The Book of Drugs + Suggs
I just finished Mike Doughty's The Book of Drugs. Was there ever a more dysfunctional band than Soul Coughing? I'm sure it was as hard to write as it was to read. I met Doughty once in Pittsburgh after s Soul Coughing show. He was amiable enough. If you had told me then that he was in the throes of crippling addiction I would not have believed you.
Years later, I saw him in Nashville. I'd driven up from Atlanta to see his solo stuff. Not knowing Nashville was in a different time zone, I got there way too early and whiled away an hour in a hot parking lot. Nashville is hot. Atlanta is worse. Miami, according to someone I just met today who is from there, is apparently the absolute worst. At least it has a beach.
After finishing the book I decided I needed a palette cleanser. So I started That Close, the memoir form Suggs about growing up and then heading into the Madness days. I'm fascinated by how bad the education system in the UK was in the 1970's. It's as bad as America today.
Our daughter spent exactly one semester in public school here before going right back to home schooling. In that semester she had to file a report on someone who groped her, brought home Covid and was bullied pretty much every day. I hear the same thing about schools in Nashville– you either want to homeschool/remote school or pay 6 grand for a private school that is not as good as it used to be because everyone has moved here and now the private schools are overcrowded.
At the end of the day I'd rather my daughter get a good education and socialize with people from all walks of life than be stuck in a horrible school.
Suggs, unsurprisingly is an excellent writer and since this is the audio book, I get to hear where the sarcasm goes that I might have missed. I'm not even at the part where Madness enters but "Our House," is one of the earliest songs I remember moving me in a different way. I don't count Sesame Street singalongs or whatever else my parents played for the kid version of me. "Our House," came from a great British tradition of storytelling songs. It just paints a picture of a very busy household filled with kids, most likely in a working class neighborhood. I enjoyed the camaraderie as much as the double-time lyrics in the bridge when the violins start amping the nostalgia:
I remember way back then, when everything was true and when
We would have such a very good time, such a fine time, such a happy time
And I remember how we'd play, simply waste the day away
Then we'd say nothing would come between us, two dreamers
Madness were never as big in the states as they were in the UK except for that song. Too British, probably also like the Kinks who were masters at storytelling songs, too. When America got around to showing The Young Ones it was fun seeing Madness make an appearance. They just seemed like a fun gang.
Surprisingly I've never seen them live.