Hall of Fame 10
Technically, I’ve broken my own rule here by not writing about one band but writing about one person who has been in many bands. With Paul Weller, I simply had to break this rule. I love The Jam, I love The Style Council and I love his solo work.
The Jam formed in Woking,Surrey in the mid 1970’s. They were cited as punk/new wave/ mod revival, and were a strange combination of all three- their music isn’t strictly speaking punk, although it shares the fast tempo usually found in punk, their unusual use of other instruments made them new wave and yet they dressed like mods, in their sharply tailored suits and took their influences from 1960’s rock and R&B, a genre not frequently cited in punk or new wave.
The Jam had eighteen consecutive Top 40 singles from their debut in 1977 to their break up in 1982- but only achieved four Number 1 hits. As of 2007, their two singles “That’s Entertainment” and “Just Who Is The 5 O’Clock Hero” were actually the best selling singles of all time in the UK.
The Jam are known for a combination of fast paced music with melancholy lyrics. Their influences lay heavily in beat music, soul, rhythm and blues and psychedelic rock, and they are just so English in their songs. The Jam are also famous for their prominent bass lines, provided by bassist Bruce Foxton, and clearly evidenced in “Down In the Tube Station At Midnight”, “The Eton Rifles”, “Going Underground” and “Town Called Malice.”
Weller, as well as being primary vocalist and guitarist was the one responsible for pushing the mod styling of the group. He said himself he became obsessed with this period of time, playing a Rickenbaker guitar, riding a Lambretta and styling his hair like a mod. The Jam continually stood out from their fellow punk bands through their styling, and perhaps more importantly their highly political lyrics. Weller caused controversy amongst the British press by announcing his intention to vote Conservative, although he later claimed this was an idea thought up by their PR Officer to distance them further from the punk bands.
The Jam broke up in December 1982 and Weller formed The Style Council. Bruce Foxton, the bassist, produced a solo album and then joined Stiff Little Fingers until January 2006. Drummer Rick Butler formed band Time UK and released 3 singles. Foxton and Butler have also worked together since the group split up.Butlernow plays in a Jam tribute group, weirdly enough.
Weller and Foxton did not speak for almost twenty years after The Jam ended, but began a friendship again in January 2009. Foxton also contributed to two solo songs by Weller.
I love The Style Council, but I don’t know why or indeed have any idea how to classify their music. Some music websites call them jazz, some call them new wave. The band had only moderate success in terms of chart hits, the highest being 1984 single “My Ever Changing Moods” which reached number twenty nine in America. The 1985 album “Our Favourite Shop” was the best hit for the group in the UK.
“Long Hot Summer” is my favourite song of this group, a weird synth ballad featuring other group member Talbot on keyboards and organ. It is a very weird song but very beautiful and accompanied by what has to be the most homoerotic video I have ever seen, featuring a scarily thin and very uncomfortable looking topless Weller. The Style Council, which also now included drummer Steve White and vocalist Dee C.Lee (who was at the time married to Weller), continued with their political based lyrics, such as in “Walls Come Tumbling Down”. Weller has stated that his distaste towards 1980’s politics overshadowed the music.
Whilst the band released a few very good songs, their music slipped slowly downhill until their final album was rejected by their label, and they broke up in 1989. Weller has stated he wished they had done that a few years earlier. They are a very weird band and I haven’t a clue what genre they sit in, but I still really love them. As well as their political songs, they made a few tender and beautiful ballads, such a “Long Hot Summer” and “You’re The Best Thing.”
Weller has and still has a very successful solo career and I love his gravely voice and that he is still sporting his mod styling. Weller’s first solo album yielded two big solo hits for him, “The Changingman” and the beautiful “You Do Something To Me”, which reached number seven and number nine in the UK charts. He featured as a backing vocalist on Oasis’ “Champagne Supernova”. Weller was heavily associated with the Britpop movement on the 1990’s and many bands cited him as a great influence.
Weller still continues to make music to this day and his last album released in 2006 received high critical praise. He was offered a CBE in the same year but rejected the order. I shall never be able to figure this man out, he has a deep love for England in a Ray Davies style, and yet his music remains politically styled and quite scathing.
Weller gave a huge influence to British music, offering us two seminal bands and himself. For me, he is a bit of a hero and has such a wide net in terms of musical styling. I will always be in love with his voice, and for my money, “You Do Something To Me” is one of the greatest love songs ever written.
