Chart entered : 14 May 1983
Chart peak : 49
By 1983 the ska boom had well and truly dissipated and, Madness apart , all its leading lights were finding it harder to chalk up decent-sized hits. The Selecter had already broken up two years earlier and now it was Bad Manners' turn to feel the chill wind of public indifference .
Bad Manners were summarily dismissed in Rip It Up as " a comedy-ska troupe with a fat frontman" which is unfair. Bookending their version of "Can Can, their joint biggest hirt in the summer of 1981, were two fine straight songs in "Just A Feeling" and the doleful "Walking In The Sunshine". The latter was a deserved Top 10 hit in the bleak autumn of 1981 but after that they faltered badly. Their "R and B Party Four" EP , headed by a throwaway cover of Louis Prima's "Buona Sera" failed to make much headway in the Christmas market and peaked at 34. The next single "Got No Brains" didn't make the Top 40 and although a cheap cover of "My Girl Lollipop" restored them to the Top 10 in the summer of 1982, the next single "Samson and Delilah" was their lowest charting to date. The latter three singles were on their fourth album "Forging Ahead" which spent a single week in the charts at number 78.
As the fourth single from that LP and given their declining fortunes you might have expected "That'll Do Nicely" to bomb completely but it was boosted by a television ad campaign for the compilation album "The Height of Bad Manners" which reached number 23. "That'll Do Nicely" , which for younger readers was the advertising slogan for American Express credit cards, goes for the same Everyman sentiments as "Walking in the Sunshine" with Buster Bloodvessel singing as a commuter dreaming of the escape untold riches could provide. It's a skank rather than a lope with the horn section as excellent as ever but it comes unstuck in the middle eight with a Cossack section ( punning on the rush hour / Russia similarity ) giving way to a Latin tune for a few bars and suddenly it sounds like they're trying too hard.
The band had already left Magnet before the single came out. Harmonica player Alan Sayag ( aka Winston Bazoomies ) left the band for health reasons at this point.
It was either in 1984 or 1985 ( I suspect the latter but can't find any confirmation ) that Bad Manners played the annual Ball at my Hall of Residence in Leeds. They were a somewhat reluctant choice ( sorry if you're reading this chaps ) as they weren't thought to be a "student band" but were the best option available. I didn't go but I remember my friend telling me a bunch of skinheads had turned up. It was of course a private gig for students at the university but they'd got wind of it and begged for admittance. The guys at the door decided it was a lesser risk to let them in and to their credit they did behave themselves.
In 1985 the band signed a new deal with the US label Portrait. It was a strange move as the band had made no impression there at all although there was a building ska scene headed by L.A.'s Untouchables and Portrait might have been hoping to get in on the action. It didn't work out and to make things worse contractual difficulties meant their new album "Mental Notes" didn't get a UK release to the frustration of their fans. Confusingly two singles from it did get released in the UK, the thoroughly tuneless reggae stomp of "Blue Summer" and the more melodic "Tossin In My Sleep" which suffers from over-production with the song drowning in clutter. Neither got any attention.
Realising that they weren't getting anywhere with Portrait the band decided to return to the UK where they had to tour constantly to pay off a tax bill. Despite this Buster formed a leaner side band Buster's All Stars to do extra gigs and in 1988 decided to merge the two groups which meant bringing Alan back in and ousting four of the original members, saxophonist Andrew Marson, bassist David Farren , trumpeter Paul Hyman and drummer Brian Tuitt .
Andrew went back to being a joiner and makes his living that way in the East End . He also plays pedal steel guitar in a part time country and western band The Drawbacks. David now makes a successful living as a graphic artist and is "Keith Richard" in a Stones tribute band. Paul works in finance in the City but did write some new songs with Buster a few years back, Brian works at a recording studio in Kent.
The reconstituted band revived the Blue Beat label and ran it from a barge in the back garden of Buster's former home. Their first single for three years was "Skaville UK" penned by new bassist Nicky Welsh, a decidedly retro sax romp which nevertheless came close to postponing this post for another six years. Their next release was a cover of the old Patience and Prudence number "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" with an otherwise unknown singer Verona. Although Buster produced the single he doesn't seem to be on it. It's a decent version and could well have been a hit with some airplay. They tried again in December 1989 with "Christmas Time ( Again )" , an almost rockabilly number, to no avail. There was some consolation for Buster himself in 1989 as he featured on Longsy D's minor hit "This Is Ska".
Blue Beat folded up at the beginning of the new decade and saxophonist Chris Kane decided it was time to call it a day. He became a music teacher but in recent years has been musical director for a Billy Fury musical. Guitarist Louis "Alphonso" Cook was allowed to become a part time member while he studied for a French philosophy and language degree in Paris.
In 1992 they put out an LP "Fat Sound" that was mostly covers.Keyboard player Martin Stewart and Welsh then joined Pauline Black in her re-vamped Selecter. Alan had to drop out again in 1993 and left the music business so Louis and Buster were the only originals left when they recorded a fun cover of Deep Purple's "Black Night " in 1996. It featured on their 1997 album "Heavy Petting".
By this point Buster had a new venture on the go. He opened a hotel in Margate and named it "Fatty Towers" . It catered for people with huge appetites and attracted some media attention for Buster after years out of the spotlight but it collapsed after a couple of years.
Buster went back out on the road though without Louis who made his move to Paris permanent in 1998. Since then Bad Manners has pretty much been Buster and whoever he wants to take with him on the tour. At some point - consultation with my friend The Voice Of Spotland favours 16th December 2000 - our paths crossed. Bad Manners were playing a gig in Lincoln on the same Saturday that Dale were visiting Sincil Bank and somebody thought it would be a good idea to invite Buster down to do the pre-match warm up , perhaps knowing he had some experience of this from his time as a sponsor of Margate FC during the "Fatty Towers" period. I wasn't listening to the tannoy properly and it took me a moment or two to realise who it was. He was wearing a cap and was much shorter than I imagined. It was pitiable. Nobody around me showed any sign of recognition and his act - wandering round the centre circle while attempting to get some chants going in a reggae stylee - was just embarrassing. My friend who specialised in abusing any veterans in the opposing line up shouted "Retire Bloodvessel !" at him which was far more amusing than Buster's antics.
Louis did play on the last album, 2003's "Stupidity" which again was mainly covers. Three years later he teamed up with Martin who had recently quit The Selecter in the part time supergroup Skaville UK who thus have more original Bad Manners members than Bad Manners themselves.
In December 2012 came the first Bad Manners single for well over a decade, a charity single for the Trussell Trust called "What Simon Says" a chugging ska tune taking a pop at Mr Cowell, described in the lyric as "a wart on the arse of Britain". I doubt it caused him too many sleepless nights. Fans organised a reunion night that same month which attracted seven out of the nine original members , Buster and Louis being the absentees.
Buster's clearly going to go on until he drops - which I think many people expected to have already happened by now - and good luck to him .
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