Rock Around The World: The Jam - Article/TITLE><script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-9302529-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script> </head> <BODY><CENTER> <TABLE width="80%"> <TR> <TD align="left" ></TD> <TD align="right" ></TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER> <HR NOSHADE size=3 align=center> <DIV class=Sectionhead style="" > <ILAYER class=Sectionhead style="" > <ILAYER class=Boxlist style="" > <DIV class=Boxlist > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" > </P> <DIV class=Boxlistheight style=" width: 1077.133333px; height: 38.400000px; top: 0px;" > </DIV> </DIV> </ILAYER> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 278.400000pt; height: 444.550000pt; top: 29.100000pt; left: 778.100000pt;" > <LAYER top=38.800000px left=1037.466667px width=371.200000px height=592.733333px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,371,592" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > </LAYER> </DIV><A name="1507329"></A> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 486.100000pt; height: 15.100000pt; top: 14pt; left: 299.300000pt;" > <LAYER top=18.666667px left=399.066667px width=648.133333px height=20.133333px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,648,20" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: right; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.500000; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 590.400000px; margin-left: 369.600000px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >Rock Around The World 1 April 1978 <SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >23 </SPAN></SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 243pt; height: 386.350000pt; top: 596.650000pt; left: 30.650000pt;" > <LAYER top=795.533333px left=40.866667px width=324px height=515.133333px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,324,515" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 4.800000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Any group of musicians whose ages average close to <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >twenty is, at first glance, assumed to be punk rock. Once </SPAN>a band is signed to a record label it tends to be referrred <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >to as "new wave," or even just "rock." I have yet to </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >encounter a signed group that admits to being punk. Of course, 1 have yet to encounter Johnny Rotten, so there is </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >still hope. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 2.400000px; margin-right: 4.800000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Members of the Jam average 21.3 years old, which <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >qualifies them for this category question. I asked bassist </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Bruce Foxton about it. "We consider ourselves a rock and roll pop band," he declared. The Jam have two albums on Polydor Records, and they've "been asked a lot" about the difference between new wave and punk. But Foxton refuses to offer any personal definitions. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 4.800000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Punk is a gigantic movement in England. To read their <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >music press, one would think that the Sex Pistols had </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >already duplicated the Beatles' Invasion of 1963. The </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >Jam were in this country last fall and found that </SPAN>"America is a bloody big place. Punk is like a drop in the ocean. I expect by the time it catches on there'll be a <SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;" >new </SPAN>wave happening," Foxton wryly speculates. </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 2.400000px; margin-right: 4.800000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >"The band is proud of the fact that they're new wave," says Len Epand, Polydor's West Coast (U.S.) Publicity <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Manager, and one of the Jam's biggest fans. "But they believe 'new wave' is a media term–'new wave' in terms of </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >a second British Invasion. They don't want to be </SPAN>identified with a punk cult. You're right, they play pop <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >songs. They're back to basics, youth and energy." In </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >England, they're had three hits already, two of them in </SPAN>the top ten: <SPAN style=" font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;" >"In </SPAN>the City" and "All Around the World." They've "charted well," in the U.K., as they say in the trades. </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 7.200000px; margin-right: 4.800000px; margin-bottom: 4.800000px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >Anyhow, the Jam's philosophy has to do with <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >"basics." "Our music is simple, good, rock/pop songs. We </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >use only white lights, we have simple equipment, and we </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >wear black and white suits. It's basics." The suits are </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >made for them in (who says the Beatles can't happen </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >twice?) Carnaby Street. The Jam wear them because kids </SPAN></SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 243pt; height: 506.100000pt; top: 476.900000pt; left: 280.300000pt;" > <LAYER top=635.866667px left=373.733333px width=324px height=674.800000px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,324,674" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >can get similar ones in Oxfam (thrift) shops. But it got so <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >that everyone they saw in the street expected them to be wearing these suits. "So we changed on the second album </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >cover, not to be too identified with the snits." </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 9.600000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >The first album looks and sounds distinctly punk rock, but looking at it from within the movement, I <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >guess it's just music for kids to enjoy and/or identify </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >with. The Jam's audience ranges in age from about </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >fourteen to the early twenties. "They want to be </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >accessible to their audience–anti-elitist," according to </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Epand. "Kids our age have had nothing to relate to for </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >six or seven years, so it's about time they had a change," </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >says Foxton. "There's not a lot of music around that I like"–the only two current groups he can think of are the </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Sex Pistols and the Boys. "I like early Tamla/Motown. </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Paul (Weller–guitarist and group leader) only listens to </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >sixties music." Len Epand is sending him the Monkees, </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >this week. "You see, we don't remember it; it's all new to us," Foxton explains. The band even included a bit of the Batman TV theme on their first album. "We all liked the program and we were playing it regularly at London gigs." Why put it on the record? "We done it for a bit of a Iarf. We figured if people like it, good; if they don't, it won't hurt." </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 9.600000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 9.600000px; margin-right: 14.400000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >The second album cover is <SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;" >a </SPAN>lot less harsh than the <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >first. Yet a sticker announces: ATTENTION </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >PROGRAMMERS: PLEASE AUDITION SIDE 2, BAND </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >1 BEFORE AIRING. They still aren't interested in </SPAN>sophisticated equipment, but the songs are more varied <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >on this album. "The new album has some acoustic guitar </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >and some real production," says Epand. How does that fit into their "basics" philosophy? "It's still basics," he </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >affirms, "not laden with horns and string arrangements. </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >There's nothing they could't reproduce onstage." </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 9.600000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Epand talks about their similarity to the Who's "Tonight <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >at Noon" and even the Rolling Stones' </SPAN><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Flower: </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >period. Being compared with the Who is not uncommon for the </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Jam. "Musically we're not so different, but lyrically we </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >are," Foxton explains. "It would have been nice to see the Who in 1964 or five, but not after </SPAN><SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Tommy. </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >I respect the Who but I wouldn't like to seem them do 'My Generation' </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >now because it has nothing to do with today." This, </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >despite the fact that rock journalists all over are now </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >proclaiming "My Generation" to be a leading anthem of </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >the punk rock movement. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9.600000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >I suppose, since they've been playing for at least five <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >years, these musicians couldn't quite fit into the punk image of not wanting to be able to play well. Paul </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 2.400000px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 2.400000px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Weller and drummer Rick Butler began jamming together (hence the group's name) in their mid-teens, during lunch </SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 243pt; height: 506.100000pt; top: 476.900000pt; left: 529.950000pt;" > <LAYER top=635.866667px left=706.600000px width=324px height=674.800000px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,324,674" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >breaks at school. Fox-ton's been with them two and a half years. This is, of course, their first real band, and they had no special contacts to get them into the Music Business. <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >John Weller, Paul's father, kept taking tapes of the group </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >around for people to listen to. He used to he a </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >construction worker and now manages the band. Well. </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >they finally got a gig at the Marquee, a club in London, where they were seen by Chris Parry from Polydor, who now also helps with band management. "The bloke who </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >signed us to Polydor is in his late twenties. He's totally </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >into punk–he has to be." (Is this an admission of </SPAN>punkness?) Epand recalls hearing the Jam's first record, when it was sent over last summer by English Polydor. <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >"Nobody knew what to make of them except me and the </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >album promotion director. We immediately jumped up </SPAN>and down and screamed 'Sign them!' I immediately got in <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >trouble with all my friends who are musicians and are working to make music more sophisticated–for liking a </SPAN>group that went basic. When they saw the group it was <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >different ." </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 7.200000px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Incidentally, all three members of the Jam finished high school, unlike many other working class spokesman <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >musicians. And they are all from Woking, Surrey, not the heart of London. Originally there were four guys. </SPAN>Eventually, they are again planning on adding keyboards or having some one sing and not play. Maybe in a year <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >we'll get another guitar. Paul plays keyboards and bit of harmonica in the studio now. There will be no new players at this time." states Foxton. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Concentrating on building their careers and giving <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >their peers some good rock and roll pop music, the Jam </SPAN>don't seem to be identifying too much or too little with <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >the punk rock movement. And, having been to the States, their eyes were opened to the lesser significance of English </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >punk in this country. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 2.400000px; margin-right: 4.800000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >The Jam are getting AOR play but "lagging behind in sales in this country," as Polydor puts it. So far, they <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >haven't released a single, so maybe it isn't so surprising. </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >The single planned for the U.S. is "I Need You" from </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >the second album, backed by "In the City" from the </SPAN>first. Epand is confident: "Here they just don't have the momentum but I'm sure that will be turned around with this tour." The Jam will be doing 20 dates in 40 days, <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >beginning in New York in mid-March. Some of the </SPAN>concerts will be broadcast live, in halls that seat from one to fifteen thousand people. </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >At this writing, John Weller is here to complete the tour arrangements. </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: 1.120000; margin-top: 2.400000px; margin-right: 14.400000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >With a father like that behind them, they can't he all <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >bad. </SPAN><SPAN style="font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 7pt;" >Photo by Judi Lest,' </SPAN></SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 754.600000pt; height: 447.800000pt; top: 29.100000pt; left: 23.500000pt;" > <LAYER top=38.800000px left=31.333333px width=1006.133333px height=597.066667px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,1006,597" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <DIV style=" margin-top: 2.133333px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><LEFT> <IMG src="0443O023_Picture1.jpg" alt="Picture" align="top" height="594" width="1006"></LEFT> </DIV> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 256.600000pt; height: 119.750000pt; top: 476.900000pt; left: 23.500000pt;" > <LAYER top=635.866667px left=31.333333px width=342.133333px height=159.666667px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,342,159" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" ><LEFT> <IMG src="0443O023_Picture2.jpg" alt="Picture" align="top" height="159" width="342"></LEFT> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Boxlistheight style=" width: 1077.133333px; height: 1439.866667px; top: 18.666667px;" > </DIV> </ILAYER> </DIV> <HR NOSHADE size=3 align=center><CENTER> <TABLE width="80%"> <TR> <TD align="left" ></TD> <TD align="right" ></TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER> </BODY></HTML>