Baggy Trousers
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"Baggy Trousers" is a song by the English ska and pop band Madness from their second studio album '' Absolutely'' (1980). It was written by lead vocalist Graham "Suggs" McPherson and guitarist Chris Foreman,Woodstra, Chris. Retrieved on 1 July 2007. 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. Retrieved on 1 July 2007. It was released as a single on 5 September 1980 and spent 20 weeks in UK charts, reaching a high of #3. It was the 28th best-selling single of 1980 in the UK. In October 2017, American
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
and
rap rock Rap rock is a music genre that developed from the early to mid-1980s, when hip hop DJs incorporated rock records into their routines and rappers began incorporating original and sampled rock instrumentation into hip hop music. Rap rock is co ...
band the Transplants released a cover version of the song on their debut extended play '' Take Cover''.


Music and lyrics

Suggs later recalled in an interview that "I was very specifically trying to write a song in the style of
Ian Dury Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 27 March 2000) was an English singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame in the late 1970s, during the punk rock, punk and new wave music, new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Kilburn ...
, especially the songs he was writing then, which
ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...
often sort of catalogues of phrases in a constant stream."Young Guns go for it: Madness
(BBC documentary)
He contrasted "Baggy Trousers" with
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
'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 a public school where I was bossed about and told to sing " Rule Britannia!" and all that", having instead attended a
comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...
with much less strictly enforced discipline.


Music video

The music video of the song was shot in
Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...
in northwest
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
: at the Kentish Town C of E primary school on Islip Street and the Peckwater Estate. 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. This was inspired by seeing
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...
flying during a Genesis concert. Thompson recreated the moment live at the band's reunion concert in 1992, Madstock!, during the band's 2007 Christmas tour, and the 2009
Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...
as well as in a 2011 TV advert for Kronenbourg 1664 in which the band plays a slow version of "Baggy Trousers". The slow version was later released that same year on the box set '' A Guided Tour of Madness'' under the title "Le Grand Pantalon". Second vocalist Chas Smash is showed playing the harmonica in the video, but it was actually played by multi-instrumentalist Mike Barson. The video received great positive response from the public, and was particularly important as it demonstrated the potential for television shows such as ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...
'' to show a band's music videos instead of having them perform live. Following the release of "Baggy Trousers", the public began to anticipate future Madness music videos.


Appearances

In addition to its single release and appearance on the album ''Absolutely'', "Baggy Trousers" also appears on the Madness collections '' Divine Madness'' (a.k.a. ''The Heavy Heavy Hits''), '' Complete Madness'', '' It's... Madness'', '' Total Madness'', '' The Business'' and '' Our House: The Original Songs''. Its only appearance on a US Madness compilation is on ''Ultimate Collection''. The song was featured in the sports comedy film '' Mean Machine'' (2001), and was included in the accompanying soundtrack.Mean Machine OST. Audio CD, Redemption, 2004, ASIN: B00005Y48T In 2011, the song was slowed down to half its normal speed and was used for an advert for the Kronenbourg 1664 'Slow' campaign (see above). In 1983, Colgate used the song's melody in a television advertisement written by Jay Pond-Jones and Ric Cooper in which a group of kids including actor
Lee Ross Lee David Ross (August 25, 1942 – May 14, 2021) was a Canadian-American professor. He held the title of the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University and was an influential social psychologist wh ...
sing newly written lyrics about Colgate Blue Minty Gel toothpaste, a variant of which was later used in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The advert was seen as groundbreaking but had to be pre-approved by the band. 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”."


Track listing


7"


12" (Record Store Day 2022)


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baggy Trousers 1980 singles Madness (band) songs Songs written by Suggs (singer) Songs written by Mike Barson Songs written by Chris Foreman Songs about school Songs about nostalgia 1980 songs Stiff Records singles Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Songs about clothing