Tom Dunne's Music & Me: Happy to revisit the debate on The Jam v The Style Council
Paul Weller, DC Lee, and Mick Talbot of the Style Council. Picture: Kerstin Rodgers/Redferns
To understand The Jam vs The Style Council debate you must first understand punk. Punk was the Covid-19 of the 1970s. It particularly worried older people – we called them hippies – and people with underlying conditions, like those who owned a double necked guitar or who secretly liked jazz. Young people could have it but not notice.
It spread like wildfire. Everyone who attended the ‘Super Spreader’ Event – the Sex Pistols in Manchester, June 4, 1976 - caught it and had to form bands immediately afterwards: The Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Fall and The Smiths. Soon there were outbreaks in Derry (The Undertones), Belfast (SLF) and Dublin (The Radiators).
Fear stalked the land. Punks were condemned from the pulpit. The Sunday World carried lurid reports of gobbing, pogoing , violence, ripped clothes and people wearing razor blades. Soon we heard the Sex Pistols had cursed on TV and offended the queen. The only question on our lips was: ‘How quickly can I get this?’ The view inside the venues was different. Yes, if you saw The Outcasts or Nun Attax you’d have to sleep with the lights on, but generally it was just kids making music, and to my ears, great music! But the music establishment was dismissive. It became important to us that some of these bands delivered, did something, wrote something.
The Jam were early contenders: Two albums in 1977 that were as tight as a whippet’s bum on the home straight, a cool image and Kinks covers, you sensed they had something, particularly Weller. When they released 'Down in The Tube Station at Midnight' in October ’78 I literally pointed at the TV to say, ‘I told you they were good.’ They were soon Top of the Pops regulars.
‘Our’ people were on the telly. 'Going Underground', 'Eton Rifles', the hits just flowed. But the release of Sound Affects was still startling. It was their fifth album in less than four years and was heralded as its generation’s Revolver, with 'Start' even stealing a bass line from Taxman. Like Revolver, there were no ‘fillers’ but one track, 'That’s Entertainment', with its lyrics of “screaming sirens” and “slashed seat affairs” was like punk’s Waterloo Sunset.
And then, at the peak of their powers Paul Weller broke up the band and formed The Style Council. It’s hard at this remove to put that in perspective: Brian Johnson from AC/DC suddenly joining Haircut 100? Bowie joining Wham? And the image! It was hard to decide if they were on their way to a boating regatta or a Duran Duran video shoot.
Jam fans had not fought the punk wars for this and, in fairness, probably didn’t give the Style Council a fair listen. But it was hard to, they looked like they’d gone over to the other side. And there were new kids on the block: The Smiths, REM. Cool indie had moved on. Unloved by the press, Jam fans and their record company, they broke up in 1989.
Weller at the time had said that they had created great music but that it wouldn’t be appreciated for some time. Well, it seems that time is now. Listening to the new best of, Long Hot Summer, lovingly curated by the man himself, the singles (always great) dovetailing with stunning album tracks the overall effect is pure Joy.
Joy and, dare I say it, fun, the one thing Jam fans most begrudged him having. He was supposed to be their spokesman, weighed down by their expectations, not off indulging himself and his talent to see where it could go. Not off exploring his soul side, his love of Curtis Mayfield and the beautiful Dee C Lee. Yep, Weller, 24, having fun, the one thing, as The Beatles had said, that money can’t buy.
Keyboard player Mick Talbot was a serious foil for Weller, and allowed him go places with his talent he never could have gone with The Jam. And, at this juncture, the painful break up but a memory, to be able to play Jam classics back to back with 'The Paris Match', 'My Ever Changing Moods' and instrumentals like 'Party Chambers' is one serious pleasure.
So Jam fans, loosen up the mohair suit, park the Vespa and enjoy Paul’s lost years. Yes there was some jazz, but he made a full recovery. He couldn’t have made Wild Wood without doing this first. And, whisper it, a lot of it is better than The... I’ll stop there.
