Going Underground is the easiest entry to The Jam and obviously one of their best if not best! To be Someone is a great track and the Noel G cover is brilliant too.
Love it when the “youth” discover bands of my youth. The Jam were the biggest band in the U.K. in the early 80s with Going Underground going straight in at number 1. Paul Weller (singer/songwriter) still going strong today and well worth seeing live. Check out Down in the Tube Station at Midnight by the Jam for some brilliant lyrics.
The UK in the late 70's and early 80's was a period of gloom and doom there was mass unemployment, steel works,coal mines,car factories were closing down,drink,drugs and all the other social problems that went with it were rife, In my late teens at the time I could relate to the songs of the Jam and many of the " punk" songs at the time,most were about the social problems we were all facing....grim,gloomy times but some Great songs came from that era...check out " Down in the tube station at midnight", " Strange town" and " Going underground" ( with the lyrics if possible,it ll help you guys understand the meaning of the songs) Great reactions guys keep up the good work 👍👍
Yeah, my dad was made redundant 3 times in the 80s. Twice at scunthorpe steel works, and once at case tractor foundry. Plus all my uncles were constantly fighting for their jobs at the colliery in Doncaster. Grim times indeed.
@@TheRetroManRandySavage Yep, remember that. My dad worked at Triumph in Coventry. Redundant 1979, never worked again. I think it was 12000 lost thier jobs in less than two years. Really grim.
Spot on, I was going to say, there's no dark meaning to the song, Paul Weller found inspiration time after time on that note. Like the ones you've just mentioned, this one is also about him moving from a comfortable town (Woking) to a major city (London), at a time when all major UK cities had big problems from transport to even getting the milk floats out of a morning.
well before mad cow , its about the seventies working class people who felt like we didnt have much hope about anything and everything was a struggle , work, money etc
the Milkmen was on strike, like a lot of industry's in the late 70's early 80's. lots family was struggling, hence the lyric of buying a pint or new cloths for the kids. the Jam was very punk in their lyrics, pointing out the reality of living in Britain at the time.
Summing up mundane life in non discript towns in the early 1980s. Your right it’s a universal theme of post industrial towns it could be anywhere. Weller one hellava song writer
I grew up in this era. You say " Ghost Town". Try " The Specials, Ghost Town", real British feeling from the times. Depression and division. But the most enchanting music. Big love from you're old mate's in Old Blighty. X
YES, YES, YES. Finally The Jam!!! A Northerner but these were my childhood band. Think it was grim in Woking try Sheffield or any other northern town run into the ground by Thatcher. Saw them live Top Rank Sheffield, Weller in full length black corduroy coat at gig end signed my gig ticket. So many classics inc Down in the Tube Station at midnight, Strange Town, Eton Rifles, I could go on and on. Thanks guys!!
I was just at the right age to be getting interested in music when The Jam, Madness, The Specials and a few others were at their peak and they would always talk about their influences, The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, etc that you had to then go out and discover these bands as well and then in time people of my age group would then go on to form bands who were influenced by Weller and co like Blur and Oasis.
from the 1950s to 90s a milk float was a small electric powered truck that delivered milk and cream to your doorstep early in the morning, it was quiet and didn't wake anybody up. They existed when local dairies were more commonplace in towns and cities and delivered to your door. Now replaced by the expansion of supermarket chains and the delivery milkman and their electric floats became extinct.
Love this and Paul Wellers voice, have to say the drumming on this is superb. Such an iconic sound from the 80's, (mad cow disease was in the 90's) They used 'Town Called Malice' in the film 'Billy Elliot' along with 5 other tracks from T-Rex and one from The Clash, best soundtrack ever for a film. Town Called Malice fit perfectly into Billy Elliot as the film was set around the Miners Strike in the 80's and one 11yr old lad wanting to be a ballet dancer from a 'broken' town with broken but proud people. Well worth giving that a watch when you get 5.
the song is a snapshot of Britain in the early 80s under the premiership of Mrs Thatcher.The reference to the milk etc is a subliminal one because in the 1970s,Mrs Thatcher under a previous Tory government was Secretary of State of Education and one of the first things she did was stop free milk being given to kids from poor backgrounds in primary schools,she became known as Thatcher,Thatcher the milk snatcher.First saw The Jam as a spotty teenager in 1978,six times in total,great live band & so were the Style Council.Saw Paul Weller in concert few weeks ago,an incredible performer & songwriter,truly one of the greats
I interviewed them in the dressing room of the Nashville in about February 1977 for a fanzine my friends and I were making. A few days later we walked into the Marquee and they were standing at the bar, called me over, hugs and kisses all round, Bruce bought me a drink, and for months after all my friends called me The Jam Tart
Love, love, love The Jam. This could be another wee rabbit hole for you. 'Going Underground', 'The Bitterest Pill', 'Eton Rifles', 'That's Entertainment' etc etc. Paul Weller's 'Wild Wood' is fantastic too.
