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The Jam....Punk or Mod?

The Jam punk or mod?

  • Total voters
    43
Describes himself as a mod, wore mod clothing, er...

Sid Vicious, who was basically a bit of a cunt, set upon Weller (like he set upon a few people) in the Speakeasy in London. When asked about this Weller plays it down. But I know someone who was there that night and they describe Weller giving Vicious a right battering after Vicious tried to headbutt him. Put Sid Vicious in casualty. So not all bad.
 
Looks like I'll be in a tiny minority but as a 14 year old would-be punk in 1977 me and all my friends considered In the City a punk song, therefore The Jam a punk band and the album has lots of thrashy 2 minute 3-chord tunes which was definitive of punk back then (don't forget we were raised on Deep Purple and Bob Dylan from older brothers and sisters).

So Punk. Regardless of what came after.

But when I look back I think we didn't distinguish much between genres for a year or two; you could be a punk by just having cropped hair or anything like a number 2 or 3 haircut + tight jeans (never flared obvs), knee rips were quite in + DMs, preferably 8 hole where I lived (west London suburbia, nearest tube Perivale). It was only over the following years that all the various genres seemed to solidify, but whereas skinheads were around pretty quickly, I don't remember mods appearing until ??1979-1980? I hadn't even heard of "mods" when In the City came out.
 
Am I losing my mind or does Beat Surrender have a vague resemblance to (the far superior) Come On Now by The Ramones which is one of their sort of mod influenced ones.

 
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Early jam is definitely pretty punky - stripped down, fast paced songs played with aggression and energy. wellers vocals are very much glottal stopped attitude that nobody sang like before 1976. And the Weller's angry social commentary - which was pretty much compulsory for 77 punk - was more perceptive and articulate than anyone's bar the clash.
They used the early who as a template rather than the ramones , the guitars are less distorted and they're a bit more going on musically - but its definitely in the same ball park as punk . And I definitely think weller was at his best when he was leaning punkwards rather than when trying to be the woking soulman.
All the most important uk artists from that era - clash, banshees, buzzcocks, jam, stranglers, john lydon - and the wave of new music that came in its wake (cure, post punk, bauhaus, ian dury, the police, blondie, two tone etc) - used punk as an aesthetic starting point rather than an end in itself. (see also the new york CBGB bands - with the ramones a notable exception - but they pretty much patented the punk sound so fair enough)
so punked up mods.
but - most importantly - a fucking brilliant band.
 
OK, what do we think of their second longplayer, This is The Modern World?

I know it's not really rated, but I loved it for a bit when I was 16, and I'm listening to it again now, and as far as I can tell it still does the job.
 
Idris2002 said:
OK, what do we think of their second longplayer, This is The Modern World?

I know it's not really rated, but I loved it for a bit when I was 16, and I'm listening to it again now, and as far as I can tell it still does the job.
Click to expand...

Fine album. There's a place in my heart for the first three albums. And even Setting Sons as it reminds me of a good (interesting) time in my life.
 
Idris2002 said:
OK, what do we think of their second longplayer, This is The Modern World?

I know it's not really rated, but I loved it for a bit when I was 16, and I'm listening to it again now, and as far as I can tell it still does the job.
Click to expand...

I loved some of the songs off TITMW when I was 15 or 16, I have always assumed its one of those albums that would die on its arse if I dared to listen again after 40 years, but in light of your post maybe I'll have a go...
 
baked beans slurping cum cunts, is what they are. just achingly mediocre, archetypical English crapness. Even Kirk Degiorgio - the mildest mannered person ever in music got offended when Simon Reynolds compared him to Paul Weller and I don't blame the geezer.
 
dialectician said:
baked beans slurping cum cunts, is what they are. just achingly mediocre, archetypical English crapness. Even Kirk Degiorgio - the mildest mannered person ever in music got offended when Simon Reynolds compared him to Paul Weller and I don't blame the geezer.
Click to expand...

Eton rifles, going underground, down the tubestation at midnight - ? all brilliant songs with great hooks delivered with verve and passion and with original themes - and two of them become massive chart hits. mediocre? archetypical? Is there a whole overdone genre of songs about being mugged by fascists or takedowns of the class system that im unaware of? Fuck me - what do you want from a pop record?
 
Kaka Tim said:
Eton rifles, going underground, down the tubestation at midnight - ? all brilliant songs with great hooks delivered with verve and passion and with original themes - and two of them become massive chart hits. mediocre? archetypical? Is there a whole overdone genre of songs about being mugged by fascists or takedowns of the class system that im unaware of? Fuck me - what do you want from a pop record?
Click to expand...

Not to sound like the beatles and to sound more like disco.
 
loads of great poppy records from that era, x-ray specs, the Ramones live, Buzzcocks, Au Pairs, Chic with nile Rogers, even Gang of Four - though their lyrics were pretentious half digested gramsci but still a great guitar sound. The Slits, The Raincoats, Alternative TV, Wire, even bits of Joy Division. But the Jam are just so out of step.
 
same kind of headspace.

all the 60s cliches of authenticity, and the riffs as you say.

Pop music is better when it's inauthentic and in the moment as a plastic commodity.
 
dialectician said:
loads of great poppy records from that era, x-ray specs, the Ramones live, Buzzcocks, Au Pairs, Chic with nile Rogers, even Gang of Four - though their lyrics were pretentious half digested gramsci but still a great guitar sound. The Slits, The Raincoats, Alternative TV, Wire, even bits of Joy Division. But the Jam are just so out of step.
Click to expand...
I love that you still have the power of HATE when it comes to music - but it actually is odd that at a time when innovation was the thing, the Jam were (at least partly) doing the nostalgic revival thing. That's really is a strange thing to do, when you think about it. It's not like their records were being bought by proud veterans of the Brighton riots is it?
 
dialectician said:
same kind of headspace.

all the 60s cliches of authenticity, and the riffs as you say.

Pop music is better when it's inauthentic and in the moment as a plastic commodity.
Click to expand...
Is Blondie's Heart of Glass a plastic commodity? Or does it transcend its inauthenticity?
 
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