Hey Now! Just got home to the Pc and installed the latest Refernce Suite form Microsoft.Encarta 2000 thee definitive interactive encyclopedia has so many things to look at. However like all things the first topic I searched was funnily enough, Madness. Here is what it said: Madness London-based pop band formed in 1978, whose "nutty sound" played a leading role in the British ska revival of the late 1970s. Comprising Mike Barson (keyboards), Mark Bedford (bass), Chris Foreman (guitar), "Chas Smash" (trumpet/backing vocals/stage antics; born Cathal Smyth), Graham "Suggs" McPherson (lead vocals), Lee "Kix" Thompson (saxophone/vocals), and Dan "Woody" Woodgate (drums), Madness had twenty-one top-20 singles from 1979 to 1986. Formed in Camden Town by Barson, Thompson, and Foreman as the Invaders, the band was renamed Madness (the title of a 1964 Prince Buster song) after Suggs, Smash, and Woodgate joined in 1978. Madness's debut, "The Prince" (a tribute to Buster) reached the top 20 in 1979, and their next four singles all entered the top 10. Successfully translating their anarchic sense of fun from live performance to video, the hits continued with Rise and Fall (1982), which gave tender sketches of London life such as "Our House" and "Tomorrow's Just Another Day", and also produced the no.1 single, "House of Fun" (1982). After Barson left to settle in Amsterdam, Madness continued releasing singles, but split after the relative failure of "Yesterday's Men" (1985) and their version of Scritti Politti's "The Sweetest Girl" (1986). In 1988, Suggs, Thompson, Foreman, and Smash reformed as The Madness, only to split again the following year. The success of the Divine Madness singles compilation (no. 1 in the UK album chart in 1992) led to the original line-up re-forming for two hugely successful performances in London's Finsbury Park, which produced the live album Madstock (1992). Taking the bravado and energetic social satire of original Jamaican ska (a precursor of reggae), Madness's "nutty sound" added a distinctively English sense of humour. Keenly observant lyrics and memorable tunes were combined with music-hall showmanship: funny walks, awkward dancing, and silly hats (especially Turkish fezzes, worn after the success of their 1993 single "Night Boat to Cairo"). "Madness," Microsoft� Encarta� Encyclopedia 2000. � 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. So there you have it folks....Bill Gates , a madddie fan! Now I'm off to learn about and discover the wonders of the Paraguian Parrot and its lifespan and sexual practices! All the Best Vince! ===== "If it ain't Vince, it ain't worth a F*CK!" ICQ 46099201 NEVER SAY NO TO A MAD IDEA! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com - ______________________________________________________________ Visit the Total Madness Mailing List website for: latest news, madmeet info, list charter, games, and more ... http://members.xoom.com/totalmadmail/ Contact the TMML Moderators at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and in the message body put: unsubscribe total-madness
