Songoftheday 1/10/13 - Father wears his Sunday best Mother's tired she needs a rest the kids are playing up downstairs...

Madness - "Our House"
from the albums The Rise & Fall (UK 1982) and Madness (US 1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day is by the British ska-pop collective Madness, who came together in London in the late 70s, and after a couple of name changes, settled on a nod to their fave reggae artist Prince Buster. In 1979, they released their first album, One Step Beyond, and the first single that preceeded it, "The Prince" (another nod to Buster) became their first hit in the UK, reaching #16. The title track followed and was a British top-10 hit, as well as selling in a few other European countries as well. For the hat trick their third release, "My Girl", reached the #3 position in both England and Ireland, and established the group as a A-list group in the blue-eyed ska/reggae wave happening in the early 80s.

The septet went on to have seven more top-10 singles in the UK from their next three albums, including their first and only #1 hit, "House Of Fun".  By then their record as ambassadors from that scene that fully incorporated a thoroughly "British" style of pop music had culminated on the release of their fourth studio album, The Rise And Fall in the fall of 1982 in England. The first single, the epic yet nostalgic "Our House" was the group's artistic pinnacle. Written by backing vocalist Chas Smash and guitarist Chris "Chrissy Boy" Foreman, the working-man's reflection on his youth connected on both sides of the Atlantic, giving the group their first American hit...

"Our House" reached the top-10 on the US and the British pop charts, and went to #1 in Sweden. In America, instead of putting out the UK album, the record company released a collection of their previous singles and choice cuts. The band recently reprised this song at the 2012 London Olympics, and for what most casual American fans would call a "one-hit wonder", this song remains one of the best songs ever of the 80s, hands down.

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...and here's the group performing the song live in 1983...

...and again just as awesome in 2011..

Up tomorrow: The most famous opening track of the 80s.