The Jam were an English
rock band active during the late 1970s and early
1980s. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast
tempos of their
punk rock contemporaries,
The Jam wore neatly tailored suits rather than ripped clothes and
incorporated a number of mainstream 1960s rock influences rather
than rejecting them, placing The Jam at the forefront of the
mod revival movement.
They had eighteen consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom,
from their debut in 1977 to their breakup in 1982, including four
number one hits. As of 2007, "That's Entertainment" and "Just Who
Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" remained the best-selling import singles of
all time in the UK. They released one live album and six studio
albums, the last of which,
The Gift, hit number one on
the UK album charts. When the group split up, their first 15
singles were re-released and all placed within the top 100.
The band drew upon a variety of stylistic influences over the
course of their career, including 1960s
beat
music,
soul,
rhythm and blues and
psychedelic rock, as well as 1970s
punk rock,
pop punk and
new wave. The trio was known for its
melodic pop songs, its distinctly English flavour and its
mod image. The band launched the career of
Paul Weller, who went on to
form
The Style Council and later
had a successful solo career. Weller wrote and sang most of The
Jam’s original compositions, and he played lead guitar, using a
Rickenbacker.
Bruce Foxton provided
backing vocals and prominent basslines,
which were the foundation of many of the band’s songs, including
the hits "
Down in
the Tube Station at Midnight", "
The
Eton Rifles", "
Going
Underground" and "
Town Called
Malice".
History
Formation (1972–1976)
The Jam
formed in Woking
, Surrey
, England, in
1972. The line-up was fluid at this stage,
consisting of Weller on guitar and lead vocals together with
various friends at Sheerwater Secondary School
. They played their first gigs at Michael's,
a local club. The line-up began to solidify in the mid 1970s with
Weller, Foxton, guitarist Steve Brookes and drummer
Rick Buckler. In their early years, their sets
consisted of covers of early American
rock
and roll songs by the likes of
Chuck
Berry and
Little Richard. They
continued in this vein until Weller discovered
The Who’s "
My
Generation" and became fascinated with Mod music and lifestyle.
As he said later, "I saw that through becoming a Mod it would give
me a base and an angle to write from, and this we eventually did.
We went out and bought suits and started playing
Motown,
Stax and
Atlantic covers. I bought a
Rickenbacker guitar, a
Lambretta GP 150 and tried to style
my hair like
Steve Marriott’s circa
’66." Eventually Brookes left the band, and was not replaced. Up to
this point Weller had been playing bass and Foxton had been the
band's second guitar player; he persuaded Foxton to take over bass
duties and developed a combined lead/rhythm guitar style influenced
by The Who’s
Pete Townshend as well
as
Dr. Feelgood guitarist
Wilko Johnson. The line-up of Weller,
Foxton, and Buckler would persist until the end of The Jam’s
career. They were managed by Weller’s father, John Weller, who
managed Paul’s career until he died in 2009.
In the following two years, The Jam gained a small following around
London from playing minor gigs, becoming one of the new lights on
the nascent punk scene. In many ways, however, they stood out from
their punk peers. Though they shared an "angry young men" outlook,
short hair, crushing volume and lightning-fast tempos, The Jam wore
neatly tailored suits where others wore ripped clothes, played
professionally where others were defiantly amateurish, and
displayed clear 1960s rock influences where others were disdainful
(at least ostensibly) of such music (which had been a major
influence on the "stadium rock" and "prog rock" of the 1970s).
Indeed, the band were tagged by some journalists as "revivalists".
They were signed to
Polydor Records
by Chris Parry in early 1977.
Early recordings (1977)
On 29 April 1977, Polydor released The Jam's debut single,"
In the City", which charted in
the Top 40 in England. In early May, the band released their debut
album
of the same name.
The album, like those of
The Clash and the
Sex Pistols, featured fast, loud and
pointed songs. What set it apart from the records of those two
bands was its more prevalent 1960s rock influences. The Jam covered
Larry Williams's "
Slow Down" (also covered by
The Beatles) and the
theme song of the 1960s TV series
Batman, which was somewhat of a
standard for 1960s rock bands. Their originals revealed the
influence of
Motown Records,
The Beatles and
The
Who.
