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The Jam: not getting the credit they deserve?


blind-fitter

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This week, I have been mostly listening to The Jam, having recently picked up (cheaply) their anthology "Snap" on cassette, for listening to in the car.

The Jam are one of my favourite bands of all time; although their first couple of albums were a bit dodgy, from "All Mod Cons" onwards they were just superb. Not only were their albums consistently excellent from that point on, they put out a string of unsurpassable singles.

So when I go through one of my phases of listening to The Jam on heavy rotation, I always find myself dismissing all other claimants to the "Best Single Of All Time" crown, and wondering whether this accolade rightfully belongs with "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight", "Strange Town", "Eton Rifles", "When You're Young" or "Going Underground".

I'm still torn, but I think it's probably the first or last of these.

Isn't it astounding that one band could produce such a succession of excellent singles , (and follow them with the likes of "Start", "That's Entertainment" , "Town Called Malice", etc.)?

And even more astounding that apparently, the Rest Of The World didn't really get it? Why was that?

In terms of the quality of their albums and singles, The Jam were arguably, without rival, the best and most significant rock/pop band in the UK around the turn of the 80s. Yet in the wider world, memories of that era seem to centre upon the narcissistic, superficial bands of the New Romantic movement, or for example, "one-hit wonder Jam soundalikes", The Vapors....("Turning Japanese" was produced by The Jam drummer, Rick Buckler*, fact fans...)

In hindsight, do Weller/Foxton/Buckler get the credit they deserve?

* Or maybe he managed them: need to check this out...

Edited by Guest
To add afterthought re Rick Bucklers role with The Vapors
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I had All Mod Cons in high school and listened to it often then, but not so much since then. I always thought The Jam were OK, but not one of my favourites. I also gave play to The Style Council (Long Hot Summer) when the single came out. I seem to forget about The Jam until I hear Town Called Malice in a movie depicting the struggle of some English youth....

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I never really got on with The Style Council, apart from a couple of the singles: "Walls Come Tumbling Down" and "Money-Go-Round". Music-wise they weren't really "my scene" and I wasn't impressed by the imagery they projected: boating blazers, punting on the Thames at Oxford, sipping cappucinos, etc. I was probably missing something highly satirical going on there....

Part of me thinks that my rejection of The Style Council resulted from my failure to come to terms with the demise of the Jam. However, truth be told, I had already started going off The Jam a bit, before they split. I wasn't so keen on the direction they were going in with "The Gift", and didn't/don't really rate later singles "Absolute Beginners", "The Bitterest Pill (I've Ever Had To Swallow)" and "Beat Surrender" on a par with the crackers I mentioned earlier: "good", but not GREAT!

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Is it just me, or does Paul Weller always look angry?

It´s me too... :laughing:

I liked The Jam back in the very early 80s, (though they were mainly a 70s band... I mean, I didn´t pay much attention to them till they split in the early 80s) they were very good live but I never knew the title of any of their songs. They were "the" mod band of the pre-new wave... I didn´t like it when they turned stylish (style council) but I agree, "Walls tumbling down" is a good song. Weller finally made the charts with it...

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but I agree, "Walls tumbling down" is a good song. Weller finally made the charts with it...

I'm not quite sure what you mean, Edna. Weller made the charts zillions of times. Between 1979 and 1983, The Jam were hardly ever out of the UK charts. They had four No 1s, including "Going Underground", which went straight into the charts at No.1, (back in the day when that actually meant something...)

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I mean that Weller became a star out of the UK too, not just a local hero, and we could see him on the European charts. This song was -I believe?- about the changes in Communist countries (and also about changes in social classes in the world) and it was like a symbol in the mid 80s.

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Is it just me, or does Paul Weller always look angry?

He was always a bit sullen. He managed to combine a certain shyness with being aggressively outspoken. In many ways, he was your typical "angry young man", but he articulated that "cliche" brilliantly, unlike most of that type.

I've seen him smile quite a few times, but it just doesn't look right on him...

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The Jam Discography: Singles

Title / Release date / UK chart position

"In the City" - 29 April 1977 - 40

"All Around the World" - 23 July 1977 - 13

"The Modern World" - 5 November 1977 - 36

"News of the World" - 11 March 1978 - 27

"David Watts" / "'A' Bomb In Wardour Street" (Double A-Side) - 26 August 1978 - 25

"Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" - 21 October 1978 - 15

"Strange Town" - 17 March 1979 - 15

"When You're Young" - 25 August 1979 - 17

"The Eton Rifles" - 3 November 1979 - 3

"Going Underground" / "Dreams of Children" (Double A-Side) - 22 March 1980 - 1

"Start!" 23 August 1980 - 1

"That's Entertainment" (German import) - 7 February 1981 - 21

"Funeral Pyre" - 6 June 1980 - 4

"Absolute Beginners" - 24 October 1981 - 4

"A Town Called Malice" / "Precious" (Double A-Side) - 13 February 1982 - 1

"Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?"(import) - 3 July 1982 - 8

"The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)" - 18 September 1982 - 2

"Beat Surrender" - 4 December 1982 - 1

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I remember when DJs were calling The Jam ' the new Beatles ' when they were looking for such , and The Knack failed to satisfy . On this , I'd agree with Johnnyguitar that they failed to satisfy . Infact , the only Weller tune I remember with any fondness is " Shout to the Top " , which is likely best suited to an aerobics class rather than the dance floor .

