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Song · Madness

“House of Fun” by Madness

Released 1982

“House of Fun” by Madness appears on 15 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1996 and 2023. It was first released in 1982. Its best result is #204 on the Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,883 alternative song of all time.

15countdowns

5stations

#204best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1996–2023years charted

Watch

Madness - House of Fun (Official 4K Video)

Video from YouTube (Madness). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"House of Fun" came out on Stiff on 14 May 1982 as a one-off single, and it gave Madness their only UK number one. It began life under another name, "Chemist Facade", with no chorus at all, until Stiff boss Dave Robinson insisted it needed one. Mike Barson sat down at his piano and wrote the title refrain on the spot.

By then Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley already had the track in the can, so instead of recording it again the tape was edited and the new chorus dubbed on top. The technology of the day made that a fiddly job, and you can still hear the seam: the front of the first word of the refrain gets clipped off. None of it spoils a lurching, cheeky carnival-ride romp. It was reissued in 1992, and in 2015 the British public voted it their 8th favourite number one of the 1980s in an ITV poll.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

#1,883 of all time

Indie & Adult Alternative

#972 of the '80s

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1996	204	Q101	Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996)	500
1999	1477	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	1477	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	1480	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2001	265	Virgin Radio	Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	500
2002	1478	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2002	1670	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)	2002
2003	1459	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2003	902	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)	2044
2004	1459	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2004	289	Virgin Radio	Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	500
2005	1458	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2005	205	Virgin Radio	Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	500
2006	412	Virgin Radio	Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006)	500
2023	550	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s	850

Also listed as: House Of Fun.

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