The Jam had political lyrics, condemning police brutality ("In the
City") and expansionist development ("Bricks And Mortar"). However,
one of their most openly political songs, "Time For Truth",
bemoaned the decline of the
British
Empire and expressed disparaging sentiments about "Uncle Jimmy"
(the
Labour Party Prime Minister James Callaghan) in no uncertain terms
("Whatever happened to the great Empire?"). These pro-Empire
sentiments and ostentatious displays of the
Union Flag began to earn the group the tag of
"
Conservative". Weller's
announcement that The Jam intended to vote for the
Conservative Party in the
1979 general election
served to confirm this association. It later caused them
embarrassment, and dogged them throughout their career. Weller
claims that The Jam's
public
relations representative had told them to become Conservatives
to contrast politically with other punk bands. Misunderstandings in
the music press about The Jam's political or social stance are
usually attributed to Weller's lyrical perspective. Even as he
pointed out what he saw as wrong and demanded change, Weller's
lyrics reflected a deep affection for an idealised vision of
England, much in the style of
The Kinks'
Ray Davies. This contrasted with the
Sex Pistols' calls for destruction, or
The Clash's calls for revolutionary
change.
After the non-LP single "
All Around the World"
nearly reached the UK Top 10, The Jam, having achieved a notable
following in such a short time, were pressed to produce more
material quickly. Their second album,
This Is the Modern World, was
released later in 1977. Bruce Foxton, generally considered a lesser
songwriter than Weller, contributed two songs to the LP ("Don't
tell them you're sane" and "London traffic"), both of which
attracted negative criticism. His composing output gradually
decreased, leaving Weller firmly established as the band's chief
songwriter. Despite displaying more stylistic variety than before,
including some ventures into introspective pop,
This Is The
Modern World was not widely praised. However, when
John Peel first heard the album, he played it in
its entirety on one show, one song after the other.
All Mod Cons (1978)
In March 1978, the Jam released "News of the World", a non-album
single that was both written and sung by Foxton. It charted at #27
in the UK, and was the band's second biggest hit to date. This was
the only Foxton solo composition to be released as a Jam A-side.
When the band went back into the studio to record a third album of
primarily Foxton contributions, their songs were dismissed by
producers as poor, and they held off recording an album in hopes
that Weller would once again find inspiration.
Returning to his hometown of Woking, Weller spent much of his time
listening to albums by
The Kinks and
coming up with new songs. The Jam released their next single, the
double A-side "
David
Watts"/"'A' Bomb in Wardour Street". "David Watts" was a cover
of the bouncy Kinks classic; Weller and Foxton traded lead vocals
throughout the song. "'A' Bomb In Wardour Street" was a Weller
original. One of their hardest and most intense songs, Weller
cursed the violent thugs that plagued the punk rock scene over a
taut two-chord figure. It became their most successful 7" since
"
All Around the
World".
It wasn't until their next single, "
Down in the Tube Station at
Midnight", that The Jam really regained their former critical
acclaim.
The song was a dramatic account of being
mugged by thugs who "smelled of pubs and Wormwood
Scrubs
and too many right-wing meetings." Around
this time, The Jam slimmed their team of two producers to one,
Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, who
helped develop the group's sound with harmonised guitars and
acoustic textures. In 1978, the Jam released their third LP,
All Mod Cons, which included
three previously released tracks among the 12 in total: "David
Watts", "'A' Bomb In Wardour Street", and "Down in the Tube Station
at Midnight". (It also contained two songs Polydor had previously
rejected for single release, the manic "Billy Hunt" and the
acoustic ballad "English Rose".)
Going Underground (1979–1981)
Following two successful and critically acclaimed non-LP singles,
"
Strange Town" and "
When You're Young", the band released
"
The Eton Rifles" in advance of
their new album. It became their first top 10, rising to #3 on the
UK charts. November 1979 saw the release of the
Setting Sons album, another massive UK
hit, and their first chart entry in the U.S., albeit at 137 on the
Billboard 200. The album began life as
a
concept album about three childhood
friends, though in the end many of the songs did not relate to this
theme.
