The Jam’s Rick Buckler Dies at 69

Rick Buckler, who performed drums in UK new wave outfit and mod revivalists The Jam, has died. Buckler’s bandmates—singer and guitarist Paul Weller, and bassist Bruce Foxton—confirmed the information in a message posted throughout Weller’s social media accounts. Whereas a precise explanation for dying has not been revealed, an announcement from Buckler’s household to the BBC describes him as having “handed away peacefully on Monday night [February 18] in Woking after a brief sickness with household by his aspect.” He was 69.

Born within the city of Woking within the county of Surrey, England, Buckler attended Sheerwater Secondary College, the place he met Weller and Foxton. Collectively, they fashioned the Jam within the early Seventies, taking part in covers of Chuck Berry and Little Richard songs at neighborhood pub Michael’s. Initially, Weller performed bass and Steve Brookes was the band’s major guitarist, however when Brookes left the band, Weller switched to guitar and Foxton took over bass duties, solidifying what can be the Jam’s everlasting lineup.

The Jam launched their debut single, “In The Metropolis,” through Polydor in April 1977, adopted shortly thereafter by their first album of the identical title. Influenced by ’50s and ’60s rock’n’roll acts like The Who and Larry Williams, Weller, Foxton, and Buckler have been largely chargeable for ushering within the UK’s mod revival. The trio would go on to launch 5 further studio albums: This Is the Trendy World (1977), All Mod Cons (1978), Setting Sons (1979), Sound Impacts (1980), and The Present (1982).

A number of months after the discharge of The Present—which went to No. 1 on the UK albums chart—Weller unilaterally determined to disband the Jam with out consulting both of his bandmates. “It was like we have been going to be driving over a cliff on the finish of the yr, and you retain considering ‘Nicely, possibly he’ll change his thoughts,’” Buckler told the Woking News and Mail in 2012. He and Weller hardly ever spoke once more for the rest of his life.

Buckler fashioned a number of new bands all through the Eighties—amongst them Time UK and, with Foxton, the short-lived group Sharp—earlier than stepping away from the highlight to run a manufacturing studio in Islington, the place he labored on data by the Highliners and the Household Cat. He returned in performing in 2005 as a part of a Jam tribute act referred to as the Present. Foxton joined the group in 2007, and so they’ve since toured persistently as From the Jam.

Within the span of 5 years, the Jam landed 18 consecutive singles within the UK Prime 40, 4 of which grew to become number-one hits within the nation: “Going Underground,” “Begin!”, “City Known as Malice,” and “Beat Give up.” Designating himself as their de facto chronicler, Buckler printed a number of books about his time within the band, together with the autobiography That is Leisure: My Life within the Jam in 2015. “I’m considering again to us all rehearsing in my bed room in Stanley Highway, Woking,” Wells wrote. “We went far past our goals and what we made stands the check of time.”