THE JAM - About The Young Idea

To Somerset House for About The Young Idea, an exhibition of Jam memorabilia put together largely by Nikki Weller, Paul’s sister, who earlier this year approached me with a view to Omnibus Press putting a book together based on the exhibits, with particular emphasis on Paul’s school exercise books. Unfortunately there wasn’t sufficient time to complete the project in time for the exhibition so it’s on hold. I loved seeing the exercise books that Nikki showed me for they contained Paul’s doodlings – drawings of guitars, snatches of lyrics, the usual schoolboy stuff you’d expect from someone who, to slightly misquote Bruce Springsteen, learned more from a two-minute record (baby) that he ever learned in school.

The exhibition is all that you would expect it to be, the highlight for me all those lovely Rickenbacker guitars. There’s one complete stage set up, with Paul’s guitar, Rick’s drum kit, Bruce’s bass and a wall of black and gold Vox AC30s on the back line left, always a heavenly sight for someone raised on The Beatles stage set. Other rooms have posters, front pages of the music press (always nice to see those MM logos again), some of the exercise books, singles and albums galore, videos, sharp clothes – The Jam always were first class coat hangers – and glass cases containing guitars.

Here’s a few pictures:

In the bookshop in the entrance hall there’s a fine selection of books, some published by Omnibus, including Rick Buckler's recently published autobiography and what was for a while our best seller, Paolo Hewitt’s Jam biography A Beat Concerto, now out of print but selling second hand for around £50, depending on its condition.

Although Paul Weller would probably disagree and might even be profoundly offended, I always considered The Jam to be the Sons of The Who, and because I hold The Who in high esteem, this is actually a compliment as far as I am concerned. Separate singer aside, they looked the same, even if John stood still while Bruce jigged about, they sounded the same, some of the time anyway, and seemed to arise from the same well of imagination that drove the early Who into their Mod era which The Jam picked up on in spades. It is a glorious legacy, which I’ll be celebrating later today as I watch Weller, followed by The Who of course, in Hyde Park. 
       One thing The Who never did, though, was appear on the same bill as drag artists. I couldn’t help but chuckle at this poster.

RICK BUCKLER - That's Entertainment

The middle of May marks the anniversary of my washing up on Melody Maker, joining the music industry as an immature but rock-mad lad of 23, so this year I’m celebrating 45 years on the obstacle course that my dear departed friend Derek Taylor christened The Industry of Human Happiness. I’m not sure it’s quite such a happy place now as when Derek spoke those immortal words, though it certainly was when he was in his prime. While it would be going too far to call it The Industry of Human Misery, nowadays it’s more of a sprawling land mass, much of it troubled, and occupied – as ever – by ne’er do wells, by get-rich-quick hawkers of tat (hang your head in shame descendants of Opportunity Knocks), by too many lawyers and accountants, by too many musicians hanging on for dear life, by those who made their pile and by genuinely nice guys whose pile ought perhaps to be a big bigger.

         One of the latter is Rick Buckler whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with this year on his autobiography That’s Entertainment: My Life With The Jam, which Omnibus Press published this week. I’ve had plenty of close-encounters with rock stars over these 45 years and few have struck as such an all-round, down-to-earth nice guy as Rick who hasn’t a bad word to say about anyone – not even Paul Weller who, in a manner of speaking, pulled the rug from beneath his feet – and seems truly grateful to all of us at Omnibus for publishing his book. Rick is cheerful, friendly, gracious to everyone he meets, a tribute to his profession.

         Last night Rick was at our offices for the book’s official launch – see photo below – and he’s spent all this week helping to promote it, including an appearance on Breakfast TV.

Rick with CC & Chris Magill, visiting from Australia.

With an introduction by Keith Moon biographer Tony Fletcher who began his life as a writer by publishing a fanzine called Jamming, That’s Entertainment is both an insider’s intimate chronicle of the heyday of The Jam, and a revealing personal memoir. In exhaustive detail, Rick retraces the story of his fifties childhood, one of many kids who went through school dreaming about being in a band. Unlike almost all of his fellow dreamers, Rick got his wish. Rick takes fans through the whole story: growing up in a working-class family in Woking, the early Jam – a covers band who worked their asses off until they got it right – the early records, the competition with the Pistols and the Clash – they were never really punks – through to the glory days and the break-up, then the post-Jam realignments of personnel through a succession of other groups and even a spell as a craftsman-like furniture restorer. It is the story of the dissolution of schoolboy friendships, the highs professional triumphs, the lows of quarrels, and the ongoing influence of a politically abrasive band that for so many music fans dominated late seventies and early eighties British rock.  

         He was also a damn good drummer as testified by a slew of great Jam songs.