Talk:The Jam

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[edit] Re:

RE: Weller insisted that he was merely trying to irk "trendy left-wingers" and, still in 1977, bemoaned how the group had garnered the "Conservative" label and expressed disgust with Margaret Thatcher. Have we got a source for this, please? Conch Shell 13:32, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

i don't have a exact source for that, but the following quote is from the 84-page book 'The Jam - Direction, Reaction, Creation' that came with the cd boxset of the same name. in the essay for cd1 by pat gilbert [dated: jan 1997] [and copyrighted to him/her obviously]:

[edit] Comment

To promote the album, The Jam headed out to support The Clash's 'White Riot' tour in early May [1977 - r7], though friction between the group and Clash manager Bernie Rhodes caused them to pull out after just a handful of dates. When an interview appeared a few days later in which Weller said The Jam would be voting Conservative at the next election, Strummer and co vented their spleen by telegraphing the group's office with the infamous message: "Maggie wants you for target practice".

Though Weller's comments had been primarily designed to wind up "punk's trendy left-wingers", the notion that The Jam were cartoon Tories wasn't exactly challenged when, a month later, the group announced some celebratory gigs for the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

Weller was clearly showing a certain degree of political naivety here, but there was also a strong sense that he was desperately trying to distance himself from the 'anarchy crowd', while cocking a snook a the punk theatre of 'God Save the Queen'. To him, music wasn't about art-terrorism; it was about classic songwriting and brutally honest sentiments.

It was only when, in the following weeks, The Jam were accused of aligning themselves with the far-right National Front, that some of the Jubilee gigs were abandoned and the Union Flags that bedecked the group's amps were quietly folded away.

that cover it?

R7 21:53, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

How did the author know that Weller's comments had been "designed to wind up punk's trendy left-wingers?" I was a bit suspicious of a quote that claimed Weller had contempt for Thatcher in 1977 when she didn't come to power until 1979. At the time many people thought she was preferable to the incompetent James Callaghan. Conch Shell 09:26, 5 December 2005 (UTC)
See the above excerpt by R7 (thanks!) It's from the liner notes to the Direction Reaction Creation box. The editors of those notes were all quite close to the group, and that was a direct quote. As for the 1977 quote on how he hated Thatcher, I can't find that blasted source now, but I know I remember reading it on a web page of Paul Weller quotes that listed precise sources. I also remember that same page having a 1990's quote from him on how he'd never listen to a band like R.E.M., because if he wanted to listen to music, he'd listen to music with balls. Unfortunately I don't remember the exact quotes and Google isn't helping me out on this one. Anyone happen to know where that webpage is? It was some unofficial Paul Weller compendium. StarryEyes 02:34, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
Whilst I can't confirm or deny what Weller said about hating Thatcher in 1977, I do remember that Thatcher was already a well known UK political figure by this year, and held in wide dislike by many. Before coming to power she was often refered to a "Milk Snatcher Thatcher" due to being responsible for, amongst other things, ending the long standing practice of giving free milk to school children each day. I do also clearly remember Weller saying the thing about voting Tory, whcih put me off the jam for years after... quercus robur 13:41, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
Ps, am I alone in thinking that Weller's current single sounds like a slowed down Chas n dave out-take???
Yes - I remember Thatcher snatching my milk as well. She seemed to have some pretty good PR in the late 70's and managed to convince people that she was just an ordinary Lincolnshire housewife who had grown up above her father's corner shop and gone on to 'better' things. Weller's pro-Tory statements seemed fairly convincing at the time ("The Queen works much harder than you or I" (etc)). I think we ought to take them as genuine expressions of sentiment unless we can find a reliable source that states otherwise. Conch Shell 10:52, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Just thought it worth pointing out that Weller's (later) work with the Style Council is distinctly political, and distinctly anti-Thatcherite (e.g. "A Stone's Throw Away"). Obviously his approach to music and probably his political views had changed, but it seems unlikely that he was ever a confirmed Conservative.

Weller made no secret of the fact that he 'got socialism' in the late 70's. Before then he was a Tory, not that there is anything wrong with that. Aynuk N. Ayli 09:30, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bruce Foxton's input

Not wishing to take away anything from Bruce, but can anyone confirm his vocal and/ or creative input? Almost all Jam tracks are credited to Weller only, and the exceptions suggest the rest of the band's influence is unusual. Demo versions also seem to be Weller alone ("Thick as Thieves", for example). I'm also not sure on the vocal harmonies thing; many songs sound like Weller overdubbing. I don't know myself, just noting my suspicions for accuracy's sake.

A whole lot of b-sides, especially earlier on, were written by him alone. As for vocals, I'm fairly sure he has lead on Smithers-Jones and trades off with Weller on David Watts. Some songs you can clearly hear him in the background, names of which escape me at the moment. In live performances at least, his mouth was definitely moving.--TheUniversal 15:18, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

I have a 7" single of "Funeral Pyre" that gives the songwriting credit only to Paul Weller. Yet this entry and the entry for Bruce Foxton says that "Funeral Pyre" is a Weller-Foxton-Buckler colloboration. I was going to edit the page to reflect this, but Allmusic also gives the song writing credit to Weller-Foxton-Buckler. Any know anything else about this [[[User:Tallbuildings|Tallbuildings]] 20:45, 15 May 2006 (UTC)]

I think the 'Greatest Hits' packaging, credits the lyrics to 'Weller' and the Music to 'The Jam' Bevo74 12:00, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know Bruce Foxton wrote Lisa Radley. many years I had the physical CD and I think it is the only song he wrote on his own. I actually bought both his woeful solo releases but that is due to my addiction to all Jam items since BustOut


Naa, isn't the demo of Liza Radley Weller singing on his own?

