THE JAM

Is there anything you wouldn’t know about The Jam? Well, I don’t think so. Since there’s little point in elaborating once again on how they took England by storm in the mid-Seventies, how many Top 40 singles they had or how moody a cow Paul Weller used to be – and still is – I’d rather tell you something about my own love story with the Jam, one which has grown ever stronger over the years.

I’m afraid I’m too young to have ever seen The Jam live. I did, however, see The Style Council live once in my teens and Paul Weller solo on numerous occasions. Not having seen the real deal live still drives me into depressive states every now and then. They are, by far, my favourite band, and it isn’t satisfying to not having seen your much-loved ones at least once in your life. The chances to see them reform aren’t slim, they are impossible as Weller again firmly stated in a BBC interview in the weeks ahead of the Brit Awards, at which he received a life time achievement award:

"Let me just nip that in the bud right now. That will never, ever happen. 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. I think it's a great thing that The Jam's music has endured over the years and people still love it and still play it. It 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."

Although many people still hope for a miracle to happen – including me – I do accept his stubbornness in this respect. He’ s certainly right about all those bands reforming for whatever reason. There is a certain sadness about all this. In addition, bands like The Rolling Stones, who have been good at corroding their own status by constantly touring and recording meaningless records over the last two decades, are prime examples.

On the other hand Weller hasn’t shed his past altogether since he keeps performing a couple of Jam tunes in his own live set to the present day. I think he knows pretty well that the majority of his audience – at least in the UK – call The Jam one of their most preferred bands ever. Hence he keeps us happy by serving little rations of our beloved national dish. But if we only turned up to watch him live for a few Jam tunes we wouldn’t do his solo career any justice, because he has been quite outstanding in that department too since the early Nineties. Many early Jam followers may have a thing or two to say about Weller now, but you cannot deny his perseverance and outstanding qualities as a song writer. I think he’s one of the few British artist who will be a true icon with dignity in even about twenty years time.

But back to The Jam and how it all began for me. As stated before, I’m too young to be an original Jam follower. If I remember correctly it was Going Underground which hooked me in the early Eighties. When I was in the first or second year of secondary school I used to watch this German programme called ‘Formel Eins’. I recall seeing Madness – one of three or four other bands I consider highly influential on my development as a human being - performing Our House. Today it’s one of my least favourite Madness tunes, but back then I loved it. I took to acquiring some of their stuff which wasn’t easy for me back then since I had little pocket money and grew up in the middle of nowhere. I did get a copy of their ground-breaking One Step Beyond though and was addicted. There weren’t many people I could relate to in terms of music back then bar one lad in our town who was a bit of a mod. I didn’t know anything about it then but I saw his Madness badge on his parka. He was at least ten years my senior and seemed to be a secluded kind of bloke. As luck would have it, he flocked some of his singles and records at a local car boot sale. My dad was with me and reluctantly helped me out with a few bob, which I used to buy – along with Highway to Hell by AC/DC - the aforementioned single. This mod bloke also considered himself to be the boy about town – which wasn’t anything to be proud of in the dire middle class atmosphere of our hometown. He handed over the records and said in a paternal gruff: ‘Here, take this as a freebie, I’ve got a few spares.’ It was Going Underground. I hadn’t really heard of The Jam, but was happy to not be treated with full disdain, and, then again, he was the boy about town.

Anyhow, back home I listened to the other stuff first – I know Highway to Hell is all but a mod record, but remains one of my most favourite pieces of vinyl for it’s simplicity – before I put on Going Underground. If memory serves me right it took three or four auditions but then there was no going back, at least for some time…

 

To be continued…