Dig The New Breed!

"What kind of fool do you think I am, To think I know nothing of the modern world?"

The Modern World by The Jam

Paul Weller wrote the above words in response to critics who were accusing him of being nothing more than a revivalist keen on recycling old Who riffs and old Mod ideas. But he and his band, The Jam, were so much more. The core members, Weller (guitar, vocals), Bruce Foxton (bass, vocals), and Rick Buckler (drums) first formed in high school in about 1972. They worked their way from school dances to small clubs in the early years until being signed by Polydor Records in 1977. While they shared the loud, fast sound, short hair and anti-establishment attitude of the punk bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash, they did not really belong to the same camp. The Jam wore tailored suits and played their instruments quite proficiently, while many punk bands were just learning to play and wore the uniform of the day with their ripped clothing and sneakers. I happened to like both approaches, but the Mod look always held a special place in my eyes. They were always something of a 'cult' band here in North America, but they were the biggest band in the U.K. between 1980 and 1982. I attribute this to their 'Englishness' in that Weller sang with his accent not smoothed at the edges like the 60s British acts had, and he sang about life in the U.K. using hometown slang and names of places that were not known on this side of the ocean.

Their sound really did evolve in their short time as a recording act, from the fast and loud bratty sneer of In The City and This Is The Modern World, to the Mod masterpieces of All Mod Cons, Setting Sons and Sound Affects, and then finally the more Northern Soul feel of their last album, The Gift. The songwriting, mostly by Weller, especially after the Modern World album, just got better and stronger. Weller played his Rickenbacher with the zeal of an exorcist and sang as though he needed to purge those thoughts from his soul. Foxton was a great bass player and handled all the riffing and fills that a bassist must do in a trio. He sang lead on only a couple of songs, but it was his backing vocals that solidified the band's sound. For me, Foxton was always a bit of a geek live though. Weller was all fire and righteous anger and Foxton would be bopping around making smiley faces like the dorky guy at the sock hop. But, for his great bass playing, I forgive him. Rick Buckler was a steadfast drummer, never fancy, but always laying it down and never twirling his sticks and doing a Neil Peart look-how-great-I-am kind of shtick.

Weller broke up The Jam and formed a new band The Style Council (see previous post) at the height of their popularity in 1982 because he claimed he didn't want to be stuck in a rut playing the same old songs for years like the Stones, or even his heroes The Who. The split did not sit well with the other 2 band members and it is only in the last 3 years or so that he and Foxton have begun to mend fences after not speaking for 25 years or so. Weller has so far resisted any calls for a Jam reunion, telling BBC Radio in 2006 that "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."

The Best Of The Jam (in chronological order)

1. In The City
2. The Modern World
3. News Of The World
4. 'A' Bomb In Wardour Street
5. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
6. To Be Someone (Didn't We Have A Nice Time)
7. In The Crowd
8. When You're Young
9. The Eton Rifles
10. Little Boy Soldiers
11. Wasteland
12. Going Underground
13. Start!
14. That's Entertainment
15. Absolute Beginners
16. Town Called Malice
17. Ghosts
18. Just Who Is The 5 o'clock Hero?
19. Carnation
20. Running On The Spot
21. The Bitterest Pill
22. Pity Poor Alfie / Fever
23. Beat Surrender
24. Move On Up (Curtis Mayfield cover)