Jam, The : START

by Frank Shankly June 13, 2025

START! is the eleventh single released in the UK by The Jam and their second number-one hit, following GOING UNDERGROUND.

Upon its release on 15 August 1980, it debuted at number three, and two weeks later reached number one for one week. START! was the lead single from the band's fifth album Sound Affects.

The song is based on both the main guitar riff and the bass riff of The Beatles' TAXMAN, written by George Harrison. LIZA RADLEY, on the B-side, also utilizes the TAXMAN bassline, as does DREAMS OF CHILDREN, the B-side to GOING UNDERGROUND, which is played as a lead guitar riff.

Bassist Bruce Foxton commented on the similarity, “We were listening a lot to The Beatles' Revolver album. It wasn't intentional, but TAXMAN subconsciously went in and when we came up with the idea for START! that's what went in. It isn’t exactly the same, thankfully, otherwise I'm sure Paul McCartney would have thought about suing us!”