The Jam

The Jam
The Jam in Newcastle 1982 (Paul Weller, Rick Buckler, Bruce Foxton; from left to right)
General information
origin	Woking , Surrey , England
Genre (s)	Punk rock , Mod Revival , New Wave
founding	1972
resolution	1982
Founding members
Guitar , vocals	Paul Weller
Bass , vocals	Bruce Foxton
Drums	Rick Buckler (born December 6, 1955 in Woking , Surrey )
guitar	Steve Brookes (until 1975)
Last occupation
Guitar , vocals	Paul Weller
Bass , vocals	Bruce Foxton
Drums	Rick Buckler

US single Strange Town / The Butterfly Collector on yellow vinyl, 1979

The Jam was an English band . It existed from 1972 to 1982 and consisted of Paul Weller , Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. Steve Brookes was also a founding member, but left before the first record. The group's music combined influences from early punk , the mods of the 1960s (such as The Who or The Kinks , which were also repeatedly covered by The Jam) and R&B in Motown sound. The musical head of the group was Paul Weller, who with a few exceptions composed the group's songs.

history

In 1977 the group signed their first recording deal with Polydor and released their first single In the City . The debut album of the same title followed.

Within a few years, The Jam became one of the most successful music groups in Great Britain and quickly developed from a rebellious punk or power pop format into a musically and lyrically inventive band. At the end of the 1970s, the formation practically stood as the epitome of the first major critical generation upheaval in British rock music and pop culture in general: The big stars (and role models) of the 1960s (The Who, The Rolling Stones and others) were in the years that came, were more and more part of the establishment and in the process increasingly involuntarily imitated themselves without being able to do justice to the revolutionary and fresh aspirations of their early years. Paul Weller (as well as many other contemporaries of the punk era) recognized this and made it a subject of his own artistic intention.

Each single reached a top spot in the charts shortly after its release. The best known internationally are the hits Going Underground and Town Called Malice . The albums, among which All Mod Cons is often considered the decisive record, were also very successful. However, the great success in the USA did not materialize. At the height of its success, Paul Weller broke up the group because he felt too musically restricted in the band.

The group gave their final concert on December 11, 1982 at the Conference Center in Brighton .

In later years, the now also aging "Modfather" Weller put his criticism of the previous generation of rock musicians into perspective. Buckler then played for Time UK and now works as a furniture restorer.

Follow-up projects

Paul Weller was also successful after the breakup of The Jam with other projects - first with The Style Council , then as a solo artist.

After a brief solo career with the album Touch Sensitive , bassist Bruce Foxton joined the punk band Stiff Little Fingers for 15 years and recorded five albums with them, on which Foxton also appeared as a songwriter. For Paul Weller's solo album Wake Up the Nation (2010) he collaborated with his former bandmate for the first time.

Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler have been touring since 2007, supported by Russell Hastings (vocals and guitar) and David Moore (guitar and keyboard), also under the name From the Jam. The group plays well-known pieces from their former band at their concerts. In November 2008 the group released a double DVD of a concert at "The Forum" in London. Paul Weller is not involved in the project. So far he has always expressed himself negatively on the subject of "Reunification of the Jam". In a 2006 interview he said: Let me just nip that in the bud right now. That will never, ever happen. In September 2009 Rick Buckler left the band and was replaced by Mark Brzezicki .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1977	In the city	UK20th silver (19 weeks)UK	-
	This Is the Modern World	UK22 (5 weeks) UK	-
1978	All mod cons	UK6th gold (18 weeks)UK	-
1979	Setting Sons	UK4th gold (20 weeks)UK	US137 (8 weeks) US
1980	Sound affects	UK2 gold (20 weeks)UK	US72 (11 weeks) US	Entry into the US chart in 1981
1982	The Gift	UK1 gold (25 weeks)UK	US82 (16 weeks) US

