The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Discuss any non-related Stranglers bands here

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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by toilerinblack »

aldinblack wrote: 03 Nov 2020, 18:03
Greatkudu wrote:It wasn't meant to be stranglers v Jam that's silly as different bands, I'm sorry I still stand by my view that they were overrated, but I except others disagree, it was really after watching the Jam rockpalast where I was so bored I fell asleep, last on this a few great songs. Lt Kudu.
you fell asleep lol

The Jam overated maybe, but then the Stranglers are underrated so maybe that's part of the "problem" ?

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Agree too..you said it how it is i think.
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

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Yeah, The Stranglers are underrated but to be fair the band themselves are partly responsible for that. The Jam had the good sense to release singles that had a reasonable chance of becoming a hit - 'Going Underground' and 'Town Called Malice' went to number one because they deserved to be, while The Stranglers saw fit to release stuff like 'Just Nothing on Earth' and 'La Folie' ...
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by Greatkudu »

Well isnt that part of what we love or loved about the band the fact they had the guts to release JLNOE as a single? Personally that's one of my Fave stranglers songs, the Stranglers were underrated because they upset to many of the wrong people, but it didn't seem to diminish their fan base. Lt Kudu.
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by aldinblack »

I think there's a few reasons why they're underrated, including all of the above.
Ultimately they were different- more "quirky" if you like, than their peers. Some of their music was just undigestible to the average punter, although we the fans loved it.

I saw a comment once, maybe it was on Facebook , where someone said something like "The Stranglers great band, great musical skills, poor PR skills..."

Kind of summed it up for me...

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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by Greatkudu »

aldinblack wrote: 04 Nov 2020, 15:14 I think there's a few reasons why they're underrated, including all of the above.
Ultimately they were different- more "quirky" if you like, than their peers. Some of their music was just undigestible to the average punter, although we the fans loved it.

I saw a comment once, maybe it was on Facebook , where someone said something like "The Stranglers great band, great musical skills, poor PR skills..."

Kind of summed it up for me...

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Yes I like that, we love them and I'm not a Jam hater love it with clotted cream on scones :lol: Kudu Lt
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by StanInBlack »

Greatkudu wrote: 04 Nov 2020, 13:56 Well isnt that part of what we love or loved about the band the fact they had the guts to release JLNOE as a single?
On one hand you could say it was "guts", on the other you could say it was sheer stupidity. Of course the fans were going to buy it, but other than that I'm not sure what outcome they were expecting. If it was a gutsy choice of single and it actually sold to non-fans or achieved a decent chart position then it might be more commendable.

Also, you can't complain of a band being underrated and another being popular, when one makes uncommercial decisions and the other releases material with mass appeal.

Obviously, I loved it when The Stranglers branched out into territory that may not have had chart appeal, but I can see why some of their stuff - like The Gospel, which I think is a mini masterpiece - didn't catch on.
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by Greatkudu »

StanInBlack wrote: 04 Nov 2020, 21:28
Greatkudu wrote: 04 Nov 2020, 13:56 Well isnt that part of what we love or loved about the band the fact they had the guts to release JLNOE as a single?
On one hand you could say it was "guts", on the other you could say it was sheer stupidity. Of course the fans were going to buy it, but other than that I'm not sure what outcome they were expecting. If it was a gutsy choice of single and it actually sold to non-fans or achieved a decent chart position then it might be more commendable.

Also, you can't complain of a band being underrated and another being popular, when one makes uncommercial decisions and the other releases material with mass appeal.

Obviously, I loved it when The Stranglers branched out into territory that may not have had chart appeal, but I can see why some of their stuff - like The Gospel, which I think is a mini masterpiece - didn't catch on.
Yes very fair points of course. Lt Kudu.
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by Arthur Streeb-Greebling »