Many of the songs had political overtones;
"The Eton Rifles" was inspired by skirmishes between demonstrators
on a Right to Work March — a campaign initiated by the
left wing Socialist Workers Party —
and pupils from Eton
College
; "Little Boy Soldiers" was an anti-war
multi-movement piece in the vein of Ray
Davies. Another notable song from the album was Bruce
Foxton's "Smithers-Jones", originally a b-side to "
When You're Young". The song is almost
unanimously considered to be his greatest contribution to The Jam;
the song was given a complete makeover, including a strings
arrangement, for the album release.
The band's first single of 1980 was intended to be "
Dreams of Children", which combined bleak
lyrics lamenting the loss of childhood optimism with hard-edged,
psychedelic instrumental backing and production. Due to a labelling
error, however, the a- and b-sides of the single were reversed,
resulting in the more conventional "
Going Underground", the single's planned
flipside, getting much more airplay and attention than "Dreams of
Children". As a result, only "Going Underground" was initially
listed on the charts, although the single was eventually officially
recognised (and listed) as a double A-side by the time the release
reached #1 in the UK. When promoting the album in the United
States, the group appeared on American Bandstand, performing "
Heat Wave", a cover of
the hit song by the Motown girl group
Martha and the Vandellas.
Sound Affects was released in
1980. It was influenced by current post-punk bands such as
Joy Division and
Wire. Paul
Weller said that he was influenced by
The
Beatles'
Revolver and
Michael Jackson's
Off the Wall also.
Indeed, several of the songs recall
Revolver-era swirling
psychedelia, such as "Monday", "Man in the Corner Shop", and the
acoustic "
That's
Entertainment". Weller allegedly wrote "That's Entertainment",
a bitter slice-of-life commentary on the drudgery of modern
working-class life, in around 15 minutes upon returning (under the
influence) from the pub. Despite being only available as an import
single, it peaked at #21 on the UK charts, an unprecedented feat.
It is now arguably The Jam's most celebrated song. Despite the
group's lack of commercial success in America, it even made
American magazine
Rolling
Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
"
Start!", released before the album, became
another #1 single. It had a very similar bass line, rhythm and
guitar solo to The Beatles'
Revolver cut "
Taxman", but arranged as an otherwise completely
different song. Some contemporary American R&B influence,
including Michael Jackson, show up in Buckler's driving beats that
power the album (such as on "But I'm Different Now"), and most
obviously in Foxton's funk-influenced bassline in "Pretty Green".
The album also reveals influences of post-punk groups such as
Wire,
XTC,
Joy Division, and
Gang of Four. The album was a #2 hit in
the UK and peaked at #72 on the US Billboard charts, their most
successful American album.
The Gift and dissolution (1981–1982)
Two non-LP singles, "
Funeral Pyre" and
"
Absolute Beginners",
abandoned the psychedelic pop of
Sound Affects; "Absolute
Beginners" (named after a
cult novel
of the same title) had a more R&B-flavoured sound, and
"
Funeral Pyre" was influenced by
New Wave music. "Funeral Pyre" is
built around Buckler's drumming, and is the only song in the
group's catalogue that carries a joint Buckler/Foxton/Weller
writing credit, aside from the
Sound Affects track "Music
for the Last Couple". ("Funeral Pyre" and "Music for the Last
Couple" are the only songs for which Buckler receives any writing
credit).
The 1982 release
The
Gift — the band's final LP — was a massive commercial
success, peaking at #1 on the UK charts. It featured several soul,
funk, and R&B-stylized songs; most notably the #1 hit "
Town Called Malice," which boasts a
Motown-style bassline somewhat reminiscent of
The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The song
included work by
Keith Thomas and
Steve Nichol, who later became well
known as members of the R&B groups
Legacy
and
Loose Ends respectively. "Town
Called Malice", another reality-based tale of dealing with the
hardships of life in a small, downtrodden English town, is one of
the few Jam songs Weller still performs at concerts (along with
"
That's Entertainment",
"Man in the Corner Shop", and "In the Crowd"). When "Town Called
Malice" reached number one the group had the honour of performing
both it and its double A-side, "Precious" on TOTP - the only other
band to be accorded this honour being the Beatles. After the
string-laden soul ballad "
The Bitterest
Pill " peaked at #2, the band followed with their finale and
another #1, "
Beat Surrender". The
Beat Surrender EP had success in the British charts, and
both its graphic design and music resembles early
Style Council releases. After a farewell
tour of the UK and appearances on
Top of the Pops and
The Tube to promote
Beat
Surrender, Weller disbanded the group.
