Thread: Paul Weller - Top Bloke I'd like to cover you in jam then set a starving bear on you Ok ST, where and when? I like bear wrasslin'
Ray Davies is the Modfather, not Weller. Regularly see him walking round my manor, and he never seems to mind being waved at by a strange bloke in a van. Usually waves back, despite clearly not have a f*ckin clue who I am.
I seem to remember the Jam were a very popular group in the late 70s and early 80s and Weller went on to further success with the Style Council. You can't, as they say, please all of the people all of the time but I do think some of you lot have been a bit harsh on Weller (though his style of hair does deserve some ridicule). He did write some cracking songs along the way.
There's your answer, people love to hate artists who were/are so popular because they think it makes them seem edgy.
There are also a lot of people who hate popular TV programs like the X Factor because they think it makes them seem edgy.
Contrary to what has been suggested the Jam were not "Very" popular at all. I recall they have 4 Number ones but their No1 singles were usually down to heavy advance sales by a dedicated fan base determined to see them rise out of their niche marketplace, a feat they never really achieved. They were fair to middling musicians and Weller (imho)was no more than a mediocre songwriter who actually has delusions of grandeur. They were akin to the Smiths, in that they were fairly popular but hardly megastars and gained more attention after they split than they did when they were actively recording. Weller is often touted as a voice of "his generation", his generation being the late 70's and part of the early 80's. Having been a teenager in that era who was heavily into his music I can dismiss that preposterous notion out of hand. He was no idol of mine or anyone who I knew. The Jam were good at times (Going Underground) but had a propensity for being so far up their own arses (Start) that they became a bit of a joke. They ripped off the Beatles outrageously as Oasis did a few years later, maybe we should blame Weller for inflicting Oasis on the world which would make him an even bigger cock than he is already.
Well I'm not a Jam fan Dev but I'd think Weller was talented enough to make him much better than mediocre. And though I wasn't into them, I know plenty of people who were. Heavy advance sales or not, they would have had to shift a lot of singles to get to number one four times. I do seem to recall them having about a dozen or more singles in the charts at one time as well, can't recall what that was all about.
Trying hard to remember who were bigger than The Jam in that era, Blondie possibly but can't think of too many.Adam and the ants?
The charts were easy to manipulate and none of their No1s were best sellers for those years, I don't care for Weller but I kinda liked the Jam but they did have a limited fanbase because of the type of music they played. It was not entirley mainstream (which is good) but was not really original enough to be considered quality or "Classic". At the time they were around there were literally dozens of groups who had a similar "falling between two styles" stool and vanished through lack of interest. Same as the Jam did, they had gone from good to very poor indeed in the space of a couple of years, and besides, for the Style Council alone, Weller deserves criticism. They were truly ****ing awful.
The Police Blondie Boomtown Rats Simple Minds Bowie Roxy Music Zep Floyd Thin Lizzy Genesis ELO Just off the top of my head.
From WIki I know but I think this is fair. As the initial punk impulse began to subside, with the major punk bands either disbanding or taking on new influences, the term new wave began to be used to describe particularly British bands that emerged in the later 1970s with mainstream appeal. These included pop bands like XTC, Squeeze and Nick Lowe, the electronic rock of Gary Numan as well as songwriters like Elvis Costello, rock & roll influenced bands like the Pretenders, the reggae influenced music of bands like The Police, as well as bands of the ska revival like The Specials and Madness.[SUP][25][/SUP] By the end of the decade many of these bands, most obviously the Police, were beginning to make an impact in American and world markets.[SUP][26][/SUP] Significant popular British New Wave acts at the end of the decade included The Boomtown Rats and Ian Dury and the Blockheads.[SUP][27][/SUP] The Jam don't even get a mention.
