4 TIMES THIS HAS MADE THE TOP 50

As debut singles go, this April 1977 release isn't too bad:-

mp3 : The Jam - In The City

I'd love to say I picked up on it right away, but I didn't.  I wasn't quite 14 years of age and football was still way way way more important than music although within a year that would all change, thanks in part to getting part-time work on a milk round which gave me some more disposable income that allowed me to start buying seven and twelve inch size pieces of plastic.

The Jam were the first band I really fell for in a meaningful way, but it was fourth single News Of The World that first grabbed my attention - and a few months later the release of the LP All Mod Cons cemented the relationship that was love forever until the band called it a day in late 1982.

I did of course go back and but the previous singles and LPs I had missed out on.  Some of it was enjoyable while other songs seemed a bit dull.  I think it's fair to say that they were a band who didn't really hit their peak until the third album.....which shows how much things have changed over the past 30 years.  If they were to repeat things nowadays, they would probably have been dropped by the record label before the third LP came out....

In The City reached #40 when first released.  I didn't know at the time, nor for more than 20 years, that it shared its title with an obscure song by The Who (a b-side of 1966 single I'm A Boy). 

The single was re-released in 1980 when Polydor decided to cash-in on the band becoming the biggest and most popular in the UK and once again, it reached #40.

Then in 1983, just after the band had broken up and all singles were re-released, it peaked at #47.

Finally, in 2002, the label marked the 25th Anniversary of the foramtion of The Jam with a limited edition and inexpensive re-release of the debut single and this time round it reached #36 - the best chart performance of any of the four times it has been sold as a single.

Here's yer b-side:-

mp3 : The Jam - Takin' My Love

A song that actually dated from 1973 and written by a then 15-year old Paul Weller and Steve Brookes who was one-half of the original line-up (although Brookes has never received a writing credit at any point in time), it's the sort of song that was common to the first two LPs - decent enough but hardly earth-shattering,

And here's an early live recording of the single.  It can be found on the 1982 live LP Dig The New Breed:-

mp3 : The Jam - In The City (live at the 100 Club, London - 11 September 1977)

Happy Listening