Madhouse (band)



"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us are. It's very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad..."

Madhouse was formed in 1987 and intended by Prince to be the successor to The Family. Its members were:


 * Prince - everything
 * Eric Leeds - saxophone, flute
 * Levi Seacer, Jr. - bass
 * Matt "Dr." Fink - keyboards
 * Sheila E. - drums

Madhouse was a largely instrumental jazz-fusion band with a few funk influences, notable for its song and album titles: both released albums contain 8 songs and are named 8 and 16 respectively, with the songs on 8 being named "One", "Two", "Three", and so on up to "Eight", and the songs on 16 being named from "Nine" up to "Sixteen".

Madhouse released only two albums during their short existence, but at least two others were recorded and remain unreleased to this day. Some of their songs tended to show up during Prince's late eighties tours, "Twelve" in particular.

Not to be confused with the similarly-named Post Punk band led by Monica Richards or the similarly-titled Funk band led by Gary Cooper (if you're into either of those...)


 * 8 (1987)
 * 16 (1987)


 * Fake Band: In the few concerts they performed opening for Prince, Madhouse's musicians heavily disguised themselves with baggy clothes and sunglasses.
 * Instrumentals
 * Sampling: The only vocals on both albums are either samples from The Godfather or samples of Vanity simulating an orgasm.
 * Shout-Out: 16 is subtitled "New Directions in Garage Music", in reference to "Directions in Music by Miles Davis" from one of his most important releases, Bitches Brew.