I think this song is the first sign of Weller entering his imperial phase, moving beyond Clash style songwriting into a maturer style on a par with The Beatles. Weller said this was about the disappearance of the punk ideals, how the movement had all dissolved very quickly, and the new terrain was completely alien to him. The Clash had signed to a major label, the Sex Pistols had crumbled. What was left was a kind of tidied up stage school version of punk, Hazel O Connor The Boomtown Rats, and Billy Idol, all people from good middle class backgrounds. The loss of identity theme also crops up a lot with Weller in other Jam songs, like, Dreamtime, & In The Crowd. The ending of this song is one of the best exits in punk rock, or any rock. It's like the tension he feels in the strange town has finally erupted in bloody violence.
I think this song is the first sign of Weller entering his imperial phase, moving beyond Clash style songwriting into a maturer style on a par with The Beatles. Weller said this was about the disappearance of the punk ideals, how the movement had all dissolved very quickly, and the new terrain was completely alien to him. The Clash had signed to a major label, the Sex Pistols had crumbled. What was left was a kind of tidied up stage school version of punk, Hazel O Connor The Boomtown Rats, and Billy Idol, all people from good middle class backgrounds. The loss of identity theme also crops up a lot with Weller in other Jam songs, like, Dreamtime, & In The Crowd. The ending of this song is one of the best exits in punk rock, or any rock. It's like the tension he feels in the strange town has finally erupted in bloody violence.