Page 43 - Cool Britannia

43School friends from Woking, Surrey joined Paul Weller in the early 1970’s to form The Jam, the origi-nal line up was fuid, but began to solidi-fy by the mid 70’s with Steve Brookes, guitarist and drummer Rick Buckler. The Jam played rock and roll songs until Weller discovered The Who’s frst album “My Generation” and became fascinat-ed with Mod music and lifestyle. By the time the “Punk” movement was gathering momentum the Jam were a solid three piece.The Jam’s “angry young man” stance rode the wave of punk rock, but Wellers ability to write songs the working-class youth of Britain could relate to made them an instant hit, developing a huge following all over the world.It was not only about the music, but style as the Jam shunned the punk rock bond-age and ripped clothing, mimicking the style of Kinks, Small Faces and The Who, with a bit of Beatles thrown in for good measure, choosing to wear iconic suits which then later became a major part in the Mod Revival period during the late 1970-80’s.THAT’SENTERTAINMENTWORDS/ Benjamin SteventonIMAGES/ Ethan Blake-Jones Benjamin Steventon