This is a great documentary and has a lot of unseen footage! Really surprised by some of the guest stars in this film. I really learned a lot more about the band than I originally had before watching this great film. If you love The Jam and the post punk - mod era in British music, this is a must see documentary. It's incredible how it seems like it's just been a few years in time, but watching this will make you realize just how old you are and how much responsibility you have now.
I personally don't see how another review considered this to be a "Sell Out" by the band members. It may be the company that made this or someone who doesn't realize how things change as you get older and have to survive. During the time period that The Jam was at their heighth of popularity, the manager, promoter,and record label most likely got the vast percentage of the money being made from their album sales, concert tours, and overall their music. The music industry was not exactly fair to musicians financially during this time period, especially bands with bands like The Jam who where young and wanted a successful career. A lot of bands from this period just saw a record contract and didn't realize that they where basically signing away most of their profits. So you have to do what you have to do to make money "In The Modern World". Unless you start your own record label Like Led Zeppelin or The Greatful Dead, you get basically get screwed. Popularity and continuing to dominate the record charts for decades like U2, The Rolling Stones, or The Who, allows these artist the luxury of not to having to do things that they don't want to do. If your success is short lived and career essentially ends for most members, you have to do things you might not have dreamed of doing or even discredited at some point in your career in other to survive. Paul Weller has had a long career, I'm not sure about the other members, but the money these guys where making then is like working for minimum wage now. When you're young and you get a taste of success you think it will last forever and it abruptly ends. Excessive wasting of money especially when your very young and not getting a fair share of the profits from your own hard work leaves some musicians flat broke.
The cost of living as well as the short period of popularity in the era of The Jam's career as a band wouldn't have made them enough money to live off of into the late 2000's. Who knows which member or if any member retains the right to their music. With all the new repressings and sells of these reissues, The Jam may not be getting a dime off of these sells. Possibly Weller may have been able to hold onto ownership of the songs and royalties, but even the Beatles sold their catalogue and Micheal Jackson outbid Paul McCartney for the song rights. Eventually McCartney got them back, but it shows that the Rock Star life isn't always like that of U2 or even that of the the successful 90's era groups like Oasis. The price of everything is several times as much now as it was in the hay day of The Jam! Yes, when your young it's easy to say that you'll never do certain things or criticize the system but eventually you grow up and learn that you have to survive, even if it's making a documentary or a writing a newspaper column!
Henry Rollins from Black Flag is a prime example of what you have to do to keep the money coming in. He was a notorious antiestablishment punk with ideas of anarchy and just screwing off all day, now he's hosting a talk show! I'm quite sure at 18 years old he would have considered what he's now doing a "sell out"!
