Bruce Foxton - Every UK Number 1

The Intro

Beat Surrender, the Jam’s final single and fourth number 1, bridged the gap between the band that shot Paul Weller to fame, and his future endeavours with The Style Council. And did so in fine fashion.

Before

Talk about going out with a bang. Earlier in 1982, The Jam’s last album, The Gift, had spawned their third chart-topper, Town Called Malice/Precious. This was followed by a number eight placing for Just Who Is the 5 O’Clock Hero?. Not as impressive, you’d be forgiven for thinking. However, this 7-inch had only been officially released in the Netherlands. Such was the demand in the UK, it reached the top 10 here regardless, and became our highest-selling import single of all time.

Their next official single, The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow), almost made it to number 1, and it would have been deserved, but was held at bay by Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger and then Musical Youth’s Pass the Dutchie. This was a non-album single, and the modern soul sound was an early clue to Paul Weller’s next move.

Weller was 24 at the time, and had the pop world at his feet. His band had long since exceeded their Mod beginnings and become bona fide pop stars. Their five-year run was at its peak, with no signs of a decline. But he had had enough. Following a world tour he went on holiday to Italy. He came back and planned to announce he was splitting up the band, but when the news leaked, a hand-written press statement was released. He said:

‘At the end of this year, The Jam will be officially splitting up, as I feel we have achieved all we can together as a group. I mean this both musically and commercially. I want all we have achieved to count for something and most of all I’d hate us to end up old and embarrassing like so many other groups do.’

Weller’s decision had shocked bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler, who couldn’t see the sense in ending The Jam when they were riding so high. They may have recalled recording Beat Surrender, and wondered why their singer hadn’t said anything at the time, because with hindsight, it was clear this was his goodbye to The Jam.

The title was a play on Anita Ward’s 1979 disco single Sweet Surrender, and the military term of ‘beating retreat’. In a 2015 edition of Mojo, Weller revealed ‘I wanted it to be a statement, a final clarion call saying: Right, we’re stopping, you take it on from here.’ Despite this, there was still some indecision over what actually would become their final single. Weller had also been mulling over going with A Solid Bond in Your Heart, but that later surfaced as a single by The Style Council.

Review

Beat Surrender is my least favourite of The Jam’s number 1s – but that’s only because it’s competing with three of the finest chart-toppers of the era in Going Underground/The Dreams of Children, Start! and Town Called Malice/Precious.

It’s a great track, and the perfect bridge from the uptempo pop/rock of The Jam to The Style Council. Lyrically, it’s a call to arms like Going Underground, mixed with the inevitable feel of an epitaph to his much-loved power trio. The chorus urges The Jam’s fans to let the band go, but to take their energy and do something worthwhile. I love this verse, in which Weller looks forward to other artists carrying on their mission:

‘You’ll see me come runnin’
To the sound of your strummin’
Fill my heart with joy and gladness
I’ve lived too long in the shadows of sadness’

Of course, Weller already had plans to continue in music, but to expand the sonic palette of The Jam. Yes, there was more to them than post-punk – they had experimented with soul and psychedelia and done so with aplomb. But he wanted to explore further, and Beat Surrender points the way to a more mature, soulful sound, with more complex arrangements that just couldn’t be done as a threesome. The final verse says it all:

‘Wake me up with your amphetamine blast
Take me by the collar, throw me out into the world
Rock me gently and send me dreaming of something tender
I was brought here to pay homage
To the Beat Surrender’

After

With the news of The Jam’s demise still fresh, and painful, for many, it was inevitable that Beat Surrender would top the hit parade. Only Weller himself knows what he meant by standing with backing singer Tracie Young when they promoted the single on Top of the Pops – was he giving Foxton and Buckler the spotlight as a parting gift, or was he saying he really couldn’t be bothered to represent The Jam anymore?

The Jam played their final gig on 11 December 1982 at Brighton Conference Centre. Foxton and Buckler were deeply hurt by Weller’s decision to split them up. Foxton refused to speak to him for 20 years and as far as I can tell, Buckler never spoke to him again.

