The Return of Friday Tuneage: This Is The Modern World

It's been a long time but Friday Tuneage is back - it occurred to me yesterday while listening to The Jam that among all of the early 1980s bands that were hugely influential, The Jam seems to get short shrift. I never hear them referenced, and yet they were flippin awesome, and still insanely listenable.

Perhaps I'm jaded by The Quake, the single most important radio station in the Bay Area during my high school years, what broke "alternative" music to me and so many others. As part of their call sign, they'd play the six chord guitar strum and then you'd hear Paul Weller yell, 'THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD!'

Take a listen, with lyrics below:




Sweet. Here are the lyrics, with the verse that every teenager found beyond awesome in bold:

This is the modern world

This is the modern world

What kind of fool do you think I am?

To think I know nothing of the modern world

All my life it's been the same

I've learnt to live by hate and pain

It's my inspiration drive

I've learnt more than you'll ever know

Even at school I felt quite sure

That one day I would be on top

And I'd look down upon the map

The teachers who said I'd be nothing

This is the modern world that I've learnt about

This is the modern world we don't need no one

To tell us what's right or wrong

This is the modern world

Say what you like 'cause I don't care

I know where I am and going to

It's somewhere I won't preview

Don't have to explain myself to you

I don't give two fucks about your review

This is the modern world that I've learnt about

This is the modern world we don't need no one

To tell us what's right or wrong

Modern world, this is, this is, this is

This is, this is, this is, this is

Hey, we don't need no one

To tell us what's right or wrong

This is the modern world

This is the modern world