LogFAQs > #957297498

29. The Jam Going Underground (1980)
non-album single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE1ct5yEuVY

Key lyrics:
And the public gets what the public wants
But I want nothing this societys got

New Wave evolved out of the punk movement, but few New Wave hits captured the political unease that drove much of the British punk scene. Going Underground is a prime exception, a song written with surprising articulation about the contemporary social climate. Instead of continuing the anger of that earlier movement, The Jam largely choose to celebrate those who stand against the mainstream. Despite topping the charts in its homeland, Going Underground is among the finest homages to the indie scene while still getting in some excellent jabs at British society.

The Jam play this song with exceptional force. Yet unlike the frenetic energy of a Ramones song, they somehow manage to come off as relaxed. Going Underground is a particularly hard song to classify, very much a rock song but calling upon some very specific movements while similarly subverting the major expectations. This is punk at ease, New Wave without experimentation, mod with emphasis on groove as much as the melody. The result is a track with mass appeal that sheds generic descriptors, as traditionally rock as it is a singular creation.

At this heightened pace, Paul Weller barrels through his lyrics, but he sings with enough clarity that every line is crisply delivered. He emphasizes the simple life while lamenting British warmongering. A key line change really says it all the public gets what the public wants transforms into the public wants what the public gets. Why aim for mass appeal when the mass media has its own agenda? The fact this hit number one in Britain does not defeat its message The Jam were speaking a truth that resonated in a style anyone could enjoy.

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