The Rock ’n Roll Circus, Madness, Ocean Colour Scene, The Wailers, The Selecter, David Rodigan, The Beat Featuring Ranking Jnr, The Beatles Dub Club, sound system 79, Millie Manders and the Shutup, y The Downsetters

I think it’s fair to say that people don’t take Madness quite as seriously as they probably should. To clarify, people love them like a family member and with very good reason, but the gloriously silly, “nutty boys” image that follows them around wherever they go doesn’t even tell half their story. This is a band that have had to struggle to get anywhere their entire career, that weathered a storm of abuse and attacks both from skinheads and people accusing them of being skinheads after they’d barely released their first single.

It’s a wonder they have a sense of humour at all, let alone one as broad as theirs, but thank God in heaven that they do. It was one of the things that made them one of the biggest names in British music at the time, that and their absolutely astonishing run of singles. The band began life as The North London Invaders, founded by keys player Mike Barson, guitarist Chris Foreman and saxophonist Lee Thompson, who remain with the band to this day. They recruited drummer John Hasler, bassist Cathal Smyth and singer Dikron Tulane a year later.

The group started performing in 1977 but ran into some serious line up troubles soon afterwards, with most members leaving the band and returning soon afterwards. Graham McPherson (AKA Suggs) took over lead vocals but was kicked out in short order after choosing his beloved Chelsea football club over rehearsing one too many times. Smyth left after an argument with Barson, and the same man’s criticism of Lee Thompson’s saxophone playing led to Thompson himself leaving before the year was up. However by the following year, Thompson and McPherson were back in the fold, Daniel Woodgate and Mark Bedford had become the bands full time drummer and bassist and in 1979, they changed their name to Madness and got Smyth, now going under the nickname Chas Smash, to join as a backing singer and dancer.

The stage was set, and after that much grief with the line-up, it must have been sweet relief to see their first single, a cover of Prince Buster’s “The Prince” become a surprise hit, reaching number 16 in the charts. A performance on the legendary British music TV show Top Of The Pops followed and from that stemmed a tour with The Specials and a record deal with Stiff Records. Their debut album, “One Step Beyond…” came out in October 1979, and that records success was the blue print for the band in the early 1980’s when they were basically unstoppable. The band released one album in each of that decades first three years, all of which top ten and released deathless hit singles like “Baggy Trousers”, “Our House”, “Embarrassment”, “Night Boat To Cairo” and their sole number one hit in the U.K “House Of Fun”.

Of course, that kind of creativity and success in such a short period of time leaves a band with one way to go. In 1984, Barson left the band and by 1985 they were struggling, their singles missing the top 40 altogether and the band not happy with how their albums were turning out, in 1986 they started work on a new record, but it was not to be. The friction between the band members was too much and they announced that they were splitting in September that year. However, after some quiet attempts at solo careers failed to take hold, their single “It Must be Love” was released in 1992. It was a top ten hit all over again, reaching number 6, only two places lower than its original release over a decade ago in 1981.

The demand was there, and the band reunited in the same year for two enormous concerts at Finsbury Park, which were called Madstock!. Both shows sold out, and 75’000 people attended over that weekend, and since then the band have reunited frequently to record albums and go on an annual arena tours of the U.K during the Christmas season. They remain one of the most beloved British bands of the past three decades. Each generation seems to love them just as much as the last, shown by the colossal crowd they pulled at the 2011 Reading and Leeds festivals while slotted in between Two Door Cinema Club and Jimmy Eat World. All hail The Nutty Boys, then. After everything they’ve conquered to get where they are today, they’ve earned the title of national treasures with aplomb, and are still a band to be seen as soon as possible.

To sum up the history of The Wailers is akin to summing up the history of The Beatles, except even more so. The influence and impact of Bob Marley and The Wailers goes far beyond that of the fab four, to the extent where some, very understandably, call Marley a straight up prophet. Even from a purely musical perspective, we’re talking about the creators of some of the most iconic pop music of our time. So, no pressure then.

The first incarnation of The Wailers eventually consisted of Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingstone playing together as a power trio. However, after several chart successes Livingstone and Tosh were unwilling to tour, so the band split and Marley reformed the Wailers as his backing band. It’s hard to believe that everything that happened next only happened in seven years, but come 1981, Marley passed away due to cancer.

After Marley’s passing, bassist Aston “Family Man” Barrett arguably became the band leader. In fact, Barrett’s nickname came from how he saw himself as the organizer of the band from the very beginning. He’d been Marley’s most trusted lieutenant right up until his passing, responsible for most of the songs arrangements and playing on the vast majority of his greatest hits.

Under his guidance the band has played to an estimated total audience of 24 million people over the years, and have worked and performed with artists like Sting, Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana. They are the pioneers of one drop reggae to this day, and with a line-up as experienced as they are, a live show of theirs can still knock people for six at twenty paces. Highly recommended.

The beginnings of The Selecter arose in 1977, when Neol Davies, John Bradbury and Barry Jones recorded what would become “Kingston Affair” whilst in session. They then decided to form a band, becoming “The Selecter,” with this first track being featured on the b-side to the Specials’ single “Gangsters.” Neol Davies (guitar) then recruited Desmond Brown (hammond organ), Charley Anderson (bass), Compton Amanor (guitar), Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson (vocals), Charley ‘H’ Bembridge (drums) and finally vocalist Pauline Black, completing the lineup in 1979.

The band went straight into the studio, recording and releasing a string of singles, “On My Radio,” “Three Minute Hero” and “Missing Words’ before the end of the year. Their debut album, “Too Much Pressure” was released in February 1980, by 2 Tone Records and Chrysalis Records. The album was a success, peaking at number five in the UK charts. Their second release, “Celebrate the Bullet,” came out a year later. However it did not achieve the same success and the band crumbled apart.

The band split in 1982, with Black pursuing a career in theatre, TV and film as well as music. However, this was not to be the end of The Selector, as Davies and Black reunited in 1991, continuing to tour and perform live, supporting No Doubt on their North American tour in 1997. Throughout the 90s and 2000s, varying lineups under the guise of The Selecter released albums intermittently, led by front woman Pauline Black. In 2010, Black and Hendrickson again played under the name of The Selecter, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album. In celebration, they performed the whole album in its entirety. In 2014, The Selecter was again mobilized for a show at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Subsequently, they embarked on an extensive tour of the UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.