The Jam’s fifth album found Paul Weller at his most adventurous. Released November 28, 1980 on Polydor, ‘Sound Affects’ blended post-punk edge with pop psychedelia, spun off two of the band’s most beloved songs, and climbed to No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. Weller himself has called it the Jam’s best album. Here are five things you might not know about it.
Weller Described It As A Cross Between Michael Jackson And The Beatles
The album drew on post-punk groups like Wire, Gang of Four, and Joy Division, but two other records loomed large. Weller has admitted the Beatles’ ‘Revolver’ was a major influence, and Michael Jackson’s ‘Off the Wall’ shaped Rick Buckler’s drumming. At the time, Weller said he considered the album a cross between those two.
“Start!” Lifts Its Bassline Straight From The Beatles’ “Taxman”
The lead single is built around an almost exact copy of the bassline from “Taxman,” the opening track on ‘Revolver’, and nods to its guitar solo too. Bruce Foxton admitted it wasn’t intentional, saying “Taxman” subconsciously went in. He joked that it wasn’t exactly the same, “otherwise I’m sure Paul McCartney would have thought about suing us!”
The Back Cover Quotes A Famous Protest Poem
The album’s artwork is a pastiche of the BBC’s 1970s Sound Effects records, complete with a taxi, a phone box, and Dungeness B power station. Less noticed is the back cover, which features an excerpt from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem ‘The Masque of Anarchy’. It’s a fitting touch for a record steeped in working-class imagery.
Weller Overruled His Label On The First Single
Polydor pushed for “Pretty Green” as the lead single, but Weller insisted on “Start!” To settle it, A&R man Dennis Munday polled a small group of the band’s friends who’d been around the sessions, and they chose “Start!” The decision was vindicated when it entered at No. 3 and hit No. 1 in its third week, knocking David Bowie off the top.
Weller Wrote “That’s Entertainment” In Ten Minutes
The album’s enduring classic came together almost instantly. “I wrote it in 10 mins flat, whilst under the influence,” Weller said, explaining that the song’s slice-of-life images were all around him in London. It never got a domestic UK single release during the band’s lifetime, yet charted as an import at No. 21 and became one of the country’s biggest-selling import singles ever.