The Jam, Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler.
They had 18 straight top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their breakup in 1982, including four number 1 hits. Two of these 18 singles were only available in the UK as imports, and as of 2007 they remained the best-selling import singles of all time in the UK. The Jam released one live album and six studio albums, the last of which, The Gift, hit number 1 on the UK album charts.They drew upon a variety of stylistic influences over the course of their career, including 1960s beat music, soul, rhythm and blues and psychedelic rock, as well as 1970s punk rock and new wave. The trio was known for its melodic pop songs, distinctly English flavour, and mod image. Weller wrote and sang most of The Jam’s original compositions, and he played lead Rickenbacker guitar. Bruce Foxton provided backing vocals and played unusually prominent basslines, which were the foundation of many of the band’s songs, Rick Buckler played drums.The Jam formed in Woking, Surrey, England in 1975. The line-ups were very fluid at this stage, consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Paul Weller and his various friends at Sheerwater Secondary School. The line-up began to solidify in the mid 1970s with Weller, guitarist Steve Brookes, drummer Rick Buckler, and bassist Bruce Foxton. In their early years, their sets consisted of early American rock and roll covers by the likes of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. They continued in this vein until Weller discovered The Who’s "My Generation" and became fascinated with mod music and lifestyle. As he said later, "I saw that through becoming a Mod it would give me a base and an angle to write from, and this we eventually did. We went out and bought black suits and started playing Motown, Stax and Atlantic covers. I bought a Rickenbacker guitar, a Lambretta GP 150 and tried to style my hair like Steve Marriott’s circa ’66."[2] Eventually Brookes left the band, and was not replaced, inviting Weller to develop a combined lead/rhythm guitar style influenced by The Who’s Pete Townshend as well as Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson. The line-up of Weller, Foxton, and Buckler would persist until the end of The Jam’s career. They were managed by Weller’s father, John Weller.The 1982 release The Gift, the group's last LP, was another massive commercial success, peaking at 1 on the UK charts. Some critics were not fully supportive of the Jam's new direction, and those that were did not find the album to be consistent. Coming full-circle to their R&B roots, The Jam produce several soul, funk, and R&B-stylized songs on The Gift, most notably the 1 hit "Town Called Malice," with a Motown-style bassline somewhat reminiscent of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" And organ work by Carl Mclntosh, who would later be well known with the R&B group Loose Ends. "Town Called Malice", another slice-of-life tale of trying to keep joyful in a small, downtrodden English town, is one of Weller's most favoured songs among fans and critics alike, and one of the few Jam songs he performs to this day (along with "That's Entertainment", "Man In The Corner Shop", and "In The Crowd"). After the sugary soul ballad "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" peaked at 2, the band followed with yet another 1, "Beat Surrender" The Beat Surrender EP entered the British charts with a splash, and seemed to belie Weller's intentions: both its graphic design and the music it contained would bear resemblance to the early Style Council releases. After a farewell tour of the UK, the band broke up and played their final concert in Brighton on 11-12-82
