Madness delivered as many hits as any British band of their era, at least within the United Kingdom. Surprisingly, only one of those smashes broke big in the United States. But that one song, “Our House,” stands as one of the most beloved songs of the ’80s.
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What is the song about? How did Madness conceive of the song using somewhat primitive recording techniques? And how did they finally get their shot in America? All will be revealed, so put on your Sunday best and read on.
More than Ska
Because the music business tends to want to label everything, Madness was lumped in with the ska movement, which gained a ton of popularity in Great Britain in the late ’70s. That could be why they didn’t cross over to the U.S. early on in their career, as ska didn’t have nearly the same foothold stateside. But the band always proved much more versatile than that, peppering their albums with all kinds of genre moves.
In 1982, Madness released their fourth album, entitled The Rise & Fall. “Our House” was included on that record, and it added to the ever-growing hit parade for the band in England. It might have been contained to that, if not for A&R executive John Kalodner of Geffen Records.
Instead of just assuming it was another ska-flavored number from the band, Kalodner took the time to listen to “Our House.” What he heard was an insanely catchy track that melded pop and R&B in a way that nodded to vintage tracks, but still sounded right at home circa 1983. Geffen put out a slightly altered version of The Rise & Fall in America, with “Our House” quickly dispatched to U.S. radio and MTV. It wasn’t long before the song had cracked the Top 10.
From a Dirge to a Dynamo
“Our House” originated with a boom-box type recording device that Madness member Chris “Chrissy Boy” Foreman owned. It included a drum machine, which meant Foreman could put together basic demos with rhythmic structures, which he could then bring into the band. In the case of “Our House,” Foreman’s original tempo was much slower. But his band helped him transform it, as he explained to this author for the book Playing Back the ’80s: A Decade of Unstoppable Hits:
“Anyway, I had this dirgy song which I took to rehearsals. Chas (Smash, real name Cathal Smyth) had suggested we all write songs about our childhood and he wrote some lyrics along those lines to go with my music. We all started playing the song and eventually settled on a Motown-type rhythm. I wrote the middle 8 real quick; it was part of another song idea I had been working on. I came up with the (guitar) solo in the studio when we were recording it.”
Suddenly, “Our House” transformed into a suave, effervescent pop song, complete with strings and horns. Foreman’s guitar break even gave it a little rock heft. Add in the deadpan-yet-charming vocals from Madness lead singer Suggs (Graham McPherson), and you had a pretty perfect single.
What Does “Our House” Mean?
“Our House” offers a look back to childhood that’s both nostalgic and bittersweet all at once. On the one hand, the memories are vivid and reassuring, with the house in the title (located in the middle of our street) constantly bringing back fond memories of yesterday. But there are also sly references in the lyrics about how childhood goes by so quickly and how we’re too young to cherish it as it does.
The first verse sets up the typical family dynamic: hard-working father, domestic do-it-all mother, older brother and sister anxious to get a taste of adulthood. It’s unspoken, but we can assume the narrator is one of the younger kids in the family, wide-eyed and taking it all in. His is an idyllic remembrance: I remember way back when, when everything was true and then / We would have such a very good time, such a fine time, such a happy time.
Yet he’s writing this as an adult who knows that this is a scene set in a somewhat distant past, one that can’t be recaptured. “Our House” put Madness on the map in the U.S. And it remains a track that will leave you smiling at your own childhood memories, even as you wonder why you didn’t hold on tighter to the events as they occurred.
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Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images
