___This is the commentary by Dave Robinson and Chris Foreman.
___Opening Credits: Dave says they were badly stuck for a beginning; and then the band had to get to the airport so they thought they'd use the taxi to the airport.
They tried to keep everything as realistic as possible; making them ahead of their time in many ways.
___Dave let the band do as they pleased during the filming at the airport; meaning that a lot of great,
original ideas came through - like Lee sneaking up on random people (strangers and band members alike)
and putting stickers on their backs!
___The film starts with Lee, walking the streets of London. Chris points out that there's no
Starbucks to be seen and nobody has a mobile phone pressed to his ear.
___Dave
mentions that they started the film in black and white to give a sense of age. The lab told him to let them do all the film in
one go to make things easier for them; and then they bleached the lot! He says it was completely burnt out, looking like a
snow scene with a few black dots on. When he approached the lab about it, they merely said "sorry". Dave was unimpressed and
the band blamed him.
___Chris says at least it gave them a practice run.
___Lee and Mike heading for "Rock On". The moving camera was in fact a camera man being
dragged along on a trolley. It jolts a bit as a result; but it looks good.
___Mike had to keep
trying to egg Lee into following the script they'd work out, because he seemed determined to ad lib.
___The part where Lee asks Mike to lend him money for records is realistic because he was
always a bit short of cash and borrowing money from Barso.
___The sound were never ready;
and failed to take notice of Dave who hated saying "action" and opted for saying "shoot" or "go". The band were constantly
having to start again because the sound crew hadn't been recording.
___The music playing in "Rock On" was in fact produced by Madness, so that they wouldn't have to
buy rights from other artists.
___The music shop keeper in the film actually worked for both
"Stiff Records" and "Rock On", so he got the part.
___Chrissy and his wife in their home. The child in the shot with them isn't actually Chrissy's
kid; although it isn't actually explained why he's there. Chrissy says it was really sad, because his dad was in prison, and he
kept calling Chrissy "dad".
___First rehearsal; with Mike, Lee and Chris. They're really playing at Mike's mum's house;
probably in Mike's room.
___The whole film uses the original locations and props whenever possible.
___Lee's music lesson. Dave asks Chris where Lee got the idea for the sax with no serial number,
was it from a film? Chris says no; Lee really did "miss appropriate" a sax back in the early days and scratched off the serial
number in case the real owner had taken note of it.
___Dave says Lee's the "mean street" character.
___Chris meets John Hasler in the Job Centre. Dave says this bit's good - true to type and
typical of the era. Signing on has changed a bit since then!
___Rehearsal at Mike's; this time with the addition of John Hasler on drums. Chris is using
his first guitar, which he says he got for ten pounds.
___They really did cover John's drums when
they rehearsed, because they were a bit loud. Chris says that they let him be drummer because he went out and bought a drum kit,
showing real keenness.
___They note that Mike really showed his resilience; because in the early days
it was hard to imagine that the band would go anywhere.
___Dave says his sarcasm was great; but
would you really want to work with him? Chris didn't mind much because he'd known him ages; everybody else tended to get annoyed
by Mike. Chris points out that Mike's attitude was exaggerated for the film - if Mike had really spoken to Lee in the way he
does at times, Lee would probably have attacked him. Mike's a good actor; really good at looking frustrated and annoyed.
___Lee could never understand that he had to convert the notes for a piano into a different key for the sax. Chris says the penny didn't drop until about the time they were producing “One Step Beyond”.
___Dave loves the part where Lee gets angry and starts shouting at Mike; repeating every line of Mike's like an echo whilst chucking his sax into a carrier in bits.
___Suggs and Chalky. Chris laughs at Suggs' use of the word "bloomin'" when he's talking to
Chalky about having to go to a "bloomin' cafe" with a social worker. He remembers that they weren't allowed to swear because
there might be young children watching and they didn't want to encourage them to do the wrong things. Back in those days,
"bloomin'" was borderline.
___At that time, Chalky was just a friend of the band. He later
became joint manager of Madness with Tokks for a time.
___The Post Office. Chrissy didn't really work in a Post Office, he just thought it'd work well
in the film. Dave likes the bit where he tries shoving a large package into a small pigeon hole.
