"Start!" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by The Jam | ||||
from the album Sound Affects | ||||
B-side | "Liza Radley" | |||
Released | 11 August 1980 [1] | |||
Genre | Rock [2] | |||
Length | 2:16 | |||
Label | Polydor (UK) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Paul Weller | |||
Producer(s) | Vic Coppersmith-Heaven and The Jam | |||
The Jam singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Alternative cover | ||||
"Start!" is the eleventh UK single release by the band The Jam and their second number-one, following "Going Underground"/"Dreams of Children". [3] Upon its release on 15 August 1980, it debuted at number three, and two weeks later reached number one for one week. [4] Written by Paul Weller and produced by Vic Coppersmith-Heaven and The Jam, "Start!" was the lead single from the band's fifth album Sound Affects . The single's B-side is "Liza Radley".
"Start!" is based on both the main guitar riff and bass riff of the Beatles' 1966 song "Taxman" from the album Revolver , written by George Harrison. [5] "To be Someone" and "Liza Radley" also utilise the "Taxman" bassline as does "Dreams of Children", B-side to "Going Underground", played then as a lead guitar riff. [6] [7] Bassist Bruce Foxton commented on the similarity:
We were listening a lot to The Beatles' Revolver album. It wasn't intentional, but 'Taxman' subconsciously went in and when we came up with the idea for 'Start!' that's what went in. It isn’t exactly the same thankfully, otherwise I'm sure Paul McCartney would have thought about suing us! [8]
The album version of the song runs at 2:30 and features trumpets in the final section.
"Start!" became a major chart hit for the Jam, reaching number one in the UK. Foxton noted that the commercial success of the single added pressure for the band, explaining, "That was the Number One that knocked David Bowie off the top of the charts. Then I thought, ‘Wow, we really have arrived!’ Once you get a Number One it’s a bit like Spinal Tap with their amps going up to 11. Once you get to Number One, where do you go? That created a lot more pressure."
Beastie Boys covered the song on their 1999 single, "Alive". [9]
808 State sampled the song on their 1993 single, "10 X 10".
Manfred Mann's Earth Band covered the song on their 1987 album, "Masque" under the name "What You Give Is What You Get (Start)".
Revolver is the seventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 5 August 1966, accompanied by the double A-side single "Eleanor Rigby" / "Yellow Submarine". The album was the Beatles' final recording project before their retirement as live performers and marked the group's most overt use of studio technology to date, building on the advances of their late 1965 release Rubber Soul. It has since become regarded as one of the greatest and most innovative albums in the history of popular music, with recognition centred on its range of musical styles, diverse sounds and lyrical content.
"Get Back" is a song recorded by the British rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, and written by Paul McCartney though credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston". The song is one of the few examples of John Lennon featuring prominently as lead guitarist. The album version of this song contains a different mix that features a studio chat between Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the beginning which lasts for 20 seconds before the song begins, also omitting the coda featured in the single version, and with a final dialog taken from the Beatles' rooftop concert. This version became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was released just after the group split up. The single version was later issued on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, and 1.
The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1982, including four number one hits. As of 2007, "That's Entertainment" and "Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" remain the best-selling import singles of all time in the UK. They released one live album and six studio albums, the last of which, The Gift, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. When the group disbanded in 1982, their first 15 singles were re-released and all placed within the top 100.
"Taxman" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album Revolver. Written by the group's lead guitarist, George Harrison, with some lyrical assistance from John Lennon, it protests against the higher level of progressive tax imposed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, which saw the Beatles paying over 90 per cent of their earnings to the Treasury. The song was selected as the album's opening track and contributed to Harrison's emergence as a songwriter beside the dominant Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was the group's first topical song and the first political statement they had made in their music.
"Paperback Writer" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single in May 1966. It topped singles charts in the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, West Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. On the US Billboard Hot 100, the song was at number one for two non-consecutive weeks, being interrupted by Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night".
"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album Revolver. It was also issued on a double A-side single, paired with "Yellow Submarine". The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney with significant lyrical contributions from John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
"Day Tripper" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with "We Can Work It Out" in December 1965. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some contributions from Paul McCartney and was credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Both songs were recorded during the sessions for the band's Rubber Soul album. The single topped charts in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway. In the United States, "Day Tripper" peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and "We Can Work It Out" held the top position.
"I Feel Fine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in November 1964 as the A-side of their eighth single. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The recording includes one of the earliest uses of guitar feedback in popular music.
"Birthday" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, mainly by McCartney, it is the opening track on the third side of the LP. Surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed it for Starr's 70th birthday at Radio City Music Hall on 7 July 2010.
"Lady Madonna" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. In March 1968, it was released as a mono single, backed with "The Inner Light". The song was recorded on 3 and 6 February 1968 before the Beatles left for India, and its boogie-woogie style signalled a more conventional approach to writing and recording for the group following the psychedelic experimentation of the previous two years.
"I Want to Tell You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album Revolver. It was written and sung by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist. After "Taxman" and "Love You To", it was the third Harrison composition recorded for Revolver. Its inclusion on the LP marked the first time that he was allocated more than two songs on a Beatles album, a reflection of his continued growth as a songwriter beside John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album Please Please Me and their debut US album Introducing... The Beatles.
Sound Affects is the fifth studio album by English rock band the Jam. The album was released on 28 November 1980 by Polydor Records. It is the only Jam album to be co-produced by the band themselves, and contains the only album track co-written by the entire band, "Music for the Last Couple".
"Going Underground" is a single by English rock band the Jam, released in March 1980. It debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top. "Going Underground" was the first of four number one singles the band were to achieve throughout their career.
"Stars on 45" is a song medley issued in January 1981 by Dutch studio group Stars on 45. In some countries, including the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand, the band was credited as 'Starsound' and only the medley itself was named "Stars on 45".
"Beat Surrender" was the Jam's final single, and was released on 22 November 1982. It became the band's fourth and last No. 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in December 1982.
Extras is a compilation by the British group The Jam. Released in April 1992 it includes 26 B-sides, rarities, and unreleased tracks.
"I've Had Enough" is a song by the British–American rock band Wings, released as a single from their 1978 album London Town. It reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, No. 24 in Canada and No. 42 in the UK as well as reached No. 11 in Ireland. In the Netherlands, the 2-sided single "I've Had Enough" combined with its B-side "Deliver Your Children" reached No. 13.
"Got to Get You into My Life" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, first released in 1966 on their album Revolver. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is a homage to the Motown Sound, with colourful brass instrumentation and lyrics that suggest a psychedelic experience. "It's actually an ode to pot," McCartney explained. A cover version by Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, produced by McCartney, peaked at number six in 1966 in the UK. The song was issued in the United States as a single from the Rock 'n' Roll Music compilation album in 1976, six years after the Beatles disbanded. Another cover version by Earth, Wind & Fire from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film soundtrack peaked at number nine in the US in 1978.
Revolver: Special Edition is an expanded reissue of the 1966 album Revolver by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 28 October 2022, and includes a new stereo remix of the album by Giles Martin, with the help of de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films, as well as the original mono mix, session recordings, demos, and an EP including new mixes of the non-album single "Paperback Writer" and its B-side, "Rain", recorded during the Revolver sessions.