| "Baggy Trousers" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byMadness | ||||
| from the albumAbsolutely | ||||
| Released | 5 September 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1980 | |||
| Studio | Eden (London) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:46 | |||
| Label | Stiff | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers | ||||
| Madness singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Baggy Trousers" by Madness onYouTube | ||||
"Baggy Trousers" is a song by the Englishska andpop bandMadness from their second studio albumAbsolutely (1980). It was written by lead vocalistGraham "Suggs" McPherson and guitaristChris Foreman,[2] and reminisces about school days. (Mike Barson also received a writing credit in error, the correct McPherson/Foreman credit being used for subsequent releases.) The band first began performing the song at live shows in April 1980.[3]
It was released as a single on 5 September 1980 and spent 20 weeks in UK charts, reaching a high of #3.[3] It was the 28th best-selling single of 1980 in the UK.[4]
In October 2017, Americanpunk rock andrap rock band theTransplants released a cover version of the song on their debut extended playTake Cover.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(October 2013) |
Suggs later recalled in an interview that "I was very specifically trying to write a song in the style ofIan Dury, especially the songs he was writing then, which [were] often sort of catalogues of phrases in a constant stream."[5] He contrasted "Baggy Trousers" withPink Floyd's 1979 single "Another Brick in the Wall": "I was writing about my time at school. Pink Floyd had that big hit with 'teacher, leave those kids alone'. It didn't really relate to me, because I hadn't been to apublic school where I was bossed about and told to sing "Rule Britannia!" and all that",[5] having instead attended acomprehensive school with much less strictly enforced discipline.
The music video of the song was shot inKentish Town in northwestLondon: at the Kentish Town C of E primary school on Islip Street and the Peckwater Estate.[3] The band's saxophonist,Lee Thompson decided he wanted to fly through the air for his solo, with the use of wires hanging from a crane.[3] This was inspired by seeingPeter Gabriel flying during aGenesis concert.[6] Thompson recreated the moment live at the band's reunion concert in 1992,Madstock!, during the band's 2007 Christmas tour, and the 2009Glastonbury Festival[7] as well as in a 2011 TV advert forKronenbourg 1664 in which the band plays a slow version of "Baggy Trousers". The slow version was later released that same year on the box setA Guided Tour of Madness under the title "Le Grand Pantalon".
Second vocalistChas Smash is showed playing the harmonica in the video, but it was actually played by multi-instrumentalistMike Barson.[8]
The video received great positive response from the public,[3] and was particularly important as it demonstrated the potential for television shows such asTop of the Pops to show a band's music videos instead of having them perform live.[3] Following the release of "Baggy Trousers", the public began to anticipate future Madness music videos.[3]
In addition to its single release and appearance on the albumAbsolutely, "Baggy Trousers" also appears on the Madness collectionsDivine Madness (a.k.a.The Heavy Heavy Hits),Complete Madness,It's... Madness,Total Madness,The Business andOur House: The Original Songs. Its only appearance on a US Madness compilation is onUltimate Collection.
The song was featured in thesports comedy filmMean Machine (2001), and was included in the accompanying soundtrack.[9]
In 2011, the song was slowed down to half its normal speed and was used for an advert for theKronenbourg 1664 'Slow' campaign (see above).
In 1983,Colgate used the song's melody in a television advertisement written byJay Pond-Jones and Ric Cooper in which a group of kids including actorLee Ross sing newly written lyrics about Colgate Blue Minty Gel toothpaste, a variant of which was later used in theUnited States.[10] The advert was seen as groundbreaking but had to be pre-approved by the band.[10] Pond-Jones said, "Many years later ... I found out how they actually quite liked it. Even now, Carl from the band introduces me to people as “the bloke who did the Colgate ad”."[10]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Baggy Trousers" | 2:46 | |
| 2. | "The Business" | Mike Barson | 3:14 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Baggy Trousers" |
| 2:46 |
| 2. | "Le Grand Pantalon" |
| 4:33 |
| 3. | "Disappear" |
| 2:58 |
| 4. | "The Business" | Barson | 3:14 |
| 5. | "That's The Way to Do It" | Foreman | 2:50 |
| 6. | "On the Beat Pete" | 3:05 |
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[21] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
