed to be (Queen cut across like that as well, but precious few others).
Working class ska laced with faded generational memories of music hall acts. There was a logic to it that caught fire when combined with the band's shit hot songwriting.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:01 AM on September 5, 2020 [13 favorites]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJOLwy7un3U
posted by neuron at 10:16 AM on September 5, 2020

shit hot songwriting

Yes. And very often underrated I think; the ska thing got them pigeonholed as novelty but they were fantastic lyricists. The fragment that Suggs quotes in the piece, "naughty boys in nasty schools"; what an opening line that is.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:21 AM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

Trying to think of other bands that incorporate xylophones. The only one coming to mind is Jim Loughlin of moe..
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 10:31 AM on September 5, 2020

A lot of the people in this video have rather well-fitting trousers.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:41 AM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

The lyrics:

Naughty boys in nasty schools
Headmasters breaking all the rules
Having fun and playing fools
Smashing up the woodwork tools
All the teachers in the pub
Passing 'round the ready-rub
Trying not to think of when
The lunch-time bell will ring again.

Oh what fun we had
But, did it really turn out bad
All I learnt at school
Was how to bend not break the rules
Oh what fun we had
But at the time it seemed so bad
Trying different ways
To make a difference to...

The headmaster's had enough to-day
All the kids have gone away
Gone to fight with next-door's school
Every term, that is the rule
Sits alone and bends his cane
Same old backsides again
All the small ones tell tall tales
Walking home and squashing snails.
Oh…
posted by Wordshore at 10:42 AM on September 5, 2020 [4 favorites]

I loved Madness, still do. They were ska/two-tone sure, but sort of uncategorizable too. What I liked best was how much fun they always seemed to be having. "Night Boat to Cairo" forever. And of course their cover of Labi Siffre's "It Must Be Love."
posted by chavenet at 11:06 AM on September 5, 2020 [5 favorites]

I continue to insist, to no-one in particular, that Madness' cover of Swan Lake is the definitive version.

There's even a dance.
posted by MrVisible at 11:18 AM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

All I learnt at school
Was how to bend not break the rules

Yeah, that sounds like school as I remember it.

This is a great song and I can't believe I've never heard it before.
posted by JanetLand at 11:34 AM on September 5, 2020

they were fantastic lyricists.

Some of the Madness guys - including Suggs - were big fans of Ian Dury, having been aware of him ever since Dury's old band Kilburn & the High Roads was playing the London pub rock circuit in the early 1970s. Dury's wonderful lyrics were a big influence on their own writing when Madness began - and you can see a lot of Dury in the music hall element of Madness mentioned above too.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:58 AM on September 5, 2020 [6 favorites]

I wish now that I hadn't clicked on the video because after watching the Baggy Trousers video I wound up wandering to various suggested related clips, which is how I learned (via comments) that Toots Hibbert (of Toot & the Maytals) is hospitalized fighting Covid-19, with reports of his condition varying from "stable" to "medically induced coma." I hate this year.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:28 PM on September 5, 2020 [5 favorites]

Morning time and we're awake
Brush our teeth with new Colgate
posted by RobotHero at 12:57 PM on September 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

Talking about fantastic lyrics, House of Fun is one of my fave Madness songs.
posted by Pendragon at 1:14 PM on September 5, 2020 [5 favorites]

Trying to think of other bands that incorporate xylophones. The only one coming to mind is Jim Loughlin of moe. .
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 1:31 PM on September 5

DJ Bonebrake of X, ironically.
posted by donpardo at 1:53 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

Trying to think of other bands that incorporate xylophones.

Frank Zappa in the mid '70s had Ruth Underwood in his band. She was a spectacular xylophonist and all around percussionist. Mind-boggling stuff. My favorite Zappa era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3DwlboAOfs
posted by SoberHighland at 2:12 PM on September 5, 2020 [4 favorites]

RobotHero: I still like to sing the Colgate variant around the house.

Also the Aquafresh 'we like the blue stripe, we like white' jingle, but that way lies Madness.
posted by biffa at 2:37 PM on September 5, 2020

Weird? Not if you're a Brit, it's a documentary.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:44 PM on September 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

Among Madness' twenty top twenty singles are:

One Step Beyond
My Girl
Embarrassment
Return of the Los Palmas Seven
Grey Day
Shut Up
It Must Be Love (cover of a Labi Siffre song)
Cardiac Arrest
Driving In My Car
Our House
Tomorrow's Just Another Day
Wings of a Dove
Michael Caine

I mean, cor blimey!
posted by Grangousier at 3:22 PM on September 5, 2020 [5 favorites]

I was a bit too young for the song Baggy Trousers to resonate, however I did get to it a few years later, but Our House was a favourite among my crowd. And thanks for reminding me how old I am... jerks.
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:10 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

I saw Madness at the Showbox back in the One Step Beyond day -- my first introduction to flat top crewcuts as a bohemian hairstyle -- all in various metallic thin lapel skinny tie skarkskin suits with the added bonus of a similarly clad designated dancer. God, they were cool.
posted by y2karl at 4:13 PM on September 5, 2020 [4 favorites]

Madness, of course, named themselves after the song by Prince Buster, to whom they paid tribute with their own song The Prince.
posted by Pallas Athena at 7:27 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

For people from a very specific place (New Zealand) who came of age at a very specific time (late 90s to early 00s), that song title has very different connotations.
posted by themadthinker at 7:53 PM on September 5, 2020

Trying to think of other bands that incorporate xylophones.

Dude! Violent Femmes!
posted by alex_skazat at 9:51 PM on September 5, 2020 [5 favorites]

Classic song - as a kid I don't think I really got what talented musicians Madness were, I just liked their quirky songs. On reflection i think it's pretty fair to count this as a huge influence on Blur's Parklife and The Streets.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:30 PM on September 5, 2020

Always appreciate a bit of Madness. Absolutely amazing lyricists. I remember more than one wedding where it took a the DJ a bit of Madness to REALLY get things going.

Everybody dancing like Suggs..all night... to all tunes.
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 5:25 AM on September 7, 2020

I saw Madness at the Showbox back in the One Step Beyond day...

Except, upon reflection and reexamination, it was at the University of Washington. Which was a bit of ska venue in those days -- I saw both Madness and Bad Manners there. Both were great performances.
posted by y2karl at 8:22 AM on September 26, 2020