Hear me now you Jam haters! (only kidding, your entitled to your opinions .... sort of)
As a kid I really loved The Jam, all their singles back then in the 70’s were such great songs and great examples of mature songwriting for someone so young as Paul Weller. I bought most of the singles but only the one album as I was preoccupied with The Stranglers so all my pocket money went on them. It wasn’t until the 90’s when I started earning some kinda income that I bought all The Jam albums. They are all superb to my ears, my fave being ‘Setting Sons’ which I believe is not a fave of Weller’s, but what does he know eh? and he’d prob be the first to say that nowadays, he’s turned into what seems a very open minded and decent bloke.
Obviously we must mention Bruce Foxton’s bass lines, they are fanfuckintastic and very memorable, they stick in your head although his bass lines arent as melodic as JJ’s, they certainly stood out for me. Buckler was a decent drummer too and the question is us Jam fans ask is should Weller reform The Jam? Well I for one would love to see em reform but it’s like Hugh coming back to The Stranglers, most of us fans who were there from the start want to see it but it isn’t going to happen and although its quite sad i respect Weller for that he just doesn’t apparently feel comfortable performing songs he wrote when he was a kid.
Anyway The Jam get my thumbs up! They are part of “My 6” - The Stranglers, Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash and Buzzcocks.
I don’t think I could form an opinion of what “Punk” was back then as a kid but all these bands just stood out for me, you could say commercially or cos I saw most of them on TOTP but it was really for just the sheer greatness of the melodies, the songs and The Jam certainly had all that.
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by Homer »

Arthur Streeb-Greebling wrote: 05 Nov 2020, 01:11 They are all superb to my ears, my fave being ‘Setting Sons’ which I believe is not a fave of Weller’s, but what does he know eh?
Have to agree, most people rate AMC's as they're best album, but I much prefer 'Setting Sons' ... must listen to it every couple of weeks if not weekly.

Best track for me is 'Private Hell' ... lyrics and delivery are excellent, can't beat it lyrically or musically. of course I was a 'Saturday Kid' literally ....whole album is superb to me.

I kinda wained off them by the time 'The Gift' came out .... turned a bit mainstream for me. As previously stated, I only ever seen them once when I was 17 (at their peak) and will never forget it.
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by aldinblack »

Homer wrote:
Arthur Streeb-Greebling wrote: 05 Nov 2020, 01:11 They are all superb to my ears, my fave being ‘Setting Sons’ which I believe is not a fave of Weller’s, but what does he know eh?
Have to agree, most people rate AMC's as they're best album, but I much prefer 'Setting Sons' ... must listen to it every couple of weeks if not weekly.

Best track for me is 'Private Hell' ... lyrics and delivery are excellent, can't beat it lyrically or musically. of course I was a 'Saturday Kid' literally ....whole album is superb to me.

I kinda wained off them by the time 'The Gift' came out .... turned a bit mainstream for me. As previously stated, I only ever seen them once when I was 17 (at their peak) and will never forget it.
Private Hell is again for me one of those "intense" songs they did, just superb. I wish they'd done more of those. I do find some of their album tracks a bit "light hearted" in their presentation at times. Maybe that's just because I'm a miserable bastard.

not sure what I think their best album was. I find it hard to argue against All Mod Cons. But yes Setting sons and even Sound Affects are both up there. The Gift also has some great moments, is Trans Global Express the answer to The Stranglers Ghost Train ? I like it...

Must listen to the first 2 albums again. Overall what a great band they were !

From The Jam are still a great gig for those who havn' t been...well apart from some of the Jam fans who can be a bit idiotic Image

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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by Jon the Impaler »

Arthur Streeb-Greebling wrote: 05 Nov 2020, 01:11 Hear me now you Jam haters! (only kidding, your entitled to your opinions .... sort of)
As a kid I really loved The Jam, all their singles back then in the 70’s were such great songs and great examples of mature songwriting for someone so young as Paul Weller. I bought most of the singles but only the one album as I was preoccupied with The Stranglers so all my pocket money went on them. It wasn’t until the 90’s when I started earning some kinda income that I bought all The Jam albums. They are all superb to my ears, my fave being ‘Setting Sons’ which I believe is not a fave of Weller’s, but what does he know eh? and he’d prob be the first to say that nowadays, he’s turned into what seems a very open minded and decent bloke.
Obviously we must mention Bruce Foxton’s bass lines, they are fanfuckintastic and very memorable, they stick in your head although his bass lines arent as melodic as JJ’s, they certainly stood out for me. Buckler was a decent drummer too and the question is us Jam fans ask is should Weller reform The Jam? Well I for one would love to see em reform but it’s like Hugh coming back to The Stranglers, most of us fans who were there from the start want to see it but it isn’t going to happen and although its quite sad i respect Weller for that he just doesn’t apparently feel comfortable performing songs he wrote when he was a kid.
Anyway The Jam get my thumbs up! They are part of “My 6” - The Stranglers, Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash and Buzzcocks.
I don’t think I could form an opinion of what “Punk” was back then as a kid but all these bands just stood out for me, you could say commercially or cos I saw most of them on TOTP but it was really for just the sheer greatness of the melodies, the songs and The Jam certainly had all that.
Very much agree with you . The Stranglers and The Jam were outsiders to the inner circle of punk in 76/77 and as such were disparaged , wrongly , by a lot of punk fans . I was at school in 77/78 and it was an insult almost to call a punk a Jam fan . Such a pity as back then punk wasn't about a uniform , The Jam wrote a lot of thoughtful hard hitting songs and to me were far more politically aware than The Clash . The Pistols never were political and The Stranglers when they did were mainly as observers but not really opinions expressed . It was later punk became far more political .
In 77 to 80 you knew any Jam single had a good chance of going to no1 , they were that popular......The Stranglers and Pistols antics always played against them while The Clash had this thing of not playing totp , a rather immature stance imo as they probably appeared on far worse programmes . Maybe it seemed rebellious , maybe it seemed a punk thing to do . Fuck me though , looking back it was a hell of a fun era for a good ten years or so and The Jam were a major part of it , the only one of the main punk bands that could match The Stranglers in terms of output and quality IMO .
All quiet ..........
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Re: The Jam some good songs but rather boring imho

