"That's Entertainment" is a 1980 song by British

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ist group

the Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

from their fifth album, '' Sound Affects''. Although never released as a domestic single in the UK during the band's lifetime, "That's Entertainment" nonetheless charted as an import single (backed by a live version of " Down in the Tube Station at Midnight"), peaking at No. 21. It was given its first full UK release in 1983 and peaked at No. 60. A second reissue in 1991 also made the top 50. The song remains one of the two all-time biggest selling import singles in the UK, alongside the Jam's "

Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero? "Just Who is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" is a song and single released by The Jam on 3 July 1982. It features on their sixth studio album '' The Gift''. It made number eight in the UK Singles Chart in July 1982. The single came with two B-sides – ...

", which hit the charts at No. 8 as an import in 1982. "That's Entertainment" has been listed by

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

as the 43rd best song ever released by any artist.

Song profile

"That's Entertainment" is the group's lone entry, at No.306, on

Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...

list released in 2004. It consistently makes similar British lists of all-time great songs, such as

's "Sold on Song" 2004 Top 100, at No.43. The song uses an almost entirely acoustic arrangement with only very light percussion. Like much of '' Sound Affects'', the song has strong undercurrents of pop-psychedelia. The only electric guitar part in the song is played backwards over one of the verses, a hallmark of

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

. The

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, slice-of-life lyrics list various conditions of British working-class life. The first verse:

A police car and a screaming siren
Pneumatic drill and ripped-up concrete
A baby wailing, stray dog howling
The screech of brakes and lamp light blinking

culminating in the

laconic A laconic phrase or laconism is a concise or terse statement, especially a blunt and elliptical rejoinder. It is named after Laconia, the region of Greece including the city of Sparta, whose ancient inhabitants had a reputation for verbal auste ...

and ironic refrain of "That's entertainment, That's entertainment" "I was in London by the time I wrote 'That's Entertainment'," said Weller, "writing it was easy in a sense because all those images were at hand, around me." In an interview with

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via digital audio broadcasting. The station focuses on alternative ...

he said: "I wrote it in 10 mins flat, whilst under the influence, I'd had a few but some songs just write themselves. It was easy to write, I drew on everything around me."

, 30 June 2013

Certifications

Morrissey version

English singer

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

covered "That's Entertainment" in 1991. It was released as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

for his single " Sing Your Life" and was later included in '' Suedehead: The Best of Morrissey''