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...And Albums

Studio

In the City - (1977) #20 UK

This Is The Modern World - (1977) #22 UK

All Mod Cons - (1978) #6 UK

Setting Sons - (1979) #4 UK, #137 US

Sound Affects - (1980) #2 UK, #72 US

The Gift - (1982) #1 UK, #82 US

Live

Dig The New Breed - (1982) #2 UK, #131 US

Live Jam - (1993) #25 UK

The Jam At The BBC - (2002) #33 UK

Compilations

Compact Snap! - (1983) #2 UK

Greatest Hits - (1991) #2 UK

Extras - (1993) #15 UK

The Jam Collection - (1996)

Direction Reaction Creation - (1997) #8 UK

The Very Best of the Jam - (1997) #9 UK

Fire and Skill: The Songs of the Jam - (1999)

45 rpm: The Singles, 1977-1979 - (2001)

45 rpm: The Singles, 1980-1982 - (2001)

The Sound of the Jam - (2002) #3 UK

Snap! - (2006) #6 UK

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Two of these eighteen singles were available on an import-only basis; they remain the best-selling import singles of all time in the UK.

..gives an idea of their popularity in the UK at the time.

Whilst their peers The Clash were off conquering the world, The Jam were much less successful abroad, yet far more popular than The Clash "at home".

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The Vapors connection would make sense....I'm pretty sure the Vapors were a bunch of poncy Surrey kids (Guildford, I think) with good connections....and so were the Jam. Good songs...but about as authentic as a chicken Balti. ;)

I'd like to know what you're getting at with the "authentic" jibe? In what way were The Jam "inauthentic"? Are you referring to Weller's "mod credentials"? Working class credibility? Honestly, I'm baffled.

I know they came from Woking, Surrey, heart of the commuter/stockbroker belt. Probably quite a middle-class town, I daresay. Doesn't necessarily mean Weller & co. were "poncy kids with good connections" I'm sure there must be some working-class people round that neck of the woods. You know, some may think St Albans, Hertfordshire is exclusively middle-class, but there certainly are working-class people around there: maybe you just haven't met any of them? Anyway, I digress, wildly. Weller, Foxton and Buckler met at school: not at a posh boarding school, not even at a grammar school. I believe it was what they used to call a "Secondary Modern".Now I recall you once giving some rough guidance to the English education system, so I'm sure you won't mind this slightly simplistic equation, by way of clarification:

grammar school = clever kids + posh/rich/middle-class kids

secondary modern school = working-class kids (including clever ones) + "thick" kids.

(This is only a rough guide, okay, subject to local /circumstantial variation)

Now Weller certainly wasn't/isn't thick, ergo he must have been working-class, right? Unlike his secretive peer, Joe Strummer (private education, son of a foreign diplomat), Weller has never had to worry about concealing his origins: his father was a builder by trade, but gave up this job to manage The Jam when it became clear success might be round the corner.

As I said, the band members met at school and augmented their pocket money by playing gigs (covering 60s soul/r'n'b/mod standards) at local Working Men's Clubs. It was the outbreak of punk, when Weller (aged 18) was galvanised by seeing The Sex Pistols and The Clash, that saw them begin writing their own material and subsequently cementing their reputation as an outstanding live band. (They had the advantage of already being reasonably competent musicians for their age). Even at the peak of their success in the early 80s when they were arguably the biggest band in the country, they continued to do comprehensive, nationwide tours, (rather than just 3 nights in London, one in Manchester, or whatever). As far as I could tell, they worked hard and put alot of heart and soul into their music and lyrics, which dealt with real-life issues ("gritty social realism": I like that phrase!) rather than pure escapism.

I'm off on one now, and beginning to ramble. Perhaps it would be simpler all round if you'd just explain what you meant by your remark on their "authenticity".

You know what? It just occurred to me that "a Woking class-hero is something to be". Good that, innit?

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OK, B-F, did you mentally program my Pandora account? Friday and today, there were songs from the Jam on there "Aunties & Uncles" and "Running on The Spot." I have never heard of The Jam before this thread and now......hmmmm

Edited by Guest
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If I were to use my telepathic powers to convert somebody to The Jam, those aren't the tracks I would choose for the task. There are many far, far better ones. But anyway, what did you think? Give you a taste to hear some more? you really ought to y'know. ;)

Something similar happened the day I flirted with Pandora. A half-hour earlier I'd been playing Fugazi. I read about Pandora on SongFacts, checked it out, started by keying in Killing Joke. The first track Pandora played me on "Radio Killing Joke" was by Fugazi...

Then last week, I mentioned NoMeansNo (obscure Canadian jazz-influenced alt-core) on the "Canadian artists) thread: the following day I pick up two NoMeansNo albums dirt cheap at my local charity shop....

It's a small world....but I wouldn't want to hoover it.

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