72 Bad Manners - Best UK Top 30 Tune

[jno]

What is your favourite Bad Manners tune to make it into the UK top 30?

Pick 2 !

Ne-Ne Na-Na Na-Na Nu-Nu (1980) (Number 28)



Lip Up Fatty (1980) (Number 15)



Special Brew (1980) (Number 3)



Lorraine (1980) (Number 21)



Just a Feeling (1981) (Number 13)



Can Can (1981) (Number 3)



Walking in the Sunshine (1981) (Number 10)



My Girl Lollipop (My Boy Lollipop) (1982) (Number 9)

[felixdeburgh]

Yes, I used to see him fairly frequently around Hackney in the 90's and he was in a bad way then. I'm amazed he's lasted this long to be honest.

[flyingsquad]

I like them all but voted for Special Brew as I like the tune and remember dancing to it at the local youth club and Lorraine as I've always liked the tune.

[daz]

Special Brew & Just a Feeling for me, which I grew to like after hearing again whilst viewing TOTP 1981.

SHame to hear about Buster. I was in Margate when he opened up Fatty Towers, or whatever it was called, even Stevie Wonder could have seen that idea was never going to work.

[ace5150]

Great novelty band, but devoid of any substance that sounded any better a few years later, hence Busters mad antics on stage to get noticed.
More talent than some of the 'bands' in today's charts, but seriously, during that great age they were in musically, they were strictly a 3rd division act.
Only appeared on TOTP because of Busters on-stage antics. Amusing to watch. The result was record sales. Lots of them.

[jno]

I think you're spot on there ace5150. Is it just me or does it seem they were booked for TOTP so much because they were so cheap compared to everyone else?

[Wynn Chester]

I think that's a bit harsh chaps... having seen Bad Manners live (Cartoon in Croydon circa 2008) I can assure you there is more to them than the apparent novelty nature of the selection of tunes above. They were fantastic and had the audience in the palm of their hand. Check them out, they will be at various locations around the UK during November, December & January undertaking their 40th Anniversary Tour - click here for more details

[ace5150]

Ok, maybe not a novelty act, but an act that depended on Busters mad antics to get noticed. Radio? No, but TV, he was a promoters dream.
Their PR man probably scoffed at their suggestion of doing The Can Can, but as soon as Buster wore a dress and high kicking like the famous dancers, he KNEW he had a hit......as long as it was visually seen on TV, no way would it have been a hit if just heard on radio.
That said, I did vote for Walking in the Sunshine.

[jno]

Even though they might have been cheap(er) to book for a performance on TOTP than say Michael Jackson, I never doubted them as a decent music act - goes without saying, all very talented with or without Buster's antics thrown in to get them a bit more noticed.

Great stuff. 

Comment on one of those YT vids says "Bad Manners for Eurovision", I wholeheartedly concur!!! 

[ace5150]

Oct 14, 2016 9:25:18 GMT jno said:

Even though they might have been cheap(er) to book for a performance on TOTP than say Michael Jackson,

I'm sure Jacko would have done the Christmas episodes for free with all those kids on stage with Wizzard or the St Winifreds Choir.

[daz]

I think they are a very good group and probably got a fair bit of success due to the larger than life Buster leading them. Madness are the same in lots of ways. They are a really good group who write really good songs, but most people think they are a novelty act due to the nature of their Nutty Boy personas.

[barrythebook]

Buster was an act there's no doubt but they did make a good sound and were a good addition to the ska/two-tone period.

Does anyone know how many of the original band are still in the line-up?

[Portland Road]

I tend to agree with Ace. Compared to the other ska acts of the period, they had more of a novelty element. Buster's comic persona, and the simple lyrics, bore this out. 

I voted for 'Just A Feeling' and 'Walking In The Sunshine' which were amongst their more serious efforts. These songs may have made it for an act without Buster's antics, whereas e.g. 'The Can Can' and 'Lip Up Fatty' were dependent upon them.

And bear in mind that Just A Feeling has backing vocals (repeating the songs title) in a cod-Jamaican style that reminds us of the comedic-side to the band. 

[Zimbo]

Very sad to hear about Buster's problems. I voted for Walking In The Sunshine. I hadn't heard it before seeing it on BBC4 TOTP. Good video too.
As someone said earlier, Madness were thought of as a novelty act but for me are one of the strongest musical acts.

[thewoodster]

Lip up fatty,best for me from my sca days

[chopper]

Always found them the “poor relation” to Madness, Specials etc....

[plasticpenguin]

Fun band. None of their music was ever sophisticated. Perhaps that's what made them different. In the early 80s music became too serious IMHO, with the birth of New Romantics.

[thecraftyleek]

I saw them about two years ago in Belfast. Top band, top tunes.

I nearly hired them when I was living in Kuwait too: we had the instruments in our ska band, I’d priced it all up and was in regular contact with their trombone player.

But sadly, I had no guarantee that we could sell enough tickets through the Kuwait Rugby Club. I may be Crafty, but I’m no Events Promoter. They seemed very keen on coming though - they’d never done a gig in the Middle East before.

[jno]

Minder's Mark Farmer (Justin) once played guitar in Bad Manners, I believe it was early 90s when they did a tour of the US. I would be interested in hearing (or seeing!) that.

[harryshand]

All my mates had Specials badges but I bucked the trend and had a BM badge on my Harrington in 1980. Just a Feeling is my favourite but they had a few cracking tunes for a year or two.