Town Called Malice
| "Town Called Malice" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Precious" |
"Town Called Malice" is a song recorded by British band The Jam from the album The Gift. It debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart in February 1982.[3][4]
Overview
The title is a play on the 1950 Nevil Shute novel A Town Like Alice although Paul Weller says he had not read the book at the time.[5] It was a double A-side single release featuring "Precious" as the flip side. A 12" version was also available with a live version of "Town Called Malice" backed by an extended version of "Precious".
Paul Weller has said that it was written about his hometown Woking as a result of his teenage experiences there.[6][7][8]
Released as the first single from the album on 29 January 1982, it entered the chart at number one on the British music charts, staying at the top for three weeks,[2] and preventing "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers from reaching number one. EMI, the Stranglers record company, objected to the sales of both formats of "Town Called Malice" being aggregated, arguing that Jam fans were buying both versions and thus preventing their band from reaching the top of the chart.[1]
It was the band's third number-one single in the UK. It was the band's sole chart entry onto any American chart (although this single and "Start!" both appeared in the low-rungs of the Billboard Dance/Club Play charts) when it hit No. 31 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1982.[9]
In popular culture
"Town Called Malice" was featured prominently in the 1985 comedy film National Lampoon's European Vacation, provided the soundtrack for a key scene in the 2000 drama Billy Elliot,[10] and was the opening track to the 2005 film The Matador. The song was also featured several times in the play How to Be a Man in West Belfast, which premiered at Wesleyan University in April 2009. It is also on the soundtrack to FIFA Football 2004, as well as being featured in the video game Rock Band. The song featured at the beginning of episode 3.5 of the show Ashes to Ashes. It can also be heard in the first and last episodes of the first season of the BBC series Criminal Justice.[citation needed]
It is played before every Millwall F.C. home game and is also played before the second half of Woking F.C. games when they play at their home ground Kingfield Stadium.
Chart performance
| Chart (1982) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Charts | 15 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 19 |
| UK Singles Chart[11] | 1 |
| Recorded Music NZ[12] | 14 |
Notable covers
The song has been variously re-recorded as cover versions by four artists spanning a number of genres:
- In September 2007, McFly recorded a cover version of the song as part of Radio 1 Established 1967
- Kids in Glass Houses was included a cover on the CD release of their 2008 single "Saturday".[citation needed]
- It was also covered by Amy Macdonald for Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2 and features on the album A Curious Thing.
- Olly Murs sung the song on his Right Place Right Time Tour in 2013.
References
- ^ a b c Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. pp. 221–2. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ^ a b "JAM | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ "The Jam Singles – Town Called Malice". Thejam.org.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 405–6. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Dave Simpson. "How we made: Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton on Town Called Malice | Music". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ [1] Archived 2009-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Sunday Times 2007". Wellerworld.co.uk. 12 June 1999. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ "July 2008". Music Zone. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "The Jam | Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ [2] Archived 2007-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 277. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Steffen Hung. "New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz.