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The Jam

The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1982, including four number one hits. As of 2007, "That's Entertainment" and "Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" remain the best-selling import singles of all time in the UK.[10] They released one live album and six studio albums, the last of which, The Gift, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. When the group disbanded in 1982, their first 15 singles were re-released and all placed within the top 100.[11]

This article is about the English rock band of the 1970s–1980s. For other uses, see Jam (disambiguation).

The band drew upon a variety of stylistic influences over the course of their career, including 1970s punk and new wave and 1960s beat music, soul and rhythm and blues. The trio were known for their melodic pop songs, their distinctly English flavour and their mod image. The band launched the career of Paul Weller, who went on to form the Style Council and later started a solo career. Weller wrote and sang most of the Jam's original compositions and played lead guitar, using a Rickenbacker 330. Bruce Foxton provided backing vocals and prominent basslines, which were the foundation of many of the band's songs, including the hits "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight", "The Eton Rifles", "Going Underground" and "Town Called Malice."

Post-split releases[edit]

Snap! was the first Jam compilation album released after the band split,[60] reaching No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart in 1983.[11] This was followed by Greatest Hits, released in 1991, which also peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart.[11]


A five-CD box set Direction Reaction Creation, featuring all of the Jam's studio material (plus a disc of rarities) peaked at No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart upon its release in 1997;[11] an unprecedented achievement for a box set. In 2002, Virgin Radio counted down the top 100 British music artists of all-time as polled by listeners and the Jam were No. 5 on the list. Weller made two other appearances in the poll; as part of The Style Council at No. 93 and as a solo artist at No. 21.[61]

In popular culture[edit]

From 26 June to 27 September 2015, an exhibition entitled The Jam: About the Young Idea ran at Somerset House in London.[75][76][77] For the first time, all three members of the band, the Weller family and music archivist Den Davis opened up their archives for the exhibition. Despite Foxton's reported hopes that the opening would bring all three together on stage for the first time since their 1982 split, Buckler did not attend. NME reported at the time that, while Foxton and Weller apparently reconciled no later than 2010, "Weller and Buckler are said to have not been in the same room since their band’s demise."[78] The exhibition was curated by Tory Turk, Nicky Weller[79] (Paul's sister) and Russell Reader.


In September 2015, The Jam: About The Young Idea, the documentary film, directed by Bob Smeaton, was broadcast on Sky Arts.[80][81] The documentary was released on DVD, packaged with a recording of their 1980 live performance on German TV show Rockpalast.[82][83][84]


About The Young Idea was an exhibition held at the Cunard Building in Liverpool, which was opened by Buckler and ran from 1 July to 6 October 2016.[85] Curators Nicky Weller, Den Davies and Russell Reader drew together a wide range of memorabilia including personal items provided by the band members. A free app allowed visitors to engage with the exhibits by scanning VCodes.[86]


This is the Modern World was an exhibition held at Valley Gardens, Brighton, running from 1 August to 29 August 2022. Curated by Nicky Weller, it included a collection of previously unseen Jam and Style Council memorabilia.[87]

 – vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1972–1982)

Paul Weller

 – drums, percussion (1972–1982)

Rick Buckler

 – vocals, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1974–1982)

Bruce Foxton

(1977)

In the City

(1977)

This Is the Modern World

(1978)

All Mod Cons

(1979)

Setting Sons

(1980)

Sound Affects

(1982)

The Gift

Studio albums

(15 May 2017). That's Entertainment:: My Life in the Jam. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-78558-640-8.

Buckler, Rick

Egan, Sean (2018). Love With a Passion Called Hate: The Inside Story of the Jam. London: Askill Publishing.  978-0-9545750-9-0.

ISBN

Deabill, Stuart; Snowball, Ian (14 September 2012). . Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Limited. ISBN 978-981-4398-06-0.

Thick As Thieves: Personal Situations with the Jam

Sedazzari, Paolo (6 September 2012). . FitzroviaTV. YouTube. Retrieved 28 July 2022. In this 25 minute documentary you will see the pure emotion, pride and belief as everyone talks about The Jam.[88]

"Thick As Thieves Personal Situations With The Jam Documentary"

The Jam articles

at Curlie

The Jam

at AllMusic

The Jam

from the BBC

The Jam

discography at Discogs

The Jam

discography at MusicBrainz

The Jam