"Cardiac Arrest" is a song by the English

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

band Madness from their third studio album '' 7'' (1981) and other compilation album called ''

Complete Madness ''Complete Madness'' is the first greatest hits album by ska/pop group Madness. It was released in 1982 and included Madness' biggest hits from their first three studio albums and the stand-alone singles. ''Complete Madness'' spent 99 weeks on t ...

'' (1982). It spent 10 weeks in UK charts peaking at number 14. The song was written by

Chas Smash Cathal Joseph "Carl" Smyth (born 14 January 1959), also known as Chas Smash, is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the secondary vocalist, trumpet player and dancer for the English band Madness from their inception ...

and

Chris Foreman Christopher John Foreman (born 8 August 1956), nicknamed Chrissy Boy, is an English musician, songwriter, and composer. In a career spanning 45 years, Foreman came to prominence in the late 1970s as the guitarist for the English band Madness. ...

and tells a story of a workaholic who suffers a fatal heart attack on his way to work. It was the first Madness single since "

The Prince ''The Prince'' ( ; ) is a 16th-century political treatise written by the Italian diplomat, philosopher, and Political philosophy, political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli in the form of a realistic instruction guide for new Prince#Prince as gener ...

" which did not reach the UK top 10. The album version of the song ends after the second chorus with a dramatic cut to a coda representing the man's heart thudding and then stopping. The single version replaces this with a repeat of the more optimistic first chorus, which fades out. The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Cardiac Arrest" featured Chas Smash as a person having a heart attack and the remaining band members playing roles of people advising him not to work so hard. The video follows the single version of the song rather than the album version. The B-side, "In the City", was originally written by Bill Crutchfield, Chas Smash, Chris Foreman,

Daisuke Inoue is a Japanese businessman best known as an inventor of the karaoke machine. Inoue, a musician in his youth employed in backing businesspeople who wanted to sing in bars, invented the machine as a means of allowing them to sing without live ba ...

Suggs Graham McPherson (born 13 January 1961), known primarily by his stage name Suggs, is a British singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the ska band Madness, which ...

, and Mike Barson for a Japanese television advertisement for

Honda City The is a sedan car which has been produced by the Japanese manufacturer Honda since 1981. The City was originally a 3-door hatchback/2-door convertible for the Japanese, European and Australasian markets. The 3-door City was retired in 1994 a ...

cars. The various versions of the advert, including variations using " Driving in My Car" instead of "In the City", appear between tracks on the 1992 ''

Divine Madness Divine madness, also known as ''theia mania'' and crazy wisdom, is unconventional, outrageous, unexpected, or unpredictable behavior linked to religious or spiritual pursuits. Examples of divine madness can be found in Buddhism, Christianity, He ...

'' video. In the Netherlands the single was released as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

, and peaked at number 15 in the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

. In the US, "Cardiac Arrest" was released on the compilation album '' Madness'' and the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of their " Our House" single.

Track listing

7" single # "Cardiac Arrest" – 2:58 # "In the City" – 2:56 12" single # "Cardiac Arrest" (Extended 12" Version) – 4:10 # "In the City" – 2:56

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardiac Arrest (Song) 1982 singles Madness (band) songs Songs written by Chris Foreman Songs written by Chas Smash 1982 songs Stiff Records singles Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Songs about death