He wrote The Circus, News of the World and Smithers-Jones. According to our story Bruce and Rick often wrote, bassline and drum patterns but were not credited except on Funeral Pyre. Ram4eva 20:28, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

"Liza Radley" was written by Weller. Foxton does play accordian on the song. "Smithers-Jones" is credited to Foxton but Weller wrote and sang the final verse. Foxton did provide harmony vocals throughout The Jam's career. --J2 00:17, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV and references tags

This needs a bit of work. At the moment it reads like it was written by fans. For example:

"Bassist Bruce Foxton made up for the group’s lack of a second guitarist by carrying much of the melody in his distinctive playing, a confluence of the power of John Entwistle with the speed and melodicism of Paul McCartney. His instantly memorable basslines were the foundation of many of the group’s songs..."

Now, I liked The Jam, so I would slightly tent to agree with that statement. But we aren't supposed to be stating our own opinions here. We would need a quote or a ref from a verifiable souce. That's just one example. I'll see what I can do myself too of course.--Guinnog 22:21, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I've improved this by taking out the fan nonsense. But problems remain.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.103.144.18 (talk • contribs)

Great edits. I'll take down the tags. --Guinnog 09:54, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What's Entertainment?

Someone swiped (should I say 'nicked' for the Brits?) my copy of 'Dig the New Breed' 20 years ago, but I clearly remember Weller's rambling liner notes saying something like "Coming home pissed from the pub and writing 'That's Entertainment' in five minutes." The article says he came home from holiday and wrote it. Is there a source for that?

From "The Jam - A History, 77-82" (no ISBN anywhere to be seen!?) comes the following: 'That's Entertainment', for example, came about after a night on the booze. "I wrote that," Weller reveals, "after coming back from the pub drunk with beery euphoria. I wrote seven verses, though I cut one of them the next day. The whole thing took about ten minutes because the words just rolled off my pen." CiaranG 21:58, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

How can the writer(s) of this article possibly talk about a divergence from psychedelic influences when the B side of Funeral Pyre was a cover of about the Who's only serious attempt at psychedelia apart from Magic Bus - Disguises? Also - Funeral Pyre is about book burning, about fascism (the video at the time carried the famous footage of Brown-Shirts burning books), not about "Rick Buckler's drumming". What part of the line "their mad eyes bulged their flushed faces said 'the week get crushed as the strong grow stronger'" are we not understanding here? Eton Rifles isn't about one particular incident - "what chance have you got against a tie and a crest?" - goes a little deeper than that. The song Absolute Beginners is a reference and a salute to what the book said about youth and music - its not about the book at all.

Also "non-LP single" is a gross understatement. Record companies hated the fact that bands wanted to do that at the time, and bands had to insist on it. Weller was fuming that people were putting out exports of more than one single from an album (ie backdoor record company import singles), when the agreement was "one single per album".

I personally think this article doesn't begin to understand and articulate The Jam.

[edit] Re:Infobox: It's The Jam - not "FROM the Jam"

A user changed the members of the Jam to those of the "From the Jam featuring Rick Buckler and Bruce Foxton" touring group, left Paul Weller as a mere "former member," labeled that as a minor edit (!), and it stayed that way for over a month. This is an article about The Jam, not "From the Jam." The whole point of that name is to slyly get by the legal fact that it isn't the same band. The "2007 Revival" section of the article covers the "reunion" tour; if more information is desired, it should be in a new article about From the Jam. (It should be no different from the handling of The Cars versus The New Cars. --emw 04:50, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:NME TheJam.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 23:27, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Man in the corner shop

How can the writer(s) of this article possibly talk about a divergence from psychedelic influences when the B side of Funeral Pyre was a cover of about the Who's only serious attempt at psychedelia apart from Magic Bus - Disguises? Also - Funeral Pyre is about book burning, about fascism (the video at the time carried the famous footage of Brown-Shirts burning books http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFrrNhsGZp4), not about "Rick Buckler's drumming". What part of the line "their mad eyes bulged their flushed faces said 'the week get crushed as the strong grow stronger'" are we not understanding here? Eton Rifles isn't about one particular incident - "what chance have you got against a tie and a crest?" - goes a little deeper than that. The song Absolute Beginners is a reference and a salute to what the book said about youth and music - its not a direct reference to the book at all.

Also "non-LP single" is a gross understatement. Record companies hated the fact that bands wanted to do that at the time, and bands had to insist on it. Weller was fuming that people were putting out exports of more than one single from an album (ie backdoor record company import singles), when the agreement with the record company was "one single per album".

Let's think about being young, and working class in England, aspiring to a better 'lifestyle', a more sophisticated way of thinking, how much that left you on the outside amongst your own, the people you were brought up with, the people you loved. The Clash, The Sex Pistols, no-one articulated that in the way Saturdays Kids, When You're Young, Strange Town, Away from the Numbers, Running on the Spot, Town Called Malice and Going Underground did.

I personally think this article doesn't begin to understand and articulate The Jam.

Celeryness (talk) 02:37, 4 May 2008 (UTC)