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:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EjldR0gwC4]
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