20 Landmark Songs Of The 80s

12. The Jam - A Town Called Malice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfpRm-p7qlY It wasn€™t just dance acts that used technology to sample other songs, guitar bands had been doing that for years, with €˜Start!€™ The Jam took it to a new level and borrowed €˜Taxman€™ by The Beatles note for note, but where they really made their impact was with commentary on the social situation of the time, blending mod culture and style with raw working class anger. What made €˜A town called Malice€™ such an important song was the road the band travelled to get to it. Most of the punk bands of the late 70€™s had either disappeared after their 15 minutes of fame and those that remained were either stuck in a time warp or evolved into something even better, and there was no better example of this evolution than The Jam. €˜A town called Malice€™ retains all the anger of the bands€™ earlier records, €œStruggle after struggle, year after year, the atmosphere's a fine blend of ice, I'm almost stone cold dead.€ But it€™s delivered with a new found confidence and sophistication. Here was where The Jam moved away from their punk origins towards their true calling and revived Mod culture with a short sharp tune. It was another number 1 in an age when the charts meant everything, and to have a band like this at the top of the pop firmament was something that seemed impossible only a few years earlier. The incoming influx of synthesiser chart pop would see the Jam find their influence receding very quickly, but that was only a temporary impasse - have a look at any Britpop band of the 90€™s and you€™ll find Weller and his love of social commentary very quickly at the base of their influences.