After the ridiculous defeat of his Bobness yesterday I'm joining TeamPhil.
Seriously? :nope:
If you can all get past all he Patrick Bateman quotes that are bound to raise their head in this battle, then surely there's only one victor in this battle.
Paul Weller, founder member of The Jam, one of the quintessential British bands ever, the catalyst for millions of other bands to pick up guitars and write 3 minute angry pop songs, but none of them worthy of his brilliance.
Forming The Jam in '72 with school mates, Weller cemented The Jam's status as Britain's Best Band of the late 70's, early 80's with brilliant all-killer albums such as Setting Sons and The Gift, a plethora of outstanding singles such as:
[video=youtube;ubxYYzYNP84]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubxYYzYNP84&feature=related[/video]
Calling a halt to The Jam at the height of their powers with
[video=youtube;GOK_vqtXgbk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOK_vqtXgbk&feature=related[/video]
He then went on to form softer, jazzier The Style Council. Even though they never matched the true anger and power of The Jam, Weller still managed some great singles such as
[video=youtube;fo0lMI7bynE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo0lMI7bynE&feature=fvwrel[/video]
The Style Council called it a day in the late 80's and Weller went solo, but he never lost his edge. With albums such as Wild Wood and Stanley Road, he cemented himself in the current fad of Britpop (rightly or wrongly), but many of those bands have vanished, Weller's solo work still remains fresh.
For those who say he's a "one trick pony", how about this soulful number?
[video=youtube;Uc_rAX6z9Yc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc_rAX6z9Yc[/video]
Still pumping out great albums today, Wake Up The Nation was recently nominated for the coveted Mercury Music Prize - 17 tracks of short, snappy pop, reminiscent of The Jam at their peak.
[video=youtube;HykV37M67MI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HykV37M67MI[/video]
Weller may not be the nicest bloke, in fact sometimes he's a prize twit, but we're judging him here on his musical ability, and he's stayed true to his principles and never reformed The Jam for that mega payday pension.
Vote Paul Weller!