Madness: Next Steps

Madness enjoyed a phenomenal run of hits as part of the 2 Tone vanguard in the U.K.—alongside The Specials, The Selector and The Beat—up to the mid-1980s. However, as the career of the North London “Nutty Boys” progressed, their sound broke out of the confines of their trademark good-time ska-pop, revealing a much wider palette of influences such as English music hall, soul, jazz and ‘60s pop.