The Jam / 1977
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11th Played at the 100 Club in London, which was reviewed by John Tobler for NME; “In comparison to the much vaunted Clash, The Jam are totally superior, not least because they have sufficient respect for their material to want it to be heard as music, rather than felt as noise. Exceedingly promising”.
22nd Supported Bearded Lady at the Marquee in London. This was attended by Chris Parry from Polydor who was looking to sign the band.
25th Played at the 100 Club in London, where Paul Weller reportedly burned an issue of Sniffin’ Glue onstage!
5th Supported Little Bob Story at Crawley College.
9th Chris Parry held recording tests for ‘In The City’ at Polydor’s Stratford Place Studios.
15th Signed to Polydor Records by Chris Parry, which was announced later that month. Chris Parry later recalled, that after handing over the cheque for the band’s advance, John Weller revealed that the band didn’t have a bank account yet. “John exclaimed, ‘I can’t take a cheque.’ So we went across to 399 Oxford Street, where Polydor banked. The money came across the counter in ten pound notes, John stuffed it in his pocket and went home a happy man!”
24th Played at the Roxy in London.
16th Played at the Red Cow in London, as part of their Red Cow residency from Wednesday 9th March to Wednesday 30th March.
22nd Performed at the Roxy in London. March saw The Stranglers, Chelsea, Eater and more onstage at the Roxy.
29th Took to the stage at the 100 Club in London as part of their ‘New Bands Night’.
31st Played the final gig of the month at the Rochester Castle in Stoke Newington, London.
1st Played at Leeds Polytechnic, which was reviewed by John Hamblett for NME; “Sure, they use the mid-60s ‘mod sound’ as a powerbase, of sorts, but from there it’s 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-zero, blast off, instant 70s modism, desperate tension, adrenalin rush guaranteed”.
17th Supported the Stranglers and Cherry Vanilla at the Roundhouse in London.
26th Recorded their first John Peel Session for BBC Radio One which included ‘In The City’, ‘Art School’, ‘I’ve Changed My Address’ and ‘The Modern World’ - all of which are included in the 1977 box set.
29th Released first single, ‘In The City’, from debut album of the same name. Featured in their ‘Singles of the Week’ series, NME described it as “the most convincing British-penned teenage anthem I’ve heard in a very long time”.
White Riot Tour - A new wave package tour featuring The Clash as headliners along with The Jam, The Slits, The Buzzcocks and Subway Sect.
7th Paul, Rick and Bruce posed for the cover of NME. The accompanying feature written by Steve Clarke described them as “the best rock ‘n’ roll band I have seen in many a year”.
8th Played at the Rainbow Theatre in London with the Clash, The Buzzcocks, the Prefects and Subway Sect. This gig was reviewed by John Hayward from Music Week; “With their aggressive good looks and professional tightness, the Jam look set to join the Clash and the Damned as leading lights in the rapidly expanding new wave scene”.
The Jam left the White Riot Tour following the performance at the Rainbow Theatre in London. The press speculated as to what could have caused the conflict between the Jam and the Clash, however no reason was ever confirmed.
19th Performed ‘In The City’ on their debut Top Of The Pops appearance. Footage of this performance is included in the 1977 box set.
20th Released their debut studio album, ‘In The City’, to critical acclaim. Record Mirror’s Barry Cain wrote; “If you don’t like them, hard luck they’re gonna be around for a long time. It’s been a long time since albums actually reflected pre-20 delusions and this one does”.
28th The Jam featured on the cover of Record Mirror alongside an in-depth interview where they discussed youth, new wave bands and the Queen, amongst other topics.
The Jam embarked on their first major headline tour, In The City. It was meant to stretch to 42 dates, but they called it a day after 36. That they had even got that far was pretty remarkable: Weller would later recall “travelling in this red Cortina for hours and having to learn to walk again when you got out,” and their first day off did not materialise until they were 27 dates in.
7th The first date of their tour, the Jam travelled to Birmingham. This initial performance is attended and reviewed by Chas De Whalley for Sounds, who noted; “The Jam have arrived. Their pent-up fury spilling out over the dancefloor is pure beat for the feet and they have the Birmingham crowd firmly in their grasp”.
18th Performed at Poplar Civic Hall, one of three Jubilee shows the Jam committed to for free. Julie Burchill from NME reviewed the performance; “If they looked any sharper they’d cut themselves to ribbons. Weller, Foxton and Buckler: the eternal triangle of stark, functional beauty. And the music’s the same; it’s so good it hurts, only a deaf man could dismiss it”.
