wendersfan

It's the knee jerk response any time the NME or one of their lists is mentioned here.

cungar

Paul Weller may be well known to Brits and people who were into punk/new wave in the late 70's but he's not even close to a household name in the US.

CRM114

The Jam was one of the most heavily played bands in my circles during high school.

I highly recommend:

Sean O'Hara

Yeah, but this is a music forum, not a high school cafeteria. I don't think it's crazy to expect people to know bands outside of the current Top 40.

Mike86

I think its a little ridiculous to lump people into a category of only liking the current top 40 just because not everyone knows a singer from a band that happened to be popular in the 70s.

GenPion

Personally, having just looked at the list, I think it's a good one overall. A lot of my favorite bands are on it!

Hiro11

The Jam was more of an 80s band...

I see what you're saying, but The Jam is seen by regular pop fans in Europe, Australia etc. and by most alternative/punk/post-punk/whatever fans (there are millions of us) here in the states as one of those "Pantheon" bands. To me, they're up there with bands like The Replacements or The Cure: definitive "college music" bands from the eighties.

More importatntly, they were also probably the most popular band in the UK and large portions of Europe for almost a decade: #1 hits, platinum albums, selling out stadia and everything. They're one of the best examples of a band that was huge everywhere but the US and cultish here.

It's a little dismissive to call them "some band that was popular in the 70s".

Mike86

Meh. I looked up info on them and it appears they only released seven albums from 1977 to 1982 when they disbanded. I'm not trying to discredit them I just personally haven't heard of them and I wouldn't say I'm being dismissive it just seems like a band that was popular if you were alive in that period or were a big fan of the punk scene of the time and if not you likely have never heard of them. Add to that the fact they seem to be a band that was mostly popular in the UK I wouldn't say its that uncommon for a lot of people to not know who they are and if people don't know them doesn't make them only a fan of current top 40 music.

Giles

the Hurts album is excellent, very Erasure, but less annoyingly gay

atlantamoi

I was eating in a pizza joint a couple of weeks ago and the cooks were playing The Jam's greatest hits album (you could hear it all over the restaurant). I remarked to my wife that even though I listened to this music 25+ years ago in my late teens/early 20's that it was cool The Jam is still relatable and relevant to young people today. They were not really some minor blip on the music scene. Anyone with a passing interest in alternative music has probably heard them.

cungar

I think you're going a bit off the rails here. The Jam were a big band in England but there's absolutely no way they were the biggest band in the UK and Europe for almost a decade. The band was only around for 5 years. To call them an 80's band is a bit misleading as well. They existed from 1977-1982. They definitely were not a stadium rock band.

They had one #1 album in the UK and 4 #1 singles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jam


Studio albums
In the City (1977) #20 UK
This Is the Modern World (1977) #22 UK
All Mod Cons (1978) #6 UK
Setting Sons (1979) #4 UK, #137 US
Sound Affects (1980) #2 UK, #72 US
The Gift (1982) #1 UK, #82 US

wendersfan

That's almost certainly their worst album.

atlantamoi

I know some people aren't into compilations, but it's still one of the greats:



I also know this has been updated from one disc to three discs, but seeing how cheaply Compact Snap can be found, I would suggest this for a newbie.