Alongside lyrics that recount skirmishes as schoolboys jeered a right-to-work march through Slough in 1978, his guitar work is jagged and antagonistic, welding shards of noise and surprising jangle to Foxton’s punchy bassline. The Eton Rifles, perhaps Weller’s finest class polemic, takes aim at the privileged English school and its anointed future political elites in anthemic fashion, sending its barbs crashing through defences off the back of a shoutalong chorus. The best satire is often couched in terms that allow its targets to climb on board and add another bitter layer. The In The City sleeve was shot by photographer Martyn Goddard, who clearly had a way with debuts: he also provided the goods for the Cure’s Three Imaginary Boys in 1979. Alongside the jacked up Who and Kinks influences on In The City this one really moves, with Weller’s no frills, grimy chords running up against Northern Soul spirit and a chorus that’s pure Style Council. Weller’s soul influences would become more pronounced over time, but Non-Stop Dancing shows that they were there all along. This is another moment where Weller has a perceptive read on his own career, looking out at all the hangers on and realising that once the hits dry up he (or the footballers and film stars of the lyrics) will be alone again.
This song is a marvel of construction, with Weller and Foxton cycling through riffs – an early pre- Start Taxman lift, robotic single notes, descending plucked sequences – and a raft of hooks on their way to the “Didn’t we have a nice time?” refrain, where Weller’s distorted peals add rough and tumble energy to two and a half minutes of pop nous.
#Paul weller the eton rifles mod#
To Be Someone (Didn’t We Have a Nice Time) (All Mod Cons, 1978) The B-side to The Modern World made plain the Jam’s soul influences, with a cover of Sweet Soul Music by Arthur Conley backing one of their punkier numbers. From the opening crunch of his riff through a spiteful, note-mauling solo this is the Jam at their most acerbic and confrontational. “Say what you like, ‘cause I don’t care.” If the past 45 years, and the clamour for the Jam to reform, has taught us anything it’s that Weller really, truly believes this. The Modern World (This is the Modern World, 1977) Did you know?Īpocryphally, this song was inspired by the discovery of a World War II bomb on Wardour Street in Soho, which housed the offices of the Jam’s label.
At the midway point Weller unloads a solo that matches the song’s antic, unnerving spirit, growing looser, more frenzied, as it’s consumed by feedback and dragged back into the verse, Doc Marten boots stomping around us. Using its one-two riff as a base this track spits and flails, all anxious energy and splashes of violence. ‘A’ Bomb In Wardour Street (All Mod Cons, 1978) Here are just a few of their many guitar highlights. Roared on by Paul Weller’s cranked Rickenbacker 330-AC30 combination and the melodic lead bass playing of Bruce Foxton, usually completed with the help of a Rickenbacker 4001 or Fender Precision Bass, they left behind six fascinating records, never to return.