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The Jam

The Jam
Bruce Foxton and Paul Weller on Top of the Pops circa 1977
Bruce Foxton and Paul Weller on Top of the Pops circa 1977
Background information
Origin Woking, Surrey, England
Genre(s) Punk Rock
Mod Revival
Power pop
Pop punk
New Wave
Years active 1972 - 1982
Label(s) Polydor Records
Former members
Paul Weller
Bruce Foxton
Rick Buckler

The Jam were an English punk rock/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

They had 18 straight top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their breakup in 1982, including four number 1 hits. Two of these 18 singles were only available in the UK as imports, and as of 2007 they remained the best-selling import singles of all time in the UK. The Jam released one live album and six studio albums, the last of which, The Gift, hit number 1 on the UK album charts.

They 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 and new wave. The trio was known for its melodic pop songs, distinctly English flavour, and 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 Rickenbacker guitar. Bruce Foxton provided backing vocals and played unusually 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", and "Town Called Malice". Rick Buckler played drums.

Contents

  • 1 History
    • 1.1 Formation (1972-1976)
    • 1.2 Early recordings (1977)
    • 1.3 All Mod Cons (1978)
    • 1.4 Going Underground (1979-1981)
    • 1.5 The Gift and dissolution (1981-1982)
    • 1.6 After The Jam
  • 2 Lineup
  • 3 Discography
    • 3.1 Albums
      • 3.1.1 Studio
      • 3.1.2 Live
      • 3.1.3 Compilations
    • 3.2 Singles
    • 3.3 U.S. EPs
  • 4 Footnotes
  • 5 External links

History

Formation (1972-1976)

The Jam formed in Woking, Surrey, England in 1972. The line-ups were very fluid at this stage, consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Paul Weller and his various friends at Sheerwater Secondary School. They played their first gigs at Michaels, a local club. The line-up began to solidify in the mid 1970s with Weller, guitarist Steve Brookes, drummer Rick Buckler, and bassist Bruce Foxton. In their early years, their sets consisted of early American rock and roll covers 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 black 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, inviting Weller to develop 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 still manages Paul’s career.

Around 1976, Weller had another stylistic revelation after seeing the Sex Pistols. He recalled later, "The Pistols’ noisy garage band racket and Rotten’s youthful amphetamined arrogance. I loved it! It was so young and exciting, and of course, there were no flares - one of the most hideous fashion creations ever!” 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 a youthful 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 portrayed clear influences in 1960s rock where others were disdainful (at least in public) of the past. Indeed, they were tagged by some journalists as revivalists. They were signed to Polydor Records in early 1977.

Early recordings (1977)

Polydor released their debut single, "In the City", which scraped the bottom of the Top 40 in England, on April 29, 1977. In early May, the band released their debut album of the same name. The album, like those of The Clash and the Sex Pistols, comprised fast, loud and to-the-point songs. What set it apart was its clear influences in vintage rock and roll. They covered early American rock and roller Larry Williams's "Slow Down" (also covered by The Beatles) and the Batman theme, something of a standard for bands in the 1960s. Their originals revealed the influence of Motown, The Beatles and The Who.

Many punk records at the time had some political overtones. The Jam also were politically-engaged, condemning police brutality ("In the City") and expansionist development ("Bricks And Mortar"). However, their most openly political song, "Time For Truth", bemoaned the decline of the British Empire, police brutality and expressed disparaging sentiments about "Uncle Jimmy" (the then Labour British 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 upcoming 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 as regards 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, was hard-pressed to produce more material. Their second album, This Is the Modern World, arrived later in 1977. Bruce Foxton, generally considered a lesser songwriter than Weller, contributed two songs to the LP which both attracted an unusual level of negative criticism. Thereafter, his composing output gradually decreased leaving Weller firmly established as the band's chief writer. Despite displaying more stylistic variety than before, including some ventures into introspective pop, This Is The Modern World was not widely praised, with critics citing variously the album's unfinished ideas, poor songwriting, uninspired performances or bland production. However, when John Peel first heard the album he played it in its entirety on one show, one track after the other. This Is the Modern World remains one of the least regarded LPs of the group's career and Weller later admitted a temporary lack of interest.

All Mod Cons (1978)

The Jam on the cover of NME
The Jam on the cover of NME

The Jam spent much of the next two years touring. In March of 1978, the band released "News of the World", a non-album single that was both written and sung by Foxton. It charted at a respectable #27 UK, and was the band's second biggest hit to that time. However, this would turn out to be the only Foxton solo composition to be released as a Jam A-side. The Jam were not very successful with their 1978 U.S. concerts, for some of which they were the opening act for arena-rockers Blue Öyster Cult, but they did better with their UK performances. As they went back into the studio to record a third album of primarily Foxton contributions, the songs were dismissed by producers as poor and 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. They released their next single, the double A-side "David Watts" b/w "'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 tense tracks, Weller venomously spat out lines cursing the violent thugs that now plagued the punk scene over a taut two-chord figure. The single, and "'A' Bomb" in particular, was hailed as a return to form and 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 regained their former critical acclaim. "Tube Station", in which the narrator gets beaten by thugs who "smelled of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs and too many right-wing meetings", was a story seemingly ripped from contemporary headlines of skinhead violence. Alternating quiet verses and loud choruses and propelled by Foxton's tense bassline, "Tube Station" again channels the atmosphere of fear and violence that was afflicting Britain in the late 1970s. 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. The Jam released their third LP, All Mod Cons in 1978, including three previously released tracks among the twelve 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".) Despite having only nine all-new songs, All Mod Cons is considered by many to be the band's masterpiece.

