Wire report
Take It Or Leave It review – vividly atmospheric formative adventures of future pop princes Madness
Docufictional 1981 comedy captures the working-class ska-pop pranksters in their hungry years with an almost Loachian authenticity Opting for the former is the best idea for this unexpectedly revealing, vividly atmospheric, often funny and alarming, docufictional comedy from 1981 about the rise of the baggy-trousered ska-pop national treasures Madness. It takes us from their beginnings in 1976 to their chart breakthrough: gormless, penniless blokes, obsessing about music and roaming north London’s gritty districts of Camden Town, Stoke Newington and Crouch End. (This elicits some droll dialogue: “They’re all the same, these streets” … “That’s why they put signs on them.”) Our naughty, dodgy heroes play people’s parties, sign on the dole and do mortifying odd jobs, get told off by site foremen and office supervisors, drive to gigs in Arthur Daley vans, almost get into fights with skinhead
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Docufictional 1981 comedy captures the working-class ska-pop pranksters in their hungry years with an almost Loachian authenticity Opting for the former is the best idea for this unexpectedly revealing, vividly atmospheric, often funny and alarming, docufictional comedy from 1981 about the rise of the baggy-trousered ska-pop national treasures Madness. It takes us from their beginnings in 1976 to their chart breakthrough: gormless, penniless blokes, obsessing about music and roaming north London’s gritty districts of Camden Town, Stoke Newington and Crouch End. (This elicits some droll dialogue: “They’re all the same, these streets” … “That’s why they put signs on them.”) Our naughty, dodgy heroes play people’s parties, sign on the dole and do mortifying odd jobs, get told off by site foremen and office supervisors, drive to gigs in Arthur Daley vans, almost get into fights with skinhead
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According to The Guardian’s source item, Take It Or Leave It review – vividly atmospheric formative adventures of future pop princes Madness, Docufictional 1981 comedy captures the working-class ska-pop pranksters in their hungry years with an almost Loachian authenticity Opting for the former is the best idea for this unexpectedly revealing, vividly atmospheric, often funny and alarming, docufictional comedy from 1981 about the rise of the baggy-trousered ska-pop national treasures Madness. It takes us from their beginnings in 1976 to their chart breakthrough: gormless, penniless blokes, obsessing about music and roaming north London’s gritty districts of Camden Town, Stoke Newington and Crouch End. (This elicits some droll dialogue: “They’re all the same, these streets” … “That’s why they put signs on them.”) Our naughty, dodgy heroes play people’s parties, sign on the dole and do mortifying odd jobs, get told off by site foremen and office supervisors, drive to gigs in Arthur Daley vans, almost get into fights with skinhead
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Primary source: Take It Or Leave It review – vividly atmospheric formative adventures of future pop princes Madness via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
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- Take It Or Leave It review – vividly atmospheric formative adventures of future pop princes MadnessThe Guardian - 2026-10-02T06:00:12+00:00
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