Simple explanation re the milk floats. It is just describing a change in customer patterns regarding milk buying - moving away from getting milk delivered to your door each morning by a milk float to instead greater amounts of people buying from the supermarket. That is my take on it anyway!! The song in essence is Paul Weller ( the singer) describing his teenage years in the town he grow up in (Woking)
A few Jam songs for you - "Down in a tube station at midnight", "Strange town", "Eton rifles", "Going under ground", "When you're young", "Private hell", "Smithers-Jones", "Saturday's kids", "Little boy soldiers" and my favourite, "That's entertainment". They are all very thought provoking (have a very good listen to the lyrics) and they tell the story of growing up in Britain in the the 1970s and early 1980s. The lead singer, Paul Welled also had a band named "The Style Council" after he split up "The Jam" and also had a good solo career, which is still going.
Listen to the album Snap by The Jam. There isn’t a bad tune on it. Most of what is being recommended is on this compilation. Great group. The Gallagher brothers refer to Paul Weller as the Godfather of the indie/rock scene
Ah, this takes me back to my school days in the 70's. The Jam had many great hit songs and Paul Weller, the lead singer, went on to form other bands and had a solo career too.
The Jam - Late 70s- mid 80s , the Weller formed The Style Council before his solo career from early 90s and on, Weller is pretty much Noels best mate btw
The milk floats was the time where people stopped buying milk from milkmam and started using supermarkets as it was cheaper putting milkman out of work
@@thomaslawley9816 Unigate nearly pulled out of the business, and Express in London did, the co-ops also ceased deliveries. The Unigate milk rounds were acquired- with others, by The Milk Marketing Board, who invented the franchise delivery method for roundsmen , and acquired some other local dairies in 1985ish as they aimed to grow a downstream profitable business. When the MMB was 'privatised' this ended up effectively with what became Muller foods and they badged it Milk and More, now selling at the premium end of fresh food delivery
The Jam were a mod revival / punk rock band during 1972 / 1982 . Paul Weller is a legend going on to have a highly successful solo career and one of Noel Gallaghers big influences / friends . They have collaborated many times since the Oasis days .
The dairy stuff, the sad housewives are metaphors, i feel that British bands maybe especially of this era, embrace the grubby, let down, fragility, melancholy of life and find something there to fight against, push against and pull yourself upwards and forwards ... there's no illusion, no rose tinted fakeness and dreaminess in these post industrial northern and london songs ... thats a generalisation like :) PS Malice is a play on Alice from the novel a town like Alice
this song is forms the most iconic and memorable scene in the film Billy Elliott. It's is just talking about hard working class life where you either have a beer or clothe the kids .... you can't do both. The Jam had and still have a very loyal cult following.
My favourite band! Great rabbit hole to go down. Weller wrote great lyrics about a hard life in Thatcher Britain. That's Entertainment, going Underground, Eton Rifles and many more songs.
The Jam were a Mod revival band, with their roots in the punk movement of the late '70's, and many MANY of their songs have a strong socio-political commentary running through the lyrics. Weller wrote about inner city degradation and violence, the lack of opportunity in late 70s and 80s UK. Town Called Malice is a kitchen sink drama set to music, and paints a picture of a small UK industrial town, where everyday is a struggle of poverty and mundane existence, unemployment and welfare. Many, many MANY Jam songs make strong reference to social inequality. The Eton Rifles is a song about the UK class system (Eton being the home of the top private school in UK), Down in the Tube Station at Midnight is a commentary on inner city violence and the rise of the nationalist movement at the time, Smithers Jones about living in a corporate rat race and being spat out when the company is done with you. I would seriously recommend any of the tracks above, or Mr Clean, Butterfly Collector or Dreams of Children, and really listen to the lyrics. In my opinion Paul Weller is one of rock music's greatest lyricists. Enjoy
Guys, you have to check out Paul's other band The Style Council performing Walls Come Tumbling Down. A great tune for dancing with the message "Power To The People". The official video is great - filmed in Poland in the mid-80s.
Thats the jam top tune you mension they would go well with toast very good We had a group called bread let's continue with the this theme you too could do a duet call yourself the barm cakes also nice toasted with jam on no offence guys 😅😅😅
The dairy subject was a point to the demise of the milk delivery industry. It has all but disappeared now, only to resurface for a short shot during lockdown. most of The Jam stuff, if not all was political views of living in the uk during the 70's and 80's. This song is another one focusing on the view of life around them at the time, as I'm sure you've got. The title is a parody on the film A Town Like Alice, the subject matter of the film being somewhat different though. you should check out Eaton Riffles and Going Underground. maybe This Is A Modern World too. just to add That's Entertainment. Spencer could do a cover of it.
The lyrics are amazing, although I didn't get some of the references ( milk, Thatcher, schools) but the other lyrics were amazing!thanks for the explanations in the comments, very informative. I have been listening to this song for a long time!
You can throw a dart at The Jam back catalogue in the dark and you’ll come up with a belter song. Your joke about toast wasn’t too far off the mark as to where their name allegedly came from. Supposedly Paul Weller was having breakfast with his family and trying to come up with a name for his band and his sister suggested The Jam because of the popular glam rock band called Marmalade. The 70’s and early 80’s in the U.K. was a very economically depressed time (for most) with shipyards, coal mines and steelworks closing down. Major strikes resulting in national power outages and uncollected refuse. Unemployment blowing up to such an extent that it was reported on in a not too dissimilar way to the covid deaths. Many towns and villages becoming like ghost towns due to people moving to larger towns and cities looking for work. It was very much reflected in the music of the time with the music giving a voice to the disenfranchised and the youth feeling that their prospects were very much limited…and that was when it was possible to go to university for free with a grant/bursary anywhere in the U.K. if your family income was below a certain threshold and many having to buy things on hp (hire purchase) instead of outright, as had traditionally been the way, this is referenced in the song by the “gets dashed against the co-op” as the co-op had many stores nationwide where you could make weekly payments to do things like buying school uniforms or general household items and clothing…they even did/do funerals.
