The Jam - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight [Reaction]

[@sukottora]

A bit of context. So it's London in the late '70s (nothing to do with Manchester - that's like confusing New York or LA with Houston, TX). The Tube at night was not a nice place to find yourself. It was full of drunks; it was dirty and quite frightening. The words: 'The queen, smiling, beguiling' Indeed, the queen and her 'sweet beguiling smile' adorn our currency now as it did back then. It was a much younger face that smiled back at us back then of course. In the 70s, it would have been a One Pound note, but we don't have them anymore (we have one pound coins these days). "Pulled out a plum" A plum was a train ticket.. They used to be printed on plum coloured card. I seem to remember there were also yellow and green ones, the colours denoting how far your journey was and how much your ticket cost. Finally, 'Wormwood Scrubs' is a prison in west London. It's a great song from my youth :)

[@Zubareffstream111]

For 44 years I've wondered what a plumb was, thank you. 😊 I used to busk this song.

[@sukottora]

@@Zubareffstream111 Good to hear - And I just noticed all the typos in my original comment - sorry!

[@kirkgibson4502]

It's quite simple, he's on his way home with a take away curry to his wife, when down in the tube station at midnight he gets beaten up. But the way Paul put's them lyrics with the music and delivers them at the age he was when writing this song is remarkable.

[@steve-r-collier]

this is in the top 10 greatest songs ..how did Weller create this masterpiece at just 20 years old

[@carlosfandango6255]

They are my all time favourite band and luckily saw them three times live back then. They influenced my life and still do because they meant so much to me. I saw the bassist Bruce foxton in a band called "from the jam" a couple of weeks ago and he still rocks.

[@neilhayward7572]

Still got all there records on vinyl fist cuts

[@EwokToRemember]

Nice!

[@steveaustin6467]

the brilliant bruce foxton, a bass masterclass

[@glastonbury4304]

Reminds me of racing home at midnight after the pub trying to get all my connecting tube lines before they stopped running 🤣🤣

[@alanmcbeath7866]

The Tube is the London underground. Their dress sense is not ironic. They chose the sharp, clean cut look of the Mod culture from England in the 60s. Much more pleasant on the eye than the punks and rockers from that time. Even today on any street in the UK you see men aged in their 50s smart and casually dressed and you can tell they were Jam fans back then. The Jam are a superb band with many, many great songs. The main man, Paul Weller, went onto form Style Council and continued in the same vein to write some great pop songs. Sadly today there are still "too many right wing meetings"

[@nickbrooker1411]

a song for my generation of teenager growing up in working class Britain in the late70s/early 80s, Still stands strong today.

[@shakeelbutt3719]

My first song i heard from The Jam. I was blown away and started my love for the band. Great drums bass and vocal and lyrics. The whole package.!!! Glad you liked it Marcos

[@ghostnspectors9300]

THE band of my youth.....they gave me confidence to be a young man with big ideas, to say Fack Off to disapprovers........Weller was my mate.....my cool mate that I never met.

[@Pomdownuder]

The anthems of the angry youth of the UK during the winter of discontent (winter of 79) dustman strikes, coal miners, ambulance, fire services, any and every local authorities employees, The Jam was us teenagers screaming fuck off to the greedy hypocrisy of Labour party and controlling manipulation of the conservative party, both in league to screw Joe public to their own end's....

[@nickmitchell6443]

Suits and ties are synonymous with mod culture, they weren't being ironic they wore those suits with real conviction.😎

[@marje8249]

I wish more would do reacts to The Jam... they were epic. Fantastic lyrics.

[@thesound-chameleonman3580]

I have the 7" vinyl sleeve of Down in the tube station at midnight signed by the drummer Rick Buckler!

[@Paulrm68]

So good to hear our friends in America appreciate The Jam this is my personal favourite, the back of the 7" single had a picture of Keith Moon who has recently died in 1978. The Who where an influence to The Jam

[@iainweller452]

The Jam were an amazing band, Paul Weller is still making music his new album On Sunset is brilliant

[@fergcarter3580]

They were the start of the Mod revival in the early 80’s which is why they wear suits!

[@EwokToRemember]

Thanks for that context!

[@MercuryCircuit]

Some of my Mates loved the Jam in the 80's, but I was late to the party. I was an early U2 fan and loved the Indie scene. In later years I have learned to appreciate just how incredible the Jam werw. My favourites are 'Start', Bitterest pill and Eton Rifles. Check them out ......

[@gsmith6230]

They are a London sounding band ,the accent is cockney or Estuary , which refers to the river Thames and how far it flows the accent goes

[@johnord684]

I was a teen in the late 70s early 80s in the UK and my two favorite bands where Rush and The Jam,complete polar opposites ,but loved the music back then. I classed myself as a mocker a cross between a mod and a rocker :)

[@stuartharrison165]

Coolest guitarist ever , even without the Rickenbacker . In The City LP cover turned me into a punk before I even heard it . Adelaide 1977 , never heard of mod for another 18 months , Jam were just the best of all those brilliant bands back then . 🛵

[@mazza4190]

They were the vanguard band of the MOD Revival in the late 70's. Kicked off their journey with a crackin' 45 vinyl single Strange Town, B-side Butterfly Collector.

[@breandanmaguire3335]

In the City was a their first single

[@alhollywood6486]

The smell of pubs, And wormwood scrubs

[@winnywin]

and too many right wing meetings!

[@spikehere5866]

@@winnywin The key phrase. As anyone who took a kicking from NF skins could tell you.

[@jordanwolfcastle7387]

The Spurs and The Jam! Nice combination for sure!

[@gsmith6230]

you are correct 1970s britain was violent for fun .Hooliganism was life growing up

[@mhgilham]

One of their best singles for my money. If you've not already, check out The Style Council in which Paul really spread his wings . . .

[@Jamesfoster48]

The Bassist is Bruce Foxten. He's married to my uncle's ex-wife so my cousin's stepfather. he's at all my family events. Great bassist... 😊😉

[@Jamesfoster48]

P.S. He still has that haircut!! 40 years later 😁

[@peterstubbs8645]

People saying The Jam were a great singles band only are clueless, granted the run of singles from Tube station in 78 to Start in 80 might be the greatest run of singles ever. BUT the 3 Album, s released from this period All Mod Cons ,Setting Sons and Sound Affects are as good as any Album ever released.

[@jenscee7679]

People who say that are too young or have never listened to those great albums.

[@adrianboulter1906]

top result. top band catchy bass line

[@sootyfoot]

The Jam idolised bands like The Kinks and The Small Faces

[@Yorkie83]

The suits where from the mod era, check the quadrophenia album from the Who 👍🏻

[@TheWorldofGood79]

Do listen to All Mod Cons the brilliant third album by The Jam which the full & best version of Down in the Tube Station at Midnight is on & Paul Weller was only 20 when he wrote it.

[@markhutton6055]

The Tube is the London Underground, the world's first underground railway or subway. The Jam lead the UK's and later the world's Mod revival of the late 70s early 80s. Mod was a youth culture originating in the 60s, encompassing fashion, music and lifestyle. As such the suits are not ironic, but a statement. Mod is now world wide, with a massive following in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore....strange for something so English. The Jam, who have influenced many on the UK music scene, Oasis, Blur, Ocean Colour Scene, were in turn influenced by bands from the earlier Mod era, including Mod bands such as the Who and the Small Faces, and other sixties greats such as the Kinks and of course the Beatles. Mod encompassed the great music genres, RnB, Jazz, soul, Ska, Latin. Paul Weller and the Jam were known for a traditional UK story telling style with a large dose of social commentary.

[@walkingandadventures6114]

Music of my youth...

[@johnbarrick1244]

Paul Weller was about 20 years old when he wrote this.

[@lawrencegillies]

The Jam were Mods to start with, so the suits went with that. I've always thought the Jam were a Greatest Hits band. Other great songs by them are Eton Rifles and A Town Called Malice

[@darrenhoskins8382]

Do a Town Called Malice, Going Underground pls

[@dexstewart2450]

Bruce Foxton on bass: great guy in real life

[@Englishmenmaddogs]

I have loads of stuff for you to review Marcus - white man in hammersmith palais - the clash

[@lennon1482]

weller legend

[@skaboy-ro1gm]

Morrissey is a big fan of Paul Weller, he covered the Jam’s song ‘That’s Entertainment’

[@milesparker3263]

Can't blame the Jam for who choses to listen to them I guess.

[@iainprendergast8311]

My favourite tune from them. Totally blind. Blimey.

[@andrewwoore8077]

Suits are because they were Mods (look up Mods vs Rockers)

[@christofferknight8567]

the style is a throwback to the " mod" era of the 1960s check out those bands ,... i.e. the who , the dressed well

[@aardvarkmcgillicuddy]

Please review two songs....'Leave them all behind' by Ride, and 'A town like malice' by the Jam

[@levmania]

I suggest watching quadrophenia

[@philipyoxall5441]

quality

[@Muckylittleme]

You look a little like a young David Schwimmer in disguise.

[@wearmouth3770]

Paul Weller is still a God in the UK - Bruce Foxtin bass magical!!

[@jeffreyallen3461]

Arctic Monkeys? Oh lorde... they spured the whole Brit Pop scene of the 90's that later gives you Artic Monkeys.

