The Jam Unseen - Photographic Exhibition
By: Sabuhi Mir
Everyone has their favourite Jam song, be it 'Eton Rifles', 'Town Called Malice', 'Going Underground' or something else entirely. The Jam are one of those seminal British punk bands along with the Sex Pistols and The Clash who have influenced the good, the bad and the ugly over the last 30 years, from Oasis and The Enemy to Kasabian. As well as some bands who are actually great.
During their career, they had 18 Top 40 singles, including four number one hits. And people took one hell of a lot of photos of them. This exhibition of 20 selected photographs from the current book 'The Jam Unseen' (published by Cyan books) features the original line-up of Bruce Foxton (bass, vocals), Paul Weller (vocals, guitar) and Rick Buckler (drums) on stage, on the road, and behind the scenes from the beginning of their career all the way up to their farewell concert in 1982.
It coincides with the general 30th anniversary of when The Jam originally signed to Polydor Records in 1977. The photographs were taken by the Jam's official photographer, appointed by Buckler in 1981 - 21-year old Neil "Twink" Tinning. They capture the Jam at their angst-ridden peak at various venues in the UK from the: Michael Sobell Centre, Islington, North London to the Brighton Centre at their farewell concert.
Twink recently said of the Jam in an interview in the Observer: "The Jam were the spokespeople for a generation; social commentators, empathising with dole-queue despair and becoming idols to Britain's disillusioned youth." And he was right. This exhibition is a chance to see a piece of mod-history. It is time to dust off your black and white 'Carnaby' Winklepickers and get on your Piaggio, all the way down to W1.
'The Jam Unseen' exhibition is held from Saturday 6th October until Saturday 20th October 2007 at The Movie Poster Gallery, 1 Colville Place, London W1T 2BG
Artists in this article: The Jam Unseen