Guys you really have to listen to The Long Pigs album - "The Sun is Often Out" from the 1990's. Those that really know Britpop KNOW these guys were one of the VERY best bands around even though not rising to the levels of Oasis and co. Crispin singning and Richard Hawley on guitar - say no more (Hawley also played with Pulp) Try ""Jesus Christ" for a starter Keep the music alive by helping others discover them :)
The Jam brothers go back late 70s into the 80s have a crack at (THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT) fourty years after i first heard this song it still gives me GOOSEBUMPS
Been a fan of Weller since i was 10 when I first heard All Mod Cons album in 1978.. One of the the best British songwriters of all time, especially during The Jam era.. Tube station at Midnight, Private Hell, Saturday's Kids & Thats Entertainment, just a few great examples of Weller's genius..
No, mad cow disease was years later. Milk was delivered in glass bottles by electric milk floats. The diary yard was the distribution centre in most towns where the carts parked up. The milkman used a horse and cart originally. Most now get milk from supermarkets. The housewives would put the empty bottles out on the doorstep for the milkman to collect. Malice is a play on A Town Called Alice. Weller grew up in Woking, Surrey, a commuter town to SW of London.
Guys. Believe me, as a British 50 year old, you'll never be able to really tune into this. You might like it, perhaps, but only superficially. Cut your losses, asap.
The whole song is about tbe 80s and the unemployment and thatcherism and the deprivation the torys made. Thats what it's all about its int he same vein as specials: ghost town.
The only thing I don't get about that vibe is that by the mid 90s things were pretty great, so doesn't that mean things technically got better with them in charge?
Paul Weller - The Modfather. Other Jam songs Going Underground, Start, That's Entertainment. Also try his next band, The Style Council. Either Long Hot Summer or Shout to the Top.
@@markrankin1094 hmm he might of been playing for them when I saw him. as SLF was the opening act for the Stranglers. my mind isn't as young as it once was. as is the case for most of us old punks lol.
Maybe 2 years late, but let me give you guys some insight ... It's original working title was "A Town Called Woking" ( Our home town). It is based lyrically about the way Woking was going at the time and it has got worse now. The references to the dairy yard is where my Father used to work and Paul would have walked past to go to Rick's house. The reference to the "Ghost of a Steam Train", was in reference to the main Woking Station that used to have the tracks heading towards London passing through Maybury (where Paul lived). I hope this puts light on your questions :)
Woking in Surrey is Paul Weller's home town, it's also my home town and is "a town called malice". Check out their number one "going underground" an incredible piece of work that went straight into number one in the UK
"Going Underground" is a great song. But "That's Entertainment" perfectably encapsculated my first years in London in my early twenties. With very little money. In a bedsit, and then a shared flat, just near West Brompton tube station. The plus was I met some great people. Some more disturbed than others. One of my flat mates, (a South African veteran of the Border War) I was later very reliably informed slept with a loaded Browning 9mm pistol under his pillow. Goodness knows where he acquired it. My best guess it was a war trophy from the Falklands War. Nowadays, the starting point for court sentencing in the UK for mere posession of an unlicenced firearm is 5 years imprisonment.
A lot of people have already explained that it used to be common in the UK for your milk to be delivered ,the milkman driving a "milk float" electric truck,and leaving bottles on your doorstep,it started to end during this period,the bit about housewives clutching milk bottles to their hearts and hanging live letters out to dry.This is a cheeky reference to an oft quoted urban myth about milkmen getting amourous with their housewife customers!
Proud to be born and breed in Woking Surrey. ❤️ Status quo also from Woking or some of the band were x love watching your videos, they have me creased up lol x keep up the great vids 👍
Love your reactions to The Jam, How about doing “Going Underground or Down in the tube station at midnight” there’s so many great jam songs but I’m sure you’re like these and I’d love to hear your comments, best band ever!
My interpretation of it was, yes the demise of milk getting delivered to your door- hence "the milk floats stand dying in a dairy yard". But the "clutching empty milk bottles to their hearts"- was the old adage of housewives sleeping with "the milkman" while the husbands at work...
Paul Weller The Modfather was also in a band called The Style Council both bands different eras different types of music a bit like Oasis and Noel Gallagher with his High Flying Birds but I love Both, I was brought up on this music. Paul Weller has a fantastic solo career too. But please can you react to Oasis cover version of The Jam song ‘Carnation’ it features Paul Weller and Steve Craddock a member of another amazing British band Ocean Colour Scene. Noel also does a great cover of The Jam’s ‘To Be Someone’ Oasis have covered some huge songs in the past by Amazing artists like Thin Lizzy, The Who, The Beatles, The Jam, Neil Young and Slade.
Britain in recession, people out of work, restless young bored people, no jobs. The jam painted a picture. Of the landscape through songs with descriptive words and lyrics. The title speaks volumes.