After The Jam
Weller, who felt he had done all he could with The Jam, then formed
The Style Council with
Mick Talbot of
The
Merton Parkas. After they split up in 1989, Weller went on to
pursue a solo career.
In 1983,
Bruce Foxton was for a short
time involved in a band with
Jake Burns
and
Dolphin Taylor, which released
several
demo.
Arista Records offered Foxton a solo deal and
he signed up for a solo album,
Touch Sensitive, which was
released in 1984. When
Ali McMordie
left
Stiff Little Fingers
shortly before they were due to go on tour, Foxton joined the band
until January 2006, when he quit to pursue other projects.
After the Jam split, Rick Buckler formed
Time UK with
Tom
Robinson Band guitarist Danny Kustow. They released three
singles. In 1986, Buckler and Foxton released a single under the
name
Sharp.
A five-CD box set
Direction Reaction
Creation, featuring all of The Jam's studio material (plus
a disc of rarities) peaked at #8 on the UK album charts upon its
release in 1997; an unprecedented achievement for a box set. In
2002,
Virgin Radio counted down the top
100 British music artists of all-time as polled by listeners and
The Jam were #5 on the list. Weller made two other appearances in
the poll; as part of The Style Council at #93 and as a solo artist
at #21.
In June 2006, it was reported that Weller and Foxton met backstage
at The Who's Hyde Park concert, and a ten-minute conversation ended
with an embrace. Rick Buckler had not been playing for several
years after The Jam quit, and he formed a band playing Jam
material, The Gift. In 2006, Foxton performed on stage with Buckler
at The Gift concerts in Chichester, Brighton and Birmingham, which
rekindled rumours of a full or partial reunion of The Jam in 2007,
for the 30th anniversary of the band’s signing.
From The Jam
Foxton stayed on with The Gift, causing a name change to From The
Jam. In an official press release in 2007, Foxton and Buckler
announced that they were working on a new album and UK tour , which
sold out in ten days. Weller did not take part, and has publicly
expressed his lack of interest in any type of reformation. In a
2006 interview with BBC Radio 6 Music, Weller stated that a Jam
reunion would "never, ever happen", and that reformations are
"sad". He said "Me and my children would have to be destitute and
starving in the gutter before I'd even consider that, and I don't
think that'll happen anyway ... [the Jam's music] still means
something to people and a lot of that's because we stopped at the
right time, it didn't go on and become embarrassing."
From The Jam toured the UK in the autumn of 2007, finishing with a
concert at Brighton Centre on 21 December 2007 to mark the 25th
anniversary of The Jam's final show. In February 2008, they toured
the United States and Canada, selling out in Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago and New York. In March 2008,
they toured Australia and New Zealand - a first for Foxton and
Buckler. A complete concert (recorded in London, December 2007) is
planned for release on DVD in 2008 through London-based indie label
Invisible Hands Music.Buckler
announced his departure from the band in late 2009, and drummer
Mark Brzezicki is currently standing
in for him. The reason for Buckler's departure is unknown at
present.
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
Box sets
Tribute albums
Singles
† Note that in Australia, the songs "Going Underground",
"The Eton Rifles", "That's Entertainment" and "Start!" made up an
Australia-only EP entitled
4 Sound Affects. This EP
charted at #50 on the Australian singles chart, and all four tracks
from it are considered to have peaked at #50.
U.S. EPs
(Note:
EP are ranked on the Billboard
album chart, not the singles chart.)
Videos & DVDs
- Trans Global Unity Express (1983)
- The Very Best Of The Jam (1997)
- The Complete Jam On Film 1977-1982 (2002)
Footnotes
- http://underground-network.de/weller.html
- http://www.virginradio.co.uk/music/top100artists
- Untitled Document
- BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Weller rules out The Jam
reunion
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