It’s understandable, really. Weller cited a need to get off the treadmill of fame – yet only months after the split, he announced the formation of The Style Council, with keyboard player Mick Talbot. Originally a floating line-up, The Style Council showcased a diverse mix of ‘blue-eyed soul’, pop, dance and hip-hop. They released some great material until they split in 1989, including Long Hot Summer, Shout to the Top! and Walls Come Tumbling Down!, and scored top 10 hits, but they couldn’t match The Jam’s success and never made it to number 1. I doubt Weller was too bothered, though. He also sang on the 1984 Christmas number 1, Do They Know It’s Christmas?.

The Style Council split in 1989, and two years later, Weller began releasing solo material. After a slow start, his album Wild Wood saw commercial and critical acclaim in 1993. In 1995, Weller was a star once more, releasing his most successful album, Stanley Road. He was ‘the Modfather’, and a much-loved but grumpy elder statesman of the Britpop movement. Over the next few years he enjoyed three top 10 hits with The Changingman, You Do Something to Me and Peacock Suit. His last album to date is Find El Dorado, a covers album, released in 2025.

After The Jam, Foxton recorded demos with Stiff Little Fingers, before venturing into a solo career. His debut single Freak climbed to 23 in 1983. An album followed in 1984, but without success. He and Buckler formed a short-lived new band, Sharp in 1986. In 1990, he joined Stiff Little Fingers officially and stayed with them for 15 years.

Buckler had started a new group, Time UK, in 1983. They lasted two years, and then after Sharp, Buckler tried his hand at production, before quitting music and became a carpenter in 1995. But 10 years later, he formed a band named after The Jam’s final album. The Gift exclusively performed material by The Jam. And then in 2007, Foxton joined the group and they changed their name to From The Jam.

One year before that, Weller and Foxton were reunited backstage at a Hyde Park gig by The Who. Following a 10-minute conversation and an embrace, they became friends again, and in 2009, Foxton sang backing vocals and played bass on Weller’s album Wake Up the Nation. He even joined him on stage in 2010.

Foxton released two more solo albums – one in 2012 and one in 2016. In 2025, From the Jam announced that due to poor health, Foxton was retiring from the music business and there would be no more tours. That February, Buckler died aged 69 following a brief illness. Weller, who had occasionally been critical of From the Jam, paid tribute to his former drummer. This year, Foxton revealed he has Parkinson’s disease.

The Outro

Although Foxton and Buckler’s hurt is understandable, Weller was right to end The Jam at the peak of their powers, and never reform them. They were one of the finest bands of the early 80s and Weller was on fire, writing hit after hit after hit. That he was able to change tack several times over after such a great band is testament to his versatility.

The Info

Written by

Paul Weller

Producer

Peter Wilson

Weeks at number 1

2 (4-17 December)

Trivia

Births

7 December: Actor Jack Huston
14 December: Footballer Steve Sidwell
15 December: Actor Charlie Cox

Deaths

16 December: Automotive engineer Colin Chapman
17 December: First woman to fly an aircraft around the world Richarda Morrow-Tait

Meanwhile…

6 December: The Irish National Liberation Army killed 17 people in a bomb attack at the Dropping Well Inn in Ballykelly, County Londonderry.

12 December: 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire.

15 December: The British colony of Gibraltar gains a pedestrian link to Spain, as the gates which separated the two states are re-opened by the Spanish government after 13 years.

The Intro

In early 1982, the future looked very bright for The Jam. They were at their commercial peak – Town Called Malice/Precious became a well-deserved instant number 1, and was their third chart-topper. However, by the end of the year, Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler had split up.

Before

The Jam’s second number 1 was the excellent (thought not entirely original) Start!, from the 1980 LP Sound Affects. However, despite the follow-up also being more than worthy, That’s Entertainment was perhaps too wistful for mass consumption – it only reached 21 in 1981. Two standalone singles came up next, and although they fared better, Funeral Pyre (their first jointly written 7-inch) and Absolute Beginners both peaked at four.

Work on what was to become their final album started in October 1981. The Gift saw The Jam work with new producer Pete Wilson, who helped point the way forward for Weller, showcasing a smoother, Northern Soul, funk and jazz sound, akin to the next project they worked on together – The Style Council. That didn’t sit well with Foxton and Buckler, however, who could probably see the writing on the wall. As Mods, The Jam were always in thrall to these sounds – but they’d never tried making these types of music themselves.