Definitions of malice: feeling a need to see others suffer. Snonyms of malice are grudge, ill will, malevolence, malignity, spite, and spleen. Not knocking that you don't know the word but trying to help in why it's important to this song
I was a teenager when the Jam came along. They launched and inspired a movement, a culture and a a way of being. You should check out the great documentary about them
Town called Malice, is taken From A town called Alice which is about Alice Springs written by Nevil Shute and made into a film made in 1956 (year I was born ) set during the Japanese invasion of Maylasia. British women and Australian soldiers. Black and white but a great film
Now react to Down in the Tubestation at Midnight, it’s their best song. Also Going Underground, That’s Entertainment, Eton Rifles, In The City, English Rose, The Butterfly Collector, the list goes on and on...
Have a look at "Funeral Pyre" by The Jam for a visceral drum assault with an edge. If it had been covered by Sepultura or Slayer it would have been lauded to the heavens.
I thought they liked music, yet they haven't heard of The Jam?!? I thought they spoke English, yet they don't know the word malice!?! 🤔 ...Oh yeah, they're American!
Same era as The specials "Ghost Town" or The Clash "Rudie can't fail", it's about the Thatcher years in UK, urban decline.. the so-called UK decay, forgotten youth etc. The time I left school actually
fantastic song, still remember all the words from my school days in the 80s! not mad cow disease as that was later. in 80s loads of british folk got milk delivered in bottles to the doorstep, there wasnt any underlying issues with milk then that i recall
When I see the title I always thing of 'A Town Like Alice'. Book, Movie (1956), Miniseries (1981). The town being Alice Springs, NT, Australia. The hometown of one of the characters.
Most Americans and even some young Brits won't get that this song title is a play on a 1956 movie (and then a 1981 tv mini series) called "A Town Like Alice"
Coal miners strike going on for more than a year at the time. This song was also a big part of the sound track to the movie Billy Elliot which was staged during the miners strike.
Paul Weller is a modern-day socio-political poet - not unlike Chris Difford from the magnificent Squeeze. Absolutely loved The Jam as a young girl - I bought _Start_ aged 9, and never looked back. There's a fabulous BBC doco on superfans of The Jam, also features celebrity fans like Martin Freeman. Well worth your time.
The jam ‘going underground’ belting tune
the distant echoes of far away voices.... timeless classic
Going Underground is the easiest entry to The Jam and obviously one of their best if not best! To be Someone is a great track and the Noel G cover is brilliant too.
@@YoungTowserits got nothing on that's entertainment
Love it when the “youth” discover bands of my youth. The Jam were the biggest band in the U.K. in the early 80s with Going Underground going straight in at number 1. Paul Weller (singer/songwriter) still going strong today and well worth seeing live. Check out Down in the Tube Station at Midnight by the Jam for some brilliant lyrics.
Paul Weller has to be one of the best lyricists I know but I was only born in 87, down in the tubestation at midnight is my favourite tune!
back when music was really music. dam i feel old lol
The UK in the late 70's and early 80's was a period of gloom and doom there was mass unemployment, steel works,coal mines,car factories were closing down,drink,drugs and all the other social problems that went with it were rife, In my late teens at the time I could relate to the songs of the Jam and many of the " punk" songs at the time,most were about the social problems we were all facing....grim,gloomy times but some Great songs came from that era...check out " Down in the tube station at midnight", " Strange town" and " Going underground" ( with the lyrics if possible,it ll help you guys understand the meaning of the songs) Great reactions guys keep up the good work 👍👍
Yeah, I remember……. 😞
Yeah, my dad was made redundant 3 times in the 80s. Twice at scunthorpe steel works, and once at case tractor foundry. Plus all my uncles were constantly fighting for their jobs at the colliery in Doncaster. Grim times indeed.
@@TheRetroManRandySavage Yep, remember that. My dad worked at Triumph in Coventry. Redundant 1979, never worked again. I think it was 12000 lost thier jobs in less than two years. Really grim.
I'm from New Orleans; the Jam were my first "punk" album...they had an influence on some of the bands here...
Spot on, I was going to say, there's no dark meaning to the song, Paul Weller found inspiration time after time on that note. Like the ones you've just mentioned, this one is also about him moving from a comfortable town (Woking) to a major city (London), at a time when all major UK cities had big problems from transport to even getting the milk floats out of a morning.
That’s Entertainment
Start!
Going Underground
Beat Surrender
The Eton Rifles
The Dreams Of Children
Precious
Lots of great tracks from The Jam but I agree with your first choice, That’s Entertainment is awesome!
well before mad cow , its about the seventies working class people who felt like we didnt have much hope about anything and everything was a struggle , work, money etc
'Going Underground' or 'Eton Rifles" were both big The Jam hits.
the Milkmen was on strike, like a lot of industry's in the late 70's early 80's. lots family was struggling, hence the lyric of buying a pint or new cloths for the kids. the Jam was very punk in their lyrics, pointing out the reality of living in Britain at the time.
Exactly right. We all had nowt together!!
North of england
Summing up mundane life in non discript towns in the early 1980s. Your right it’s a universal theme of post industrial towns it could be anywhere. Weller one hellava song writer
I grew up in this era. You say " Ghost Town". Try " The Specials, Ghost Town", real British feeling from the times. Depression and division. But the most enchanting music. Big love from you're old mate's in Old Blighty. X
YES, YES, YES. Finally The Jam!!! A Northerner but these were my childhood band. Think it was grim in Woking try Sheffield or any other northern town run into the ground by Thatcher. Saw them live Top Rank Sheffield, Weller in full length black corduroy coat at gig end signed my gig ticket. So many classics inc Down in the Tube Station at midnight, Strange Town, Eton Rifles, I could go on and on. Thanks guys!!
