The Jam or The Style Council?

Do you have to choose?

“I had this whole thing planned for months. I wanted Mick in my new group because I believe him to be the finest young Jazz/Soul organist in the country and also because he shares a hatred of the rock myth and rock culture.” Paul Weller¹

“There were four great debut singles from this new wave of music: The Damned’s New Rose, the Pistol’s Anarchy in the UK, The Clash’s White Riot and The Jam’s In the City.” Dennis Munday²

There was something spellingbinding about the early Jam songs, where the band wedded punk philosophies to mod sensibilities, and Weller’s first group inspires huge loyalty from their fans. The band broke up at the end of 1982 and The Style Council emerged from the ashes, building on the soul groove that Weller had been trying out at the end of The Jam’s time.

For some people his shift from the angry, brittle sounds of The Jam to the professionally smooth music of The Style Council was a travesty, an act of dissent, but for me, it is Weller’s greatest period, and so I want …