The Rise & Fall is the fourth album by the British ska/pop group Madness. This album saw Madness at their most experimental, exhibiting a range of musical styles including jazz, English music hall, and Eastern influences. NME described it at the time of its release as "The best Madness record." It has often been retrospectively described as a concept album. Although initially conceived as a concept album about nostalgia for childhood, the concept was eventually dropped, though the original theme is still evident particularly in the title track and the album's major hit "Our House." This theme was also mentioned recently when interviewed as part of T in the Park highlights, where Suggs said that all the band members were told to write about their childhood memories for the Rise & Fall (although he did say that Barson got the wrong idea, and went off and wrote about New Delhi). Although the band had previously been avowedly apolitical, the track "Blue Skinned Beast" was an overt satire on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her handling of the Falklands War, paving the way for more political comment on subsequent Madness albums.
Though the album was never released in the USA, several tracks were later placed on the compilation Madness, including the melancholic pop of "Our House".The Rise & Fall is the fourth album by the British ska/pop group Madness. This album saw Madness at their most experimental, exhibiting a range of musical styles including jazz, English music hall, and Eastern influences. NME described it at the time of its release as "The best Madness record." It has often been retrospectively described as a concept album. Although initially conceived as a concept album about nostalgia for childhood, the concept was eventually dropped, though the original theme is still evident particularly in the title track and the album's major hit "Our House." This theme was also mentioned recently when interviewed as part of T in the Park highlights, where Suggs said that all the band members were told to write about their childhood memories for the Rise & Fall (although he did say that Barson got the wrong idea, and went off and wrote about New Delhi). Although the band had previously been avowedly apolitical, the track "Blue Skinned Beast" was an overt satire on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her handling of the Falklands War, paving the way for more political comment on subsequent Madness albums.
Though the album was never released in the USA, several tracks were later placed on the compilation Madness, including the melancholic pop of "Our House".false2025-11-07 22:27:18The Rise & Fall19891989-11-011989-11-011282 ToneNew WavePopPop RockRockSka1135692125509dbb49441-98db-365e-aa5e-6a66abba503f5f58803e-8c4c-478e-8b51-477f38483ede7b3c2ec0-7390-39eb-a23c-f33d760f274a/media/data/media5/Music/Madness/The Rise & Fall/folder.jpgMadnessMadnessMadness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, north west London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.
Madness have had 16 singles reach the UK top ten, including "One Step Beyond", "Baggy Trousers" and "It Must Be Love", one UK number-one single "House of Fun" and two number ones in Ireland, "House of Fun" and "Wings of a Dove". "Our House" was their biggest US hit, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2000, the band received the Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for Outstanding Song Collection.