The grocery stores are doubling down on the Gen X music loops these days. Madness was known mostly for their biggest hit, "Our House." But perhaps their most infectious hit was their cover of "One Step Beyond," the title track from their 1979 debut album. The punk-inflected ska sound is hard to resist.
Date: September 20, 2025, 12:30 p.m.
Place: Sprouts grocery store, Albuquerque
Song: "One Step Beyond"
Artist: Madness
Irony Matrix: 5.6 out of 10
***
A week earlier, I let the radio dial settle on 92.9 FM in Rio Rancho, N.M., just outside Albuquerque, an oldies station that specializes in deep tracks and which doesn't try your patience with the same old classic rock and Motown hits. KDSK has a fondness for songs that barely cracked the top 20. I enjoyed a run on a recent Sunday afternoon. These are the kind of songs you probably haven't heard since they came and went from the airwaves about 50 years ago. The kind of tracks that make you say, "Wow. Remember that one?"
First up was "Pilot of the Airwaves," which peaked at No. 13 for a British woman called Charlie Dore, a sort of Stevie Nicks knockoff. It is driven by a corny church-choir vibe:
Next up was a band called Night with the propulsive pop of the derivative "Hot Summer Nights" -- No. 18, also in 1979. (Quarterflash would pull this style off much better a couple of years later.)
The biggest chart performer was the best song, "We're All Alone," which hit No. 7 in 1977 for Rita Coolidge, a longtime favorite. It's a Boz Scaggs song (from his blockbuster album "Silk Degrees") that Frankie Valli released as a single the year before. It's a lovely soaring ballad that neither man should have attempted, let alone released, which became clear in retrospect when Coolidge would go on to own it.
BONUS TRACK
The original "One Step Beyond" was by the Jamaican artist Prince Buster. His 1964 version was more lethargic but no less hypnotic:
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