On Monday, you may have noticed that London Mayor Boris Johnson became the UK’s first Police and Crime Commissioner as the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime succeeded the Metropolitan Police Authority.
We wanted to mark this occasion by aligning it with a classic song that, of itself, also pays tribute to arguably the most influential band of all time… so we have.
Start! by modsters The Jam was released in the late summer of 1980, hitting the top of the charts (remember them?) for a solitary week.
It was written by the band’s talisman Paul Weller – who has since gone on to attain iconic status in the music world as ‘The Modfather’ (and rightly so) – and produced by a chap with a superb name: Vic Coppersmith-Heaven.
Referencing The Fab Four
Fans of The Beatles will immediately recognise The Jam’s homage to The Fab Four’s brilliant 1966 track Taxman, with Start! based around both the guitar and bass riffs from that particular tune.
Taxman, of course, was George Harrison’s response to the high levels of progressive tax ordered by Harold Wilson’s Labour administration of the time. Due to their earnings, Liverpool’s favourite sons were beholden to the 95% ‘supertax’ Wilson introduced.
Ironically, Prime Minister Wilson had nominated John, Paul, George and Ringo for MBEs only the year before!
Lyrically, Start! isn’t really anything to do with policing, but its title – as far as we’re concerned, anyway – pays tribute to the beginning of a new era for policing in the Capital.
Good luck, Boris!