19th Played at the Electric Circus in Manchester. Full gig / Carnaby Street.
28th The Jam recorded ‘All Around The World’ and ‘Carnaby Street’.
1st Performed at the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle. Barry Cain from Record Mirror wrote of the event; “The band have already achieved two bell greatness in the pinball seat of power. And it ain’t gonna be long before number three and the jackpot”.
8th The Jam released the single ‘All Around The World’ backed by the B-side ‘Carnaby Street’.
9th Performed at the California Ballroom, Dunstable, where the Jam were supported by Chelsea.
19th Recorded their second session with John Peel for BBC Radio One. The session included ‘All Around The World’, ‘London Girl’, ‘Bricks and Mortar’ and ‘Carnaby Street’.
21st The Jam graced the stage of Top Of The Pops for the second time to perform ‘All Around The World’.
24th Headlined the 4,000-capacity Hammersmith Odeon, much to even their own amazement. “Nobody wanted to do that, but it worked,” said John Weller. “That was the first big one that we did. Had we not done that, we would still have been fucking playing in the Red Cows of this world. Simple as that.”
4th Took to the stage on Top Of The Pops for the third time to perform ‘All Around the World’.
18th Returned to Top Of The Pops for the fourth time to perform ‘All Around The World’. This performance is included in the 1977 box set!
20th ‘All Around The World’ reached number 13 in the UK Top 50 Singles Chart.
24th Performed ‘All Around The World’ on Marc - Marc Bolan’s TV Show. This performance features on the 1977 box set too!
25th Began recording their second album, ‘This Is The Modern World’.
10th Performed at the Nashville, London. This concert was recorded and dug out of the archives for the 1977 box set.
11th Played at the 100 Club, London. This gig was also recorded and later released by Polydor. Godfrey Rust from Music Week attended, and later wrote; “The Jam are the real thing. For three unassuming young men they make a great deal of noise”.
21st Recorded 4 tracks from their upcoming album, including their next single ‘The Modern World’.
30th The Jam performed at the Paradiso Club, Amsterdam. This was the Jam’s first European tour and, despite cancellations in Norway and Sweden, the performance in the Netherlands went ahead.
8th Began their first US tour, performing in Los Angeles, Boston and New York. The debut gig took place at Whisky-A-Go-Go in LA, where journalist Sylvie Simmons reviewed the Jam; “It’s powerful, it’s got bite, and you can see why they’ve been compared to early The Who”.
16th Paul Weller went on NBC's 'The Tomorrow Show' while on the Jam’s first US tour.
21st Released the single ’The Modern World’ off their upcoming second album, ’This Is the Modern World’, which was named Single of the Week by Sounds.
3rd Took to the stage on Top Of The Pops to perform ’The Modern World’. You can find this performance in the 1977 box set.
17th Began the Modern World tour, a UK headline tour to promote their new album, supported by the New Hearts.
18th Released their second album, ‘This Is The Modern World’. Chas De Whalley reviewed the album for Sounds, stating; “‘This Is The Modern World’ is only a taster of what the Jam have stored up for the future and, despite the five stars, it still isn’t their masterpiece”.
20th Performed ‘In The City’, ‘Bricks And Mortar’, ‘Carnaby Street’, ‘Slow Down’ and ‘All Around The World’ on So It Goes, Granada TV. Watch these performances on the 1977 box set!
26th As their evening show at Friars, The Civic Centre in Aylesbury sold out, the Jam organised and played an extra afternoon gig - a first for the venue.
2nd Played at the Bracknell Sports Centre. Chas De Whalley wrote an in-depth piece on the band and Paul in particular, from time he spent at this gig and Paul’s house in Woking.
10th The Jam featured on the front cover of Record Mirror, and the accompanying interview took place at Paul’s house in Woking.
18th Finishing the Modern World tour, the Jam’s final performance at the Hammersmith Odeon was attended and reviewed by Bob Edmands from NME, who noted; “They’re there for the Jam’s undoubted instrumental prowess, and the band are clearly so hot that the parallels with the Who are rendered redundant”.
24th The Jam’s success in 1977 was recognised by end of the year press roundups - including NME which named ‘In The City’ one of the top singles and albums of the year.