___Mike and Si in the Tube Station. In reality, they didn't go as far as they do in the film;
but they really did mess about - and got caught - and were sent to prison for a couple of weeks. Barso could never run very fast
for very long; so he was always caught.
___Chris says that all the band members were quite bad,
but they never did anything awful, like mugging people. They did a bit of vandalism and shoplifting though, mainly out of boredom.
They weren't trying to be nasty or anything; they just wanted fun. Dave says that the problem was the system; because they didn't
know what to do with young people back then.
___The Invaders play in Si's garden. The location really is Si's house. The singer was never
a part of Madness. They didn't want him to sound too good, so they made sure he couldn't hear himself too well.
___Dave points out that Chris is beginning to play better at this point. It's a good piece of acting,
playing badly on purpose and improving gradually as time goes on.
___Chris says he can remember Si
saying that he was having a party and wanted the band to play and how excited/nervous they'd been... and then they were put in the
garden! At first they had a crowd out there, then they had a couple of people... and then they had one person out there being sick
somewhere...
___Chris doesn't remember Mike having a go at Si; though he can remember asking why the
gear was being taken through to the garden. He's sure Barso would never have been that aggressive... though he might have, because
they did argue quite a bit back then.
___Carl was funny. He had the part where he asks Mike to let him become The Invaders' bass player
all worked out right up to the time when it actually came to saying something.
___Suggs did the
traditional bit where you nose around your host's bedroom, maybe nick a few records (Chris says he would never have done that;
he's too nice a bloke!). There's also a part where he bumps into Hasler in the toilet and has a chat with him about the gig.
He says he can sing twice as well as the singer they had. Chris points out the “wee” sound effect that they had looping forever
in the background of the scene...
___Mark and Woody at an audition The twins were in fact actors who turned up for an audition.
Dave thought they were fun and gave them this part. It took a lot of doing, but they managed to get them to say their lines at the
same time.
___Woody has a woolly beanie hat on during most of the film because when he joined the
band he had long hair; which they made him get cut. It's an attempt at continuity.
___Chris and Mike. Chris never actually worked with Mike, but they used a bit of artistic
license during filming to give a rough idea of the band members' backgrounds.
___Suggs' first rehearsal. Carl really did play bass for a time. Chris says he can play
anything - even bagpipes!
___He still thinks Mike seems too harsh and unpleasant; he wasn't
that bad really. Dave points out that Mike did have a certain standard that he was aiming for though.
___Chris says he can remember the first
rehearsal that Suggs and Chalky came along to. He was walking on the other side of the road to them; thinking they were a
pair of yobbish skinheads because they were making a lot of noise and sharing a bottle of vodka. He says it actually happened
at Mike's mum's house, not the little room where they rehearsed later on.
___Dave thinks the bottle
of vodka is a bit over-the-top; Chris says it probably wasn't such a big bottle, but Suggs really did turn up with vodka.
___They used to do loads of old Rock 'N' Roll songs; all of which had good guitar solos in -
Chris used to really get into them.
___Lee keeps disappearing. Chris says that things haven't changed much with the band.
At the time the commentary was recorded, Madness had a lot of work on (trying to sort out the "Our House" musical);
so Thommo went off to Australia for a time.
___Mike gives Chas a lift home. Dave doesn't like the parts where the band are driving
in the dark. To him, it's too dark. Chris says they should have sent it off to the people that bleached the black
and white film - it might have come out like daylight! He likes it as it is though; it looks realistic.
___Barson did test everyone to see if they were prepared to stick with it.
Chris says Carl still holds a grudge/argues with Mike about some of the things he was put through.
Mike says he didn't drop Carl off in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, but Chris remembers it happening.
___Late start. Chrissy says he had to drag Mike out of bed enough times - it still happens
now in fact; when he returns to the UK he sometimes stays with his mum.
___Dave says he was
always amazed by Chrissy's time keeping - he was the only one who used to turn up on time, from what he remembers.
Chris says that he, Mark and Woody are pretty reliable but everyone else are usually on a different planet. Carl would even
turn up on a different day!
___Mike had no time for things like sport. When Suggs missed a
rehearsal due to the cup final, most people would have understood that; but as it was, Mike kicked him out. Mike had the
van and place to rehearse, so he had the power. If he said he didn't want someone in the band, the others couldn't really
argue.
