The Jam set up Paul Weller’s solo career!
Mod/Punk rockers The Jam formed in 1972 in Woking, England, where the members met in Secondary School. Led by singer/songwriter Paul Weller, they would spend a decade together before Paul set out to pursue a solo career.
In the first half of that decade, they prepared to release their debut album which came in 1977. Named In The City, it had no hits, although it did, strangely, have a cover of the Batman Theme on it. One can only assume this worked well live.
Their second album was also released in ‘77. Called This Is The Modern World, it didn’t have any hits on it either. Another cover can be found on this release, In The Midnight Hour.
The third release from The Jam, All Mod Cons came in 1978 and now Paul Weller’s songwriting started to take shape, most noticeably in Down in the Tube Station at Midnight.
For the seemingly obligatory cover, we got David Watts, a relatively unknown Kinks tune that only featured as a B-side on one of their singles.
The following year we got Setting Sons. The cover here is, very surprisingly, Heat Wave by Martha and the Vandellas.
As far as their own tunes, this album came with their first top 10 hit, The Eton Rifles, a reference to the upper class of England as Eton is a public school where most politicians and the country’s general elite go. Paul Weller is famously a socialist so he must have felt the need to bring this up.
Before their next album, The Jam released Going Underground, a single that for whatever reason didn’t make an album, it would end up being one of their biggest tunes.
On The Jam’s next release, Sound Affects, we got one of their biggest tunes, That’s Entertainment. Strangely it was not released as a single in the U.K., instead, people had to import the single from abroad. This made it the best-selling imported single in the U.K. of all time. The BBC also ranked it as the 43rd-best song ever.
In 1982, The Jam released their last studio album, which came with their biggest tune, Town Called Malice.
Following their 10 years together, Paul Weller would go on and become one of England’s most loved artists. As a solo act, he released the tunes You Do Something To Me and Wild Wood.
Weller is still active releasing albums, making TV appearances, and touring his vast catalogue of great tunes, 50 years after forming The Jam.
The Jam Tunes | Related Pages
Heat Wave
You can learn how to play Heat Wave by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| Eb N.C (Bb C Bb G) | Fm (Gbm) | Gm (Bm) | Cm (Bm) | Cm |
Whenever I’m with him, (oh, oh, oh, oh) something inside (inside)…
In the Midnight Hour
You can learn how to play In the Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| E A | E A | E A | E A |
I’m gonna wait ’til the midnight hour, that’s when my love comes tumbling down…
Need Your Love So Bad
You can learn how to play Need Your Love So Bad by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac using chords, lyrics, and a Spytunes video guitar lesson.
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
Need someone’s hand, to lead me through the night…
That’s Entertainment
You can learn how to play That’s Entertainment by The Jam using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| G | Em |
A police car and a screaming siren…
Town Called Malice
You can learn how to play Town Called Malice by The Jam using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
You better stop dreaming of the quiet life, ’cause it’s the one we’ll never know…
The Jam on the web
Artists & Bands
Behind every single tune you learn, there’s an artist or band with an entire catalogue of music, waiting to be discovered.
Find out more about these great Artists & Bands, and let their tunes guide you to success.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about The Jam tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