Going Underground (1979-1981)

After the successful 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 most successful single to date, peaking at #3 on the UK charts, their first Top Ten hit. November of 1979 brought about Setting Sons, another massive UK hit, and their first chart position 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 scuffles 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 release of 1980 was intended to be "Dreams of Children," which combined bleak lyrics lamenting the loss of childhood optimism with hard-edged psychedelic production effects. Due to a labelling error, however, the a- and b-sides of the single were reversed, resulting in the less-adventurous "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 recognized (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 Heatwave.

Sound Affects was released in 1980. Paul Weller said that he conceived the album as a hybrid of The Beatles' Revolver and Michael Jackson's Off the Wall. 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 piece reflecting on the struggle of the English working class, 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. Although it lacks the "distinctive" Jam electric sound propelled by Rick Buckler's energetic drumming, it is now arguably The Jam's most noted song. Despite the group's lack of commercial success in America, the song 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 note-for-note recreations of the bassline and guitar solo of 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 for a more R&B-flavoured sound. "Funeral Pyre" is built around Buckler's drumming, a militaristic tattoo on full fire throughout the entire song, one of the darkest in the band's career with its eerie bassline and chorus of "The weak get crushed as the strong grow stronger!" It is the only song in the group's catalogue which carries a joint Buckler/Foxton/Weller writing credit aside from the instrumental Sound Affects track "Music For The Last Couple". "Funeral Pyre" and "Music For The Last Couple" are the only songs on which Buckler receives any writing credit. "Absolute Beginners", named for a cult novel about the late '50s swingin' London scene, was a punchier effort festooned with bouncy horns. Although a commercial success, it is not considered one of Weller's strongest efforts, and it is apparently one of Weller's least favourite Jam songs since the days of This Is the Modern World.

The 1982 release The Gift, the group's last LP, was another massive commercial success, peaking at #1 on the UK charts. Some critics were not fully supportive of the Jam's new direction, and those that were did not find the album to be consistent. Coming full-circle to their R&B roots, The Jam produce several soul, funk, and R&B-stylized songs on The Gift, most notably the #1 hit "Town Called Malice," with a Motown-style bassline somewhat reminiscent of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" And organ work by Carl Mclntosh, who would later be well known with the R&B group Loose Ends. "Town Called Malice", another slice-of-life tale of trying to keep joyful in a small, downtrodden English town, is one of Weller's most favoured songs among fans and critics alike, and one of the few Jam songs he performs to this day (along with "That's Entertainment", "Man In The Corner Shop", and "In The Crowd"). After the sugary soul ballad "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" peaked at #2, the band followed with yet another #1, "Beat Surrender" The Beat Surrender EP entered the British charts with a splash, and seemed to belie Weller's intentions: both its graphic design and the music it contained would bear resemblance to the early Style Council releases. After a farewell tour of the UK, the band broke up.

After The Jam

Weller, who felt he had done all he could with The Jam, 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, also playing lead guitar on Oasis's song "Champagne Supernova". In 1983, Bruce Foxton was for a short time involved in a band with Jake Burns and Dolphin Taylor, which released several demos. 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.

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.[1] 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."

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 re-kindled rumours of a full or partial reunion of The Jam in 2007, for the 30th anniversary of the band’s signing. In an official press release in 2007, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler announced that they were working on a new album and UK tour under the moniker "From The Jam - Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler." Foxton and Buckler enlisted David Moore and Russell Hastings for the tour. Paul Weller did not take part, and has publicly expressed his disinterest in any type of reformation. Foxton and Buckler's tour sold out in ten days with an overwhelming reponse from Jam fans. A tour of the UK is planned again for autumn 2007, finishing with a 25th anniversary concert of The Jam's last ever show at the Brighton Centre on 21 December 2007. A From The Jam album is planned for release in 2008.

Lineup

Discography

Albums

Studio

Live

Compilations

Singles

Title Release date Album UK chart position
"In the City" 29 April 1977 In the City 40
"All Around the World" 23 July 1977 - 13
"The Modern World" 5 November 1977 This Is the Modern World 36
"News of the World" 11 March 1978 - 27
"David Watts" / "'A' Bomb In Wardour Street" (Double A-Side) 26 August 1978 All Mod Cons 25
"Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" 21 October 1978 All Mod Cons 15
"Strange Town" 17 March 1979 - 15
"When You're Young" 25 August 1979 - 17
"The Eton Rifles" 3 November 1979 Setting Sons 3
"Going Underground" / "Dreams of Children" (Double A-Side) 10 March 1980 - 1
"Start!" 11 August 1980 Sound Affects 1
"That's Entertainment" 7 February 1981 Sound Affects 21 (import)
"Funeral Pyre" 6 June 1981 - 4
"Absolute Beginners" 24 October 1981 - 4
"Town Called Malice" / "Precious" (Double A-Side) 29 January 1982 The Gift 1
"Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" 3 July 1982 The Gift 8 (import)
"The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" 10 September 1982 - 2
"Beat Surrender" 26 November 1982 - 1

U.S. EPs

(Note: EPs are ranked on the Billboard album chart, not the singles chart.)

Footnotes

  1. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jifixqe5ldae~T1
  2. http://underground-network.de/weller.html
  3. http://underground-network.de/weller.html
  4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4594270.stm
  5. http://www.noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/live_nation/from_the_jam.htm
  6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4594270.stm
  7. From The Jam 2007 tour. Noble PR (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-30.

External links

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