The Jam : Classic or, wait for it................

Found it interesting to see Rowland S Howard describing the Boys Next Door in a review before he joined them. He was talking about Mick harvey as influenced by Paul Weller I think derived from Mick's own comments.

I also know the Meat puppets liked the Jam, since they told me so in '87.

compare the melody/phrasing of "in the city everybody's right..." at 0:50 in that who clip with the main hook ("in the city there's a thousand things i want to say to you") of the jam song. a pretty clear connection to me. i'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. i am saying that they took one very particular influence further than most bands take any particular influence, and they took it in a very transparent way that fascinates me. i'm a fan. i love "start"! i'm not trying to make an argument. just pointing out the obvious and saying i like what they did with it in some places, and i don't like what they did with it in others.

Eh, I don't really hear it (I'm not trying to make an argument either, and I'm a huge fan of both bands).

So in the 2000s there were lots of British indie bands that operated in more or less the same space as the Jam, and previous to that there's Oasis and Britpop, and without too much vagueness you could say they were doing something similar. Did any of this The Jam-like material have much value? Were The Jam the last time when there was energy in ordinary young men doing streetwise social realism?

Having typed that out, I find myself questioning every term in it but it's the closest I can get to expressing what I mean. Because I can get a kick out of the Jam I could never get out of the Libertines even though I was in their target demographic at the time, and even though I only started listening to the Jam once I was over the hill, so that the Jam never had the 'I listened to this when I was growing up' position in my little inner world. In fact there's such a chasm between The Jam and all that stuff that was quite a lot like The Jam ...

.. Because the Jam were better?

Not 'alf

Were The Jam the last time when there was energy in ordinary young men doing streetwise social realism?

Ever hear about this thing called rap music?

NickB - Argh quite right, I forgot to put ordinary young white men doing streetwise social realism with guitars.

And I meant within British pop culture too

The new live box is a scorcher. Even on the dud material (the '78 Foxton songs, mostly), they're unstoppable. And it's fascinating to hear the '77 Jam race through covers like "Back In My Arms Again" that the '82 Jam would've finessed a bit.

His short, meticulously worked out guitar solos on Jam records were great though

In which I do my part to help The Jam and Style Council in America.

Came across some of these From The Jam videos recently and mike t-diva otm upthread, couldn't believe what I was seeing.

dud

Has there even been a Jam-related poll of any kind?

The Jam - Singles (1977-1982)

Thanks

In which I do my part to help The Jam and Style Council in America.

Very noice!

I listened to Sound Affects last night for the first time in nearly forever and was reminded, for the umpteenth time, that their run from All Mod Cons through The Gift was pretty unparalleled for the era. Weller's lyrics can come across sometimes as overstuffed, but that shortcoming is more than overcome by the sheer energy of the band. IMHO, their music has survived better than that of most of their contemporaries.

And props for rating "Ghosts" so highly. Amazing song.

"Ghosts" is great, but The Gift is frustrating. I understand that protocol in the UK was, to varying degrees, to not put singles on albums, but jeez, replace a couple of the meh tracks on The Gift with their 1981 singles, or "The Bitterest Pill," or "Beat Surrender," or "Shopping," or etc. etc. and you'd have possibly their greatest album. And why are the vocals buried in the mix on "Trans-Global Express"?

Agreed on the production of "Trans-Global Express," which is the song I would swap out for "Shopping." Not sure which other tracks I'd drop.

I’d definitely drop “Circus” (which sounds more like a b-side than their actual b-sides, but at least points in an intriguing new direction), and “The Planner’s Dream Gone Wrong.” “Beat Surrender” couldn’t have been included, since it was recorded after The Gift was released, and after they’d announced their split. But Weller was obviously able to come up with better songs than “Planner’s,” so why didn’t he? (He said something in the liner notes to Dig The New Breed like “wanted The Gift to be our best ever, ended up just OK. Oh well!”)

I remember that quote, along with his amusement at writing "That's Entertainment" after coming home "pissed from the pub" and its being hailed as his best yet.

Weller's voals are buried on "Trans-Global Express" but then again, So Is The Sun...