The title to Town Called Malice came from Nevil Shute’s famous romantic 1950 novel A Town Like Alice – however, there’s no link to the song and book other than the rhyming wordplay of the titles. The real inspiration comes from Weller’s working-class youth in Woking.

Precious was unlike any single The Jam had released up to this point – a psychedelic-funk-based love song, partly derived from Pigbag’s Papa’s Got a Brand New Pigbag.

This was also the first Jam single to move beyond the power-trio line-up, with extra help from producer Pete Wilson on organ, plus Keith Thomas on saxophones, Steve Nichol on trumpet and Russ Henderson on percussion and steel drums.

Reviews

Urgent, poetic and angry, Town Called Malice is Weller’s finest song. It updates his fixations on class, disaffected youth and striving to escape a society that’s left him out in the cold and brings them all strutting onto the dancefloor. And it’s a change in tack from his first number 1, Going Underground. This time, Weller warns his followers not to hide from society if they’re not happy – they need to work together to improve their lives: ”Cause time is short, and life is cruel/But it’s up to us to change this town called Malice’.

I’ve always loved Town Called Malice for its sound, but researching more in-depth here as proved to me how fine a lyricist Weller also is. There’s some great lines about urban decay and Thatcherism’s ‘no such thing as society’ here, including:

‘Rows and rows of disused milk floats,
Stand dying in the dairy yard
And a hundred lonely housewives
Clutch empty milk bottles to their hearts.’

Righteous anger you can dance to. Beautiful. And I love Foxton’s bass breakdown too. All The Jam’s number 1 singles are excellent, but this reigns supreme.

As always with videos by The Jam, you only get a bare bones performance, but it does the job nicely. The Jam perform against a black background, with the occasional dada-style speech bubbles popping up – ‘Anti Complacency League! Baby!’ and ‘If we ain’t getting through to you – you obviously ain’t listening!’.

Weller, as a huge fan of The Beatles, liked to ape their double-A-side single approach. However, while I always enjoy hearing the lesser-known songs such as The Dreams of Children and Precious, I don’t think they really stand toe-to-toe with their ‘real’ A-sides. It’s not like Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out, where both songs deserve top billing. They’re better classed as great songs in which The Jam can test the waters for experiments in their sound. And Precious does fit that bill nicely – I wish I’d heard it sooner. Weller analyses his love over a sprawling funk sound that sounds particularly interesting on the 12″ version. There’s nothing lyrically to match Town Called Malice, though I do like:

‘Lonely as the moors on a winter’s morning
Quiet as the sea on a cool, calm night
In your tranquil shadow, I’ll try and follow’.

It’s impossible to ignore the resemblance to Papa’s Got a Brand New Pigbag – but that’s no bad thing at all.

There’s no surprises to be found in the video for Precious. Like it’s flip side, it’s simply The Jam and extra musicians performing against a black background.

After

Town Called Malice/Precious shot straight to number 1 and The Jam celebrated by performing both songs on Top of the Pops. While the latter is now somewhat of a curio, the former will most likely fill dancefloors everywhere for evermore.

The Outro

EMI argued that Town Called Malice/Precious kept another classic – The Stranglers’ Golden Brown – from the top spot by having its sales aggregated. It’s a sign of just how strong the singles chart was in 1982 that Golden Brown wasn’t a chart-topper – although the quality control of 1982’s number 1s was about to drop for a while…

The Info

Written by

Paul Weller

Producers

Pete Wilson & The Jam

Weeks at number 1

3 (13 February-5 March)

Trivia

Births

25 February: Footballer Chris Baird
26 February: Gymnast Lisa Mason

Deaths

20 February: Arctic traveller Isobel Wylie Hutchison
21 February: Writer WE Shewell-Cooper
22 February: Suffragist Annie Barnes
23 February: Author Elisabeth Kyle
24 February: Artist Keith Henderson
27 February: Henry Gage, 6th Viscount Gage
2 March: Air chief marshal Sir Donald Hardman
3 March: Ivy Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland

Meanwhile…

19 February: The DeLorean car factory in Belfast is put into receivership.

23 February: The Glasgow coal ship St Bedan is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit driving a pilot boat that was hijacked in Lough Foyle, Northern Ireland.

25 February: The European Court of Justice rules that British schools cannot allow corporal punishment against the wishes of parents.

3 March: Queen Elizabeth II opens the Barbican Centre in London.