It's been a long time coming, but we finally hit the Top 10, and there are a
few surprises in store!!
So here we go..........
We start the Top 10 with another new entry to the chart... but not the
last...
10 (111) {16} <3> Johnny The Horse [NEW] [-]
Written by Mr. Smash, apparently about a tramp who was familiar to many
around the streets of Camden who met an untimely death at the hands of a
fellow man of the street. The nature of the lyrics forced a change of
wording for the radio version of the song, but still the song received very
little exposure and only managed two weeks on the chart, peaking in its
first week at No. 44. Amazingly, this was the third time the boys had peaked
at that position following The Harder They Come and The Madness' effort I
Pronounce You. Johnny The Horse appeared as the second track on the album
Wonderful.
9 (111) {16} <5> The Sun And The Rain [1] [2]
No. 1 last time, but a drop of eight places sees this song only just make
the Top 10 this time. It scored the same points as JTH but claims No. 9 by
receiving more No. 1 votes. In fact only one other song achieved five No. 1
spots, no song earned more. Written by Mike Barson, it first appeared on the
compilation Utter Madness, although it was on the UK picture disc of Keep
Moving and the US release of the same. The Sun And The Rain reached No. 5 in
the UK charts in 1983. Little did we know that it would be nearly 16 years
until Madness graced the Top 10 with original material again.
8 (113) {18} <2> Night Boat To Cairo [7] [8]
A pretty consistent performer mad-chartwise, dropping just one place to it's
position in the original Madchart. NBTC was the lead track from the Work,
Rest and Play EP which reached No. 6 21 years ago in 1980. It was written by
Mike and Suggs and appeared on the album One Step Beyond. It was re-released
in 1993 and reached No. 56. Madness would have to wait six and a half years
until they hit the UK charts again, the longest hiatus in their careers.
7 (132) {22} <2> House Of Fun [6] [14]
Dropping one place to No. 7 is Madness' only No. 1 single, which recently
featured in a Channel 4 Top 100 No. 1 hits chart at No. 36 and proclaimed to
be the only UK No. 1 about contraception!! This was the 501st song to hit
the No. 1 spot in the UK, knocking Eurovision Song Contest winner Nicole off
the top spot. Mike and Chris wrote this song which put Madness in the record
books as the first act ever to have the No. 1 single, album and video
simultaneously. The album and video were, of course, Complete Madness, the
first compilation album.
6 (139) {21} <4> Embarrassment [9] [11=]
A climb of three sees Embarrassment at it's highest position yet in the
Madchart. Written by Mike and Lee. I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm
wrong, but I think Lee wrote the lyrics about his sister giving birth to a
mixed race baby, which was unfortunately frowned upon in the late seventies/
early eighties. I'm going from memory here, but I'm sure it was in one of
the concert programmes that his niece's name is Hayley and she's in her
twenties now. Embarrassment first appeared on the album Absolutely and
reached No. 4 in the charts around Christmas 1980.
Well, I'll keep you guessing, as that's it for tonight. I'm sure you can
guess which five songs are left, but the order in which they appear will
keep you guessing!!
Goodnight.
Andrew.
-
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