I went as a market trader to Woking, I think those with money spent it in London before commuting home, those left in the town were skint.
Come on only the real grown ups worry about the important things in life. While the young party on whatever the circumstances
I was just at the right age to be getting interested in music when The Jam, Madness, The Specials and a few others were at their peak and they would always talk about their influences, The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, etc that you had to then go out and discover these bands as well and then in time people of my age group would then go on to form bands who were influenced by Weller and co like Blur and Oasis.
This is late 70’s boys, you need to check out “Down in the Tubestation at Midnight” by The Jam
Keep up the brilliant work guys!
from the 1950s to 90s a milk float was a small electric powered truck that delivered milk and cream to your doorstep early in the morning, it was quiet and didn't wake anybody up. They existed when local dairies were more commonplace in towns and cities and delivered to your door. Now replaced by the expansion of supermarket chains and the delivery milkman and their electric floats became extinct.
exactly right ....people leavin comments about milkmen on strike ..gawd help us
Life was so much better 😢
Love this and Paul Wellers voice, have to say the drumming on this is superb. Such an iconic sound from the 80's, (mad cow disease was in the 90's) They used 'Town Called Malice' in the film 'Billy Elliot' along with 5 other tracks from T-Rex and one from The Clash, best soundtrack ever for a film. Town Called Malice fit perfectly into Billy Elliot as the film was set around the Miners Strike in the 80's and one 11yr old lad wanting to be a ballet dancer from a 'broken' town with broken but proud people. Well worth giving that a watch when you get 5.
@peterblythe1 Saw Embracethesuck were listening to this and immediately went to that exact scene on UA-cam for a fix, never disappoints.
the song is a snapshot of Britain in the early 80s under the premiership of Mrs Thatcher.The reference to the milk etc is a subliminal one because in the 1970s,Mrs Thatcher under a previous Tory government was Secretary of State of Education and one of the first things she did was stop free milk being given to kids from poor backgrounds in primary schools,she became known as Thatcher,Thatcher the milk snatcher.First saw The Jam as a spotty teenager in 1978,six times in total,great live band & so were the Style Council.Saw Paul Weller in concert few weeks ago,an incredible performer & songwriter,truly one of the greats
I interviewed them in the dressing room of the Nashville in about February 1977 for a fanzine my friends and I were making. A few days later we walked into the Marquee and they were standing at the bar, called me over, hugs and kisses all round, Bruce bought me a drink, and for months after all my friends called me The Jam Tart
Weren't you's on that Jam podcast a while back?
Quality 80s British music. When the music had meaning.
Love, love, love The Jam. This could be another wee rabbit hole for you. 'Going Underground', 'The Bitterest Pill', 'Eton Rifles', 'That's Entertainment' etc etc. Paul Weller's 'Wild Wood' is fantastic too.
Wild Wood is one of my favourite songs.
@@freebornjohn2687 Gives me goosebumps every time.
Bitterest Pill I feel one of The Jam's most underrated tunes
Simple explanation re the milk floats. It is just describing a change in customer patterns regarding milk buying - moving away from getting milk delivered to your door each morning by a milk float to instead greater amounts of people buying from the supermarket. That is my take on it anyway!! The song in essence is Paul Weller ( the singer) describing his teenage years in the town he grow up in (Woking)
Oh damn you going to react to one of my favorite tracks
A few Jam songs for you - "Down in a tube station at midnight", "Strange town", "Eton rifles", "Going under ground", "When you're young", "Private hell", "Smithers-Jones", "Saturday's kids", "Little boy soldiers" and my favourite, "That's entertainment". They are all very thought provoking (have a very good listen to the lyrics) and they tell the story of growing up in Britain in the the 1970s and early 1980s. The lead singer, Paul Welled also had a band named "The Style Council" after he split up "The Jam" and also had a good solo career, which is still going.
Listen to the album Snap by The Jam. There isn’t a bad tune on it. Most of what is being recommended is on this compilation. Great group. The Gallagher brothers refer to Paul Weller as the Godfather of the indie/rock scene
I'm going to dig my copy out now... memories
Ah, this takes me back to my school days in the 70's. The Jam had many great hit songs and Paul Weller, the lead singer, went on to form other bands and had a solo career too.
Brillians song brilliant reaction nowwwww time for going underground and thats entertainment my fave channel big up from uk 👍🇬🇧
The Jam - Late 70s- mid 80s , the Weller formed The Style Council before his solo career from early 90s and on, Weller is pretty much Noels best mate btw
Britain was a depressing place in the early 80s, Mass unemployment strikes and riots. The lyrics reflect this with a sixties Motown sound. It’s great.
😢 buy we all stood together
The milk floats was the time where people stopped buying milk from milkmam and started using supermarkets as it was cheaper putting milkman out of work
Nah milkman were far from obsolete in the early 80s
@@thomaslawley9816 Possibly a reference to Thatcher The Milk Snatcher (shades today of Tories denying school meals and being shamed by Rashford).