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1982	Dig the new breed	UK2 gold (16 weeks)UK	US131 (9 weeks) US
1993	Live jam	UK28 (4 weeks) UK	-
2002	At the BBC	UK33 (3 weeks) UK	-
2015	Fire and Skill - The Jam Live	UK84 (1 week) UK	-

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1983	Snap!	UK2 platinum (38 weeks)UK	-
1991	Greatest hits	UK2 gold (26 weeks)UK	-
1992	Extras	UK15th silver (5 weeks)UK	-
1996	Collection	UK58 (2 weeks) UK	-
1997	Direction reaction creation	UK8th platinum (5 weeks)UK	-
	The very best of	UK9 (16 weeks) UK	-
2002	The Sound of the Jam	UK3 gold (10 weeks)UK	-
2005	Compact Snap!	UK39 gold (4 weeks)UK	-
2015	About the Young Idea	UK36 gold (1 week)UK	-	Double album
2017	1977	UK49 (1 week) UK	-	5-CD box for the band's 40th anniversary (including remasters of the first two albums from 1977)

More compilations

1984: Compact Snap! 1992: Wasteland 1992: Jam Covers 1993: Beat Surrender (UK:platinum) 1997: The Jam 2000: Millennium Edition 2001: The Singles 1977-79 2001: The Singles 1980-82 2001: Town Called Malice

2005: gold 2006: Classic - The Jam 2006: The Jam Story (2 CDs) 2007: 30 Years of Fire and Skill 2008: The Collection 2012: That's Entertainment: The Collection (UK:silver) 2012: Classic Album Selection (Six Albums 1977–1982) (box with 6 CDs) 2013: The Studio Recordings (box with 8 LPs)

EPs

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1982	The Jam	-	US176 (7 weeks) US
	The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow) Snap!	UK2 silver (11 weeks)UK	US135 (14 weeks) US
1983	Beat Surrender Snap!	UK1 silver (9 weeks)UK	US171 (4 weeks) US

More EPs

• 1983: Live! EP

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1977	In the City In the City	UK36 (16 weeks) UK
	All Around the World Snap!	UK13 (15 weeks) UK
	The Modern World This Is the Modern World	UK36 (11 weeks) UK
1978	News of the World Snap!	UK27 (12 weeks) UK
	David Watts / "A" Bomb on Wardour Street All Mod Cons	UK25 (15 weeks) UK
	Down in the Tube Station at Midnight All Mod Cons	UK15 (13 weeks) UK
1979	Strange Town Snap!	UK15th silver (18 weeks)UK
	When You're Young Snap!	UK17 (11 weeks) UK
	The Eton Rifles Setting Sons	UK3 silver (16 weeks)UK
1980	Going Underground / Dreams of Children Snap!	UK1 gold (21 weeks)UK
	Begin! Sound affects	UK1 silver (11 weeks)UK
1981	That's Entertainment Sound Affects	UK21st silver (13 weeks)UK
	Funeral Pyre Snap!	UK4th silver (10 weeks)UK
	Absolute Beginners Snap!	UK4 (9 weeks) UK
1982	Town Called Malice / Precious The Gift	UK1 platinum (13 weeks)UK
	Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero The Gift	UK8 (5 weeks) UK

More singles

• 1980: Pop Art Poem
• 1982: Tales from the Riverbank
• 1983: Move On Up

Video albums

• 1982: Trans Global Unity Express
• 1983: Video Snap!
• 1991: Greatest Hits
• 2002: 1977–1982 - The Complete Jam on Film (UK:gold)
• 2006: Punk Icons - The Ultimate Review

swell

1. ^ Weller rules out The Jam reunion ; Retrieved November 19, 2008 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Chart sources: UK US
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} UK gold / platinum database
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .

Web links

Commons : The Jam  - Collection of Images

• The Jam at Allmusic (English)
• The Jam at Discogs (English)
• Pretty complete (private) info page, engl.
• The Jam at laut.de
• The Jam at 45cat.com (English)