Post by Greatkudu »

Jon the Impaler wrote: 09 Nov 2020, 14:47
Arthur Streeb-Greebling wrote: 05 Nov 2020, 01:11 Hear me now you Jam haters! (only kidding, your entitled to your opinions .... sort of)
As a kid I really loved The Jam, all their singles back then in the 70’s were such great songs and great examples of mature songwriting for someone so young as Paul Weller. I bought most of the singles but only the one album as I was preoccupied with The Stranglers so all my pocket money went on them. It wasn’t until the 90’s when I started earning some kinda income that I bought all The Jam albums. They are all superb to my ears, my fave being ‘Setting Sons’ which I believe is not a fave of Weller’s, but what does he know eh? and he’d prob be the first to say that nowadays, he’s turned into what seems a very open minded and decent bloke.
Obviously we must mention Bruce Foxton’s bass lines, they are fanfuckintastic and very memorable, they stick in your head although his bass lines arent as melodic as JJ’s, they certainly stood out for me. Buckler was a decent drummer too and the question is us Jam fans ask is should Weller reform The Jam? Well I for one would love to see em reform but it’s like Hugh coming back to The Stranglers, most of us fans who were there from the start want to see it but it isn’t going to happen and although its quite sad i respect Weller for that he just doesn’t apparently feel comfortable performing songs he wrote when he was a kid.
Anyway The Jam get my thumbs up! They are part of “My 6” - The Stranglers, Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash and Buzzcocks.
I don’t think I could form an opinion of what “Punk” was back then as a kid but all these bands just stood out for me, you could say commercially or cos I saw most of them on TOTP but it was really for just the sheer greatness of the melodies, the songs and The Jam certainly had all that.
Very much agree with you . The Stranglers and The Jam were outsiders to the inner circle of punk in 76/77 and as such were disparaged , wrongly , by a lot of punk fans . I was at school in 77/78 and it was an insult almost to call a punk a Jam fan . Such a pity as back then punk wasn't about a uniform , The Jam wrote a lot of thoughtful hard hitting songs and to me were far more politically aware than The Clash . The Pistols never were political and The Stranglers when they did were mainly as observers but not really opinions expressed . It was later punk became far more political .
In 77 to 80 you knew any Jam single had a good chance of going to no1 , they were that popular......The Stranglers and Pistols antics always played against them while The Clash had this thing of not playing totp , a rather immature stance imo as they probably appeared on far worse programmes . Maybe it seemed rebellious , maybe it seemed a punk thing to do . Fuck me though , looking back it was a hell of a fun era for a good ten years or so and The Jam were a major part of it , the only one of the main punk bands that could match The Stranglers in terms of output and quality IMO .
Maybe output? But even though I'm not a Clash fan they certainly were productive, and were not afraid to move away from the basic Punk sound, I still can't get the Jam thing sorry, it just doesn't do anything for me, maybe school may have had an influence when kids would wear Parkas with the Jam on the back, strangely the same parkas also had Madness, selecter and the specials on the back, confused kids, I do concede the Jam had some good songs, I liked Buckler and Foxton but never liked Wellers voice or accent or anything about him, and the Clash did have a passion, but each to their own, I always saw the Jam as part of the punk movement but not really Punk abit like the Stranglers so in that sense they had abit in common, but also the Damned were outsiders to and some other bands and I concede compared to the shit around now the Jam were great, and to show I'm not a Jam hater I love Eton Rifles. Lt Kudu.
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