@@thomaslawley9816 Unigate nearly pulled out of the business, and Express in London did, the co-ops also ceased deliveries. The Unigate milk rounds were acquired- with others, by The Milk Marketing Board, who invented the franchise delivery method for roundsmen , and acquired some other local dairies in 1985ish as they aimed to grow a downstream profitable business. When the MMB was 'privatised' this ended up effectively with what became Muller foods and they badged it Milk and More, now selling at the premium end of fresh food delivery
absolutly love the jam and paul weller
The most important band of the late 70s and early 80s. Unreal band.
The Jam were a mod revival / punk rock band during 1972 / 1982 . Paul Weller is a legend going on to have a highly successful solo career and one of Noel Gallaghers big influences / friends . They have collaborated many times since the Oasis days .
As a follow-up, check out "Ghost Town" by The Specials -same kind of "upbeat take on a ghost town" done in a different way.
soon as they mentioned ghost town that song came to mind
I'm not disrespecting the song Ghost town. But I've never heard it described as upbeat. Great tune though.
@@markg3006 "Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town" is what I was referring to, to be fair.
@@markevans3879 Can't dispute that. It's a great bridge, that gives the song the lift it needs. 👍
Ghost Town brings back so many great memories for me. Brilliant.
The dairy stuff, the sad housewives are metaphors, i feel that British bands maybe especially of this era, embrace the grubby, let down, fragility, melancholy of life and find something there to fight against, push against and pull yourself upwards and forwards ... there's no illusion, no rose tinted fakeness and dreaminess in these post industrial northern and london songs ... thats a generalisation like :) PS Malice is a play on Alice from the novel a town like Alice
Down In The Tube Station at Midnight, Mr. Clean, Pretty Green are all belters.
this song is forms the most iconic and memorable scene in the film Billy Elliott. It's is just talking about hard working class life where you either have a beer or clothe the kids .... you can't do both. The Jam had and still have a very loyal cult following.
Spencer should definitely cover this song on his channel👍 down in a tube station at midnight worth a listen also
"I wanna get up and start dancing!" See 'Billy Elliot'.
My favourite band! Great rabbit hole to go down. Weller wrote great lyrics about a hard life in Thatcher Britain. That's Entertainment, going Underground, Eton Rifles and many more songs.
the jam what a band they were made so many great songs one of my favourite bands ever I love "down in the tube station at midnight"
The Jam were a Mod revival band, with their roots in the punk movement of the late '70's, and many MANY of their songs have a strong socio-political commentary running through the lyrics. Weller wrote about inner city degradation and violence, the lack of opportunity in late 70s and 80s UK.
Town Called Malice is a kitchen sink drama set to music, and paints a picture of a small UK industrial town, where everyday is a struggle of poverty and mundane existence, unemployment and welfare.
Many, many MANY Jam songs make strong reference to social inequality. The Eton Rifles is a song about the UK class system (Eton being the home of the top private school in UK), Down in the Tube Station at Midnight is a commentary on inner city violence and the rise of the nationalist movement at the time, Smithers Jones about living in a corporate rat race and being spat out when the company is done with you.
I would seriously recommend any of the tracks above, or Mr Clean, Butterfly Collector or Dreams of Children, and really listen to the lyrics.
In my opinion Paul Weller is one of rock music's greatest lyricists.
Enjoy
Guys, you have to check out Paul's other band The Style Council performing Walls Come Tumbling Down. A great tune for dancing with the message "Power To The People". The official video is great - filmed in Poland in the mid-80s.
If you want more tales of UK melancholy & malice, listen to The Specials - Ghost Town, it's a banger! :)
A classic.
Thats the jam top tune you mension they would go well with toast very good
We had a group called bread let's continue with the this theme you too could do a duet call yourself the barm cakes also nice toasted with jam on no offence guys 😅😅😅
The dairy subject was a point to the demise of the milk delivery industry. It has all but disappeared now, only to resurface for a short shot during lockdown. most of The Jam stuff, if not all was political views of living in the uk during the 70's and 80's. This song is another one focusing on the view of life around them at the time, as I'm sure you've got. The title is a parody on the film A Town Like Alice, the subject matter of the film being somewhat different though. you should check out Eaton Riffles and Going Underground. maybe This Is A Modern World too. just to add That's Entertainment. Spencer could do a cover of it.
The lyrics are amazing, although I didn't get some of the references ( milk, Thatcher, schools) but the other lyrics were amazing!thanks for the explanations in the comments, very informative. I have been listening to this song for a long time!
You can throw a dart at The Jam back catalogue in the dark and you’ll come up with a belter song.
Your joke about toast wasn’t too far off the mark as to where their name allegedly came from. Supposedly Paul Weller was having breakfast with his family and trying to come up with a name for his band and his sister suggested The Jam because of the popular glam rock band called Marmalade.
The 70’s and early 80’s in the U.K. was a very economically depressed time (for most) with shipyards, coal mines and steelworks closing down. Major strikes resulting in national power outages and uncollected refuse. Unemployment blowing up to such an extent that it was reported on in a not too dissimilar way to the covid deaths. Many towns and villages becoming like ghost towns due to people moving to larger towns and cities looking for work. It was very much reflected in the music of the time with the music giving a voice to the disenfranchised and the youth feeling that their prospects were very much limited…and that was when it was possible to go to university for free with a grant/bursary anywhere in the U.K. if your family income was below a certain threshold and many having to buy things on hp (hire purchase) instead of outright, as had traditionally been the way, this is referenced in the song by the “gets dashed against the co-op” as the co-op had many stores nationwide where you could make weekly payments to do things like buying school uniforms or general household items and clothing…they even did/do funerals.