[@arthurbushby4182]

The jam top group Paul Weller went sola after this

[@Englishmenmaddogs]

Marcus review and react to bloody revolutions by crass please

[@judymiddleton6890]

Your take on this made me smile, quite a lot of mistakes, and as for the connection to Artic Monkeys not sure where that comes from at all, it made you bop anyway! there is an enormous collection of songs from then to now, get listening for a more balanced and informed opinion.

[@gummiaudun]

Try out Sigur Rós. Hoppípolla, Glósóli, Sæglópur or Untitled 8(Live)

[@shadowplay5363]

The Jam actually started as a punk band. "In the city" is on countless punk compilations, and they played in some of the best known punk venues, like The Roxy. I don't like their albums, apart from "Start", that much compared to other bands of the era, like The Banshees or Gang of Four, but they were a great singles band.

[@mazza4190]

No they did not. At the time those called "Punks" were not akin to the Mods. More likely find Punks with Teddy Boys.

[@shadowplay5363]

@@mazza4190 Yes they did. It has nothing to do with punk being akin to mods or Teddy Boys. The first Jam album, and the second too, has a very clear punk vibe, and they have acknowledged themselves that they liked the energy of the (short lived) movement and went along with it.They also had a mod sensibility that became the trademark of the band, but they certainly emerged from punk.

[@mazza4190]

@@shadowplay5363 Where were you living in 1978. The Jam like so many other bands were thrown in to the "punk scene". Could not be further from the truth. The Jam played the same circuits, venues. The Specials had the same generalization of being punk because they were of the same time.

[@shadowplay5363]

@@mazza4190 The Specials were a 100% ska band when they finally released their first album in 1979, two years later than the Jam. Two years was a huge amount of time in music in the late 70s, and Punk actually started in 1976, not 1978, so that's one fact wrong. By 1978 the movement was pretty much dead and turning into a self-destructing mess, and all the bands were moving on and getting away as far as possible from the dying scene. And there were "punk" bands that had in fact little to do with each other, like X-ray Spex, The Stranglers, Wire or Penetration, but they had the same energy and in your face attitude that defined punk, and The Jam certainly ticked all those boxes, and it shows pretty clearly in the lyrics of "in the city", which is a classic punk record. It's not a coincidence that they were "thrown in", even if most of the acts were moving on in very different directions by the next couple of years, or even sooner. Siouxie was as punk as could be, and one of the first and more charismatic figures in the scene, part of the Bromley Contingent that followed the Sex Pistols when they were only known in the London underground, but who would call The Scream, released in 1978, a punk record ? absolutely no one. But why am I even arguing something that has been extensively acknowleged by the media and the band themselves, lol.

[@mazza4190]

@@shadowplay5363 Wow. I bet that reads well. Would a 100% Ska band be born of the Jamaican Dance Halls or a young British band in Coventry making a noise bouncing out covers. By the by anyone putting a year to "Punk actually started in ..." Has little to offer. I bet the rest of your comment is enriching.

[@iainprendergast8311]

Same style? Do you need counciling?

[@neilhayward7572]

Mods

[@gsmith6230]

you do not want to be in a tube station at midnight

[@RudyCantGame]

#gospursgo

[@EwokToRemember]

Yea!!

[@oneforallallforone1821]

Eton Rifles please

[@adebinelli8182]

Never seen a reaction to this song brilliant bassist...shame the audience were all in a coma....

[@prashantkotak5181]

If you like great basswork, I recommend the Stranglers who had an utterly unique sound. They made many great tracks, but for starters I suggest Peaches, Golden Brown, Nice n Sleazy. But caveat emptor - the lyrics are not exactly 'woke'.

[@milesparker3263]

Yikes to comparison with Arctic Monkeys. Or maybe I just need to listen more to Arctic Monkeys but they seem to completely lack the political outrage that was core to The Jam.

[@raytalbot5890]

Try: The Mamas & the papas California dreaming Mama Cass Dream a little dream of me Dave & Ansell Collins Double Barrel or Monkey man Specials AKA blank expression Gangsters Do nothing Toots & the Maytals 54-46 that’s my number Harry J All stars Liquidator

[@user-jq7di9pz8m]

Yay this is more like it, no more Arctic Monkeys reactions??

[@oneforallallforone1821]

Actually, they're from London. They're the pioneers of Mod Revival other than The Chords, The Circles, The Squire etc. in 70's. They're always wearing suits, clean and sharp look like what you're called Ska bands. Ska (Rude Boys) and Mods are different. You better watch Quadrophenia first. Peace man.

[@craigireland5629]

Not from London. Woking.

[@mark6809mm]

If you're going to review a band please do some research first. It'll help mate!

[@derrindzus]

Carter USM did a great version of this.

[@nomisnestral6956]

and too many right wing meetings. but not tonight.