The British ska-pop group Madness’ ‘One Step Beyond‘ was one of the very cool songs briefly played on the new season of the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror this week.
In that song’s case, on Black Mirror, Season 6, Episode 5, “Demon 79” as Nida and Gaap are in the car and Nida turns the radio on to drown out Gaap talking about her next murder.
Madness’ ‘One Step Beyond‘ is the title track and second single from the band’s debut studio album, which came out in 1979.
Facts about Madness’ ‘One Step Beyond‘
Unbeknownst to many people, the track wasn’t a Madness original but instead was a cover of a song released by Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster in 1964.
‘One Step Beyond‘ charted at #7 on the UK Singles chart, as well as at #1 in France.
It also climbed high up charts in six other countries, with a #3 placing in Switzerland and at #5 in Spain.
The song eventually became so popular, Madness even recorded several other versions in different languages, including in Spanish and in Italian.
The first Madness music video ever created was also the video released for ‘One Step Beyond’, even though they had already had one single release before it.
That quirky video featured the band performing the song, but with lead singer Suggs (aka Graham McPherson) only holding a microphone on stage while future band member Chas Smash actually provided the vocals.
Clips of the band members wandering around town doing a funny walk was interspersed with the performance.
Listen to Madness’ ‘One Step Beyond‘ from the Black Mirror episode ‘Demon 79‘ in that video, and on Spotify via the player below.
If you enjoyed that track, you can still grab the British band’s debut studio album it came from in both CD and on vinyl.
As for Madness, the band was founded in 1976 and is still together to this day with almost all its original members.
You can listen to more songs from this and other Black Mirror episodes on Leo Sigh.