I heard that they took their name from their practice (Jamming) sessions.
@@pauldear6660 you may be right, the story I mentioned is just one that I read in a book on The Jam back in the late 80’s early 90’s 😊
This was released almost 20 years before Mad Cow Disease lol.
Check out their tune 'Down in the Tube station at midnight'
Guys you really have to listen to The Long Pigs album - "The Sun is Often Out" from the 1990's. Those that really know Britpop KNOW these guys were one of the VERY best bands around even though not rising to the levels of Oasis and co. Crispin singning and Richard Hawley on guitar - say no more (Hawley also played with Pulp)
Try ""Jesus Christ" for a starter
Keep the music alive by helping others discover them :)
My friends and I used to have our pub quiz team name as "A Team Called Malice"... We never won fyi
The Jam brothers go back late 70s into the 80s have a crack at (THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT) fourty years after i first heard this song it still gives me GOOSEBUMPS
When the car breaks down Lee Evans 👀👀👀👀👀
Been a fan of Weller since i was 10 when I first heard All Mod Cons album in 1978..
One of the the best British songwriters of all time, especially during The Jam era..
Tube station at Midnight, Private Hell, Saturday's Kids & Thats Entertainment, just a few great examples of Weller's genius..
This tune changed my life. It will always be my favorite tune ever.
Weller took that image of the dairy yard from the one that used to be down the end of his street as a teenager living in Woking
No, mad cow disease was years later. Milk was delivered in glass bottles by electric milk floats. The diary yard was the distribution centre in most towns where the carts parked up. The milkman used a horse and cart originally. Most now get milk from supermarkets.
The housewives would put the empty bottles out on the doorstep for the milkman to collect.
Malice is a play on A Town Called Alice. Weller grew up in Woking, Surrey, a commuter town to SW of London.
Butterfly collector, start, going underground, Mr clean, and English rose are great songs all very political
Guys. Believe me, as a British 50 year old, you'll never be able to really tune into this. You might like it, perhaps, but only superficially. Cut your losses, asap.
The whole song is about tbe 80s and the unemployment and thatcherism and the deprivation the torys made. Thats what it's all about its int he same vein as specials: ghost town.
The only thing I don't get about that vibe is that by the mid 90s things were pretty great, so doesn't that mean things technically got better with them in charge?
Paul Weller - The Modfather. Other Jam songs Going Underground, Start, That's Entertainment. Also try his next band, The Style Council. Either Long Hot Summer or Shout to the Top.
Fly the flag, hang a Mod today!
the last time I saw Bruce Foxton playing bass, it was for The Stranglers.
you need to react to The Jam - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight.
Met Bruce back in the 70's - what a nice bloke
Not forgetting Bruce's time with Stiff Little Fingers. Now, they're worth a reaction or two.
@@markrankin1094 hmm he might of been playing for them when I saw him. as SLF was the opening act for the Stranglers. my mind isn't as young as it once was. as is the case for most of us old punks lol.
@@dexstewart2450 Bruce is still touring with From the Jam.
Bitterest pill by the jam and also the butterfly collector by them. You will love them both
Check out “Always the Sun” and “Golden Brown” both songs by The Stranglers.
Maybe 2 years late, but let me give you guys some insight ...
It's original working title was "A Town Called Woking" ( Our home town). It is based lyrically about the way Woking was going at the time and it has got worse now. The references to the dairy yard is where my Father used to work and Paul would have walked past to go to Rick's house. The reference to the "Ghost of a Steam Train", was in reference to the main Woking Station that used to have the tracks heading towards London passing through Maybury (where Paul lived).
I hope this puts light on your questions :)
"The Bitterest Pill" is their greatest tune.
Woking in Surrey is Paul Weller's home town, it's also my home town and is "a town called malice". Check out their number one "going underground" an incredible piece of work that went straight into number one in the UK
Don't know where to start with this band. Check out 'Going Underground' and 'That's entertainment'
"Going Underground" is a great song. But "That's Entertainment" perfectably encapsculated my first years in London in my early twenties. With very little money. In a bedsit, and then a shared flat, just near West Brompton tube station.
The plus was I met some great people. Some more disturbed than others. One of my flat mates, (a South African veteran of the Border War) I was later very reliably informed slept with a loaded Browning 9mm pistol under his pillow.
Goodness knows where he acquired it. My best guess it was a war trophy from the Falklands War. Nowadays, the starting point for court sentencing in the UK for mere posession of an unlicenced firearm is 5 years imprisonment.
BTW... There's a DJ/musician called beans on toast 😂
Yeah, and he is brilliant!
@@Davey-Boyd sure is! Seen him a few times and never fails to deliver!
@@ciaraellis9504 M.D.M. Amazing!
A lot of people have already explained that it used to be common in the UK for your milk to be delivered ,the milkman driving a "milk float" electric truck,and leaving bottles on your doorstep,it started to end during this period,the bit about housewives clutching milk bottles to their hearts and hanging live letters out to dry.This is a cheeky reference to an oft quoted urban myth about milkmen getting amourous with their housewife customers!