___
Thommo was always leaving and coming back, but Chris hung in there. It was John Hasler that kept the band going though; he was
always bringing in new people when they were needed.
___Lee's latest job. Lee turns up late for his new job as a driver for a builders' van.
This is a bit exaggerated, but taken from real life. He acts well too. Dave laughs and says that if the foreman knew Thommo
he wouldn't give him the keys!
___Dave says he likes the way Lee seems to hang on every word the
foreman says, asks no questions, waits for him to go and then asks "What are flattens"? Chris says he's really like that.
He remembers a time when he told him that he took his car to the garage and that the mechanic said it would be a "long 'un"...
What's a long 'un?
___Dave says he can remember how Thommo used to do tricks on "Top of the Pops" -
without telling anyone before hand - and used to get upset when the camera crew missed them. He thought it was all captured
through some magic process!
___Mark in his flat. That was really filmed in his flat, but they didn't use his real mum
because they were told they had to use actors.
___Chris can remember being with Mike when they
picked Mark up for the first time. He was the clean-cut, almost "mummy's boy" type; very different from the rest of the band.
___It was Gary (the drummer at the time) who introduced Mark to the band. He lives in New York
now but Mark still keeps in touch with him.
___John Hasler and Suggs. Again it's acknowledged that if John hadn't been around, Madness
wouldn't have happened. He took over singing from Suggs when he was kicked out, he brought in Gary Dovey to play drums and he kept
everything going. Though they didn't show it in the film (because it would have made it so much longer) they did a few gigs with
John singing. Suggs came along to them and it was clear that he was sorry and wanted to come back.
___When John was on holiday, Mark arranged a gig; so Chris overrode Mike's authority and asked Suggs
to come back.
___Plastered. Chris loves this bit - very funny. He wishes the bit with them painting a window
had made it into the film too (and I wish they had been able to put that bit on the DVD). He acknowledges that, as with their
music videos, very little was left out and it was well edited.
___Gary's last rehearsal. This bit is apparently typical of Thommo. He patches things up with
Barso, comes back and gets rid of the drummer! Chris said that this part was annoying because the song had a great guitar solo in
that he never got to play.
___Chris points out that Gary wasn't very good at playing badly.
___Back to night-time driving. Dave wishes they'd put lights inside the van so you could see
what was going on better. Chris still says he prefers it as it is – it looks natural.
___To get the
shots that they did, the camera crew filmed from the back of a station wagon.
___After the film was
made, Barso said parts were a bit trite; like when they say they need a drummer and Mark pipes up saying "I know a drummer".
But that was how it happened. Bedders already knew Woody, and that's how he came to be part of the band.
___Woody joins the band. They start jazzing things up here. They speed up the bit where the
band help Woody with his drums and set up.
___When the song starts, this is the real beginning
of Madness. This is the point where things really start to happen. Suggs comes back and now the line-up is complete (if you
don't count Carl who returned later).
___Chris laughs at Suggs "eating" the mic; he says he always
used to do that. He points out that Suggs keeps looking into the camera when he's singing; because it was difficult not to after
all the music videos they'd done.
___The Acklam Hall. They wanted to film in the real Acklam Hall, but it had been burnt
down. The skinheads were the real thing though.
___Chalky and Chas were good at dealing with people
like that. Chris says he remembers that when they played there, he went off to the loo and met someone who he took to be a mate
of Suggs'. Naturally, he started chatting to him; which wasn't a good idea because he reacted by behaving in a threatening manner.
He really wished Chas was there! They did make it out to be worse than it was for the film; just to make it more interesting.
___Dave likes the bit with Barso dragging the rest of the band off to the dressing room before they
start fighting the skinheads. Typical of Mike, that.
___"In the Middle of the Night" - Suggs read something in the paper about a man who stole womens'
underwear off lines and thought it would be a good, funny subject for a song.
___After the performance. The real Clive Langer makes an appearance at this point to act out
the first time he met the band. Woody's dad also makes a brief appearance to tell his son that he was marvellous.
___Return of the skinheads. They point out that Suggs looks as if he's getting ready to run
while the others are busy exchanging insults/threats with the skinheads.
___Chris says that the idea
behind Chas punching out the light was so that the violence was only suggested by sounds.
