Weller certainly comes down on the side of non-violence but knows he’s up against centuries of class hatred—strong and valid feelings that no one has effectively translated into positive action. “Hello-hurrah, I’d prefer the plague to the Eton rifles” may make someone feel good but it doesn’t change anything. I read Weller’s message in the “The Eton Rifles” as this: “Reconsider your approach. Class warfare isn’t going to get you anywhere when the other side has all the power and not likely to give it up. Educate yourselves, learn how the system works, then figure out how to outwit the bastards.”

The other great album by The Jam... Unbelievably I totally ignored this album at the time of release, possibly due to a little teenage prejudice against the 'mod revival' styling of the era. I do however remember owning 'Eton Rifles' on single, and this must be one of THE songs of all time. Guitarists will be relieved to find that “Private Hell” has more familiar chording and only a simple change in time signature (4/4 to 2/4) in the verses. Bruce Foxton leads the way with a nasty bass tone followed by searing flash chords in E minor, both combining to set the appropriately hellish environment. Weller described his lead character to Mojo as “a very beaten-down, unhappy person really,” and the dark picture he paints with the lyrics spares neither the woman of the house nor her family: This was quite a timely composition, hitting the airwaves six months after Maggie Thatcher took over and solidified the whole capitalism-as-religion bullshit that Ronnie Reagan would shortly bring to the States. I have to say that when I played the four concept album songs as a self-made suite, I felt a deep sense of loss . . . the music, the arrangements and the emotion-evoking lyrics convinced me that the concept album would have been an absolute masterpiece. When "Town Called Malice" reached number one in the UK the group had the honour of performing both it and its double A-side, "Precious" on Top of the Pops – the only other band to be accorded this honour being the Beatles. [ citation needed] After the string-laden soul ballad " The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" peaked at No.2, the band followed with their finale and another No.1, " Beat Surrender". The latter featured Tracie Young on vocals; a few months later, she also guested on The Style Council's debut single " Speak Like a Child". Several things going on here—Weller plays the role of working-class bloke, building on the stereotype of men always looking for a fight even if they haven’t the slightest idea what they’re fighting about. Even American readers know that fags = cigarettes, but the word is also used to describe what Americans would recognize as the hazing rituals practiced by fraternities in some U. S. colleges (fagging) and was part of daily life at Eton. “Get out your mat” alludes to a significant Muslim population in Slough, and the suggestion to “pray to the west” reveals the narrator’s ignorance of geography and non-Christian religious rituals. Slough (town folk) and Eton (gown folk) have a long history of class-related conflict, so the narrator’s response to the possibility of a punch-up is a product of cultural inheritance.But comparing Setting Sons with, say, the frankly awful second album This Is The Modern World is pushing a nerdy fan theory way too far. The excellence of six of its ten songs, and the tougher, denser sound fashioned by loyal Jam producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, make Setting Sons the successful link between the creative breakthrough of 1978’s career-saving All Mod Cons and the February 1980 triumph of the “Going Underground” single, an anthem of nuclear panic and social alienation that revealed that The Jam had stealthily climbed to biggest-band-in-Britain status by becoming the first single to enter the UK charts at No.1 since 1973. Britton, Luke Morgan (26 June 2015). "The Jam drummer fails to attend the band's new London exhibition". NME . Retrieved 20 December 2016. As the only military action happening at the time of composition involved The Troubles, it’s interesting that Weller chose to focus on British military history and tradition . . . perhaps he perceived it as a latent danger, a means to perpetuate the myth of British glory, a psychological crutch of sorts. A great admirer of Ray Davies, you can hear echoes of Arthur in this song (“Mr. Churchill Says,”“Some Mother’s Son”), but I think Weller outperformed his mentor on this one—his use of the first-person narrative and his obvious empathy for the soldier imbue the song with a powerful immediacy. A key album in the development of one of Britain’s most important new wave bands has been reissued as a deluxe set. The Jam’s 1979 release Setting Sons, the fourth album by the groundbreaking English trio, was released in November 1979. Following a short stint recording demos with Jake Burns and Dolphin Taylor, previously of Irish punk outfit Stiff Little Fingers, Foxton released his debut single "Freak" on Arista Records. Entering the UK Singles Chart at No. 34 on 30 July 1983, it eventually peaked at No. 23 [36] and secured an appearance on Top of the Pops. Foxton's solo album Touch Sensitive followed in 1984, but subsequent singles "This Is The Way", "It Makes Me Wonder" and "SOS: My Imagination" failed to enter the Top 40. A final single "Play This Game To Win" was released on Harvest Records in November 1986. [37]

The 1982 release The Gift – the band's final studio LP – was a massive commercial success, peaking at No.1 on the UK charts while spending an unprecedented 16 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100. It featured several soul, funk, and R&B-stylised songs; most notably the No.1 hit " Town Called Malice", which boasts a Motown-style bassline somewhat reminiscent of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The song included work by Keith Thomas and Steve Nichol, who later became well known as members of the R&B groups Legacy and Loose Ends respectively. "Town Called Malice", a reality-based tale about dealing with hardship in a small, downtrodden English town, is one of a handful of Jam songs Weller still performs (along with " That's Entertainment", "Man in the Corner Shop", "Strange Town", "Art School", "Start!" and "In the Crowd"). [26] [27] [28]

Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.153. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.