The jam sang about things relative, very political in ways but always truths.Very harsh times late 70s and early 80s.
If ya think that's terrifying wait till ya hit up - Going Underground, then come back down to earth with - That's Entertainment
Proud to be born and breed in Woking Surrey. ❤️ Status quo also from Woking or some of the band were x love watching your videos, they have me creased up lol x keep up the great vids 👍
Love your reactions to The Jam,
How about doing “Going Underground or Down in the tube station at midnight” there’s so many great jam songs but I’m sure you’re like these and I’d love to hear your comments, best band ever!
Down in the tube station at midnight , and private hell are my faves
My interpretation of it was, yes the demise of milk getting delivered to your door- hence "the milk floats stand dying in a dairy yard". But the "clutching empty milk bottles to their hearts"- was the old adage of housewives sleeping with "the milkman" while the husbands at work...
Quote of the year. Daniel, " I love the organ." 👍😀👍
Love The Jam... grew up with their music.
Paul Weller The Modfather was also in a band called The Style Council both bands different eras different types of music a bit like Oasis and Noel Gallagher with his High Flying Birds but I love Both, I was brought up on this music. Paul Weller has a fantastic solo career too. But please can you react to Oasis cover version of The Jam song ‘Carnation’ it features Paul Weller and Steve Craddock a member of another amazing British band Ocean Colour Scene. Noel also does a great cover of The Jam’s ‘To Be Someone’ Oasis have covered some huge songs in the past by Amazing artists like Thin Lizzy, The Who, The Beatles, The Jam, Neil Young and Slade.
Going Underground, Thats Entertainmeant, In the city The Jam are brilliant Paul Weller is good friends with Noel Gallagher
Britain in recession, people out of work, restless young bored people, no jobs. The jam painted a picture. Of the landscape through songs with descriptive words and lyrics. The title speaks volumes.
Definitions of malice: feeling a need to see others suffer. Snonyms of malice are grudge, ill will, malevolence, malignity, spite, and spleen. Not knocking that you don't know the word but trying to help in why it's important to this song
I was a teenager when the Jam came along. They launched and inspired a movement, a culture and a a way of being. You should check out the great documentary about them
Another take on this theme is "Ghost Town" by The Specials.
Town called Malice, is taken From A town called Alice which is about Alice Springs written by Nevil Shute and made into a film made in 1956 (year I was born ) set during the Japanese invasion of Maylasia. British women and Australian soldiers. Black and white but a great film
My first group l fell in love with l'm 57 years young 🤣 👍👍👏👏👏🇬🇧
There is actually a song called "Toast" that got into the UK charts by a group called Streetband
Now react to Down in the Tubestation at Midnight, it’s their best song. Also Going Underground, That’s Entertainment, Eton Rifles, In The City, English Rose, The Butterfly Collector, the list goes on and on...
The jam our local lads to where I live.
Paul weller and his mum are close to my cousins.
Lovely people
Have a look at "Funeral Pyre" by The Jam for a visceral drum assault with an edge. If it had been covered by Sepultura or Slayer it would have been lauded to the heavens.
buckler was amazing on drums he killed it on funeral pyre and that was a b side too !!
@@Ianjowett1 Didn't Funeral Pyre get to No.4 in the charts ?
@@pauldear6660 it did and was a first for a b side too
I thought they liked music, yet they haven't heard of The Jam?!? I thought they spoke English, yet they don't know the word malice!?! 🤔 ...Oh yeah, they're American!
I would also recommend you listen to a tune called Know your rights by The Clash
Smashed already fella's!......thanks, will have to explain to boss tomoz
Same era as The specials "Ghost Town" or The Clash "Rudie can't fail", it's about the Thatcher years in UK, urban decline.. the so-called UK decay, forgotten youth etc. The time I left school actually
ok. im not a subscriber but I am a viewer. now the drinking games are in, I'm subscribing. I'll get stocked for tomorrow...
Lets get twatted my Suck friends. Love these guys. Let's have a lager together
Bought this on vinyl Flippin lovin this
fantastic song, still remember all the words from my school days in the 80s! not mad cow disease as that was later. in 80s loads of british folk got milk delivered in bottles to the doorstep, there wasnt any underlying issues with milk then that i recall
The Jam were my JAM back in the day phenomenal band fabulous live. Paul Weller my crush
Was hit in UK in 1982. During Thatchers tenure as PM recession urban decay in many areas.
When I see the title I always thing of 'A Town Like Alice'. Book, Movie (1956), Miniseries (1981). The town being Alice Springs, NT, Australia. The hometown of one of the characters.
Most Americans and even some young Brits won't get that this song title is a play on a 1956 movie (and then a 1981 tv mini series) called "A Town Like Alice"
Coal miners strike going on for more than a year at the time. This song was also a big part of the sound track to the movie Billy Elliot which was staged during the miners strike.
Paul Weller is a modern-day socio-political poet - not unlike Chris Difford from the magnificent Squeeze.
Absolutely loved The Jam as a young girl - I bought _Start_ aged 9, and never looked back. There's a fabulous BBC doco on superfans of The Jam, also features celebrity fans like Martin Freeman. Well worth your time.