___
In reality, Chalky and Chas got left behind when the band made a run for it and managed to blend in somehow; but as the other band
members made their escape a car backfired and Chalky said "they've got shooters!" - they really thought that they had guns for a
moment.
___Renaming the band. Chris says that this part could have been better; because someone suddenly
shouts out that "let's call ourselves Madness" line while Mike argues and says he doesn't like it. Then they play their cover of
"Madness" by Prince Buster.
___This part was done in this way because they suddenly realised that
up until this point in the film, the band was still called The Invaders and couldn't think of a better way of dealing with the
name change.
___It's very hard to get permission to film in places like Tube stations, so they
just went in and did it. "Guerilla Filming" Dave calls it.
___During the filming of this part,
the band members really did get quite drunk... to the point where Suggs looks as if he's about to fall over, and Woody has to be
helped out of the watering hole that they ended up in. But it was all good fun.
___Mike and Chris. Barso gave Chrissy a lawnmower that didn't work; and then said that he
couldn't hear much mowing going on. Chris says he thinks he really did have a hangover when they filmed that part, so he didn't
have to try hard to act that. Dave laughs and says realism is great.
___Mike owned one van and
then Thommo "got hold of" another van (Chris has a feeling there was something dodgy about that somewhere along the line but he
can't remember; Dave says there must have been if Lee was involved!). Thommo's van was used for the band's gear and Mike's was
used for the band to travel in.
___When Mike sprays his logo on the back of his van, he moans at
Chris when the paint runs as if it's all his fault. Chris laughs and says that was quite typical of Barso.
___Double booked. The "owners" of The Dublin Castle were in fact actors from The Abbey
(a big Irish theatre).
___Come The Nashville performance, they put in some slow-motion (and other)
effects to make things look more professional.
___The car chase (where they're speeding to The
Dublin Castle) was all filmed out the back of a car without a license. The members of Madness weren't in the vans at this point
because it was too dangerous - the vans were driven by stunt drivers.
___Everyone in The Dublin
Castle was getting very drunk while they "waited" for Madness. Meanwhile, the car chase continues. During the filming of this
part, Dave broke his foot - he was on top a scaffold which fell over.
___It's when the group arrives
at The Dublin Castle that Carl rejoins the band. Chris says the reason they showed Lee phoning him about this gig was to show
that he was still around. He remembers a gig in Aylesbury where Carl turned up when they were just about to start and came
through the audience. It was at that point that they realised he should be member number seven.
___One Step Beyond. Dave remembers hearing "One Step Beyond" when the band were playing at his
wedding and knowing that that tune was something special. Then he had to fight them to make them record it - and when they finally
did, they recorded it too short! Dave was really upset and annoyed. He got it edited, which Lee could never get his head around. He asked if he'd got another band in to record the extra bit!
___Bed and Breakfast Man. This song was actually about John Hasler, because he'd turn up at
people's houses at tea time, eat all their food and stay the night; so Gary Dovey called him "the bed and breakfast man".
Chris still argues with Mike over the rights to the song, claiming that he wrote quite a few of the lyrics. Chrissy also used to
sing the song in the early days, having taught Suggs to play the guitar chords.
___Pathway Studios. They had to get a stunt biker to be Woody because the way he was cycling
was too dangerous. Chrissy says he remembers Woody, on the way to the studio, saying "I know the way" and getting completely lost.
___Chris admits that he used to smuggle bits of bacon and the like into Woody's salads because he
was a vegetarian and was always just given a salad. Things are different today, but back then veggies weren't given much
nourishment and Chris used to worry about Woody.
___Returning to Pathway. They really did throw Woody in the back of the van the second time
around, but they didn't tie him up.
__Dave asks who it was atop the van.
__"Suggs. He's such a..."
__"A ham, isn't he?"
__"He made a big dent in the roof!"
__"What a yob!"
___Present Day (1981). This part wasn't scripted. Dave just stuck the seven band members in a
dressing room with a camera.
___The part with Mike looking for his sunglasses when they're on his
head is just him making fun of himself (which he does well). He was always putting his glasses down and losing them. Chrissy says
that when they were all wearing the same suits, he put his trousers on and wondered why they were up around his ankles... not
realising that he'd actually picked up Lee's trousers!
___End credits. The film ends showing a few clips of music videos; to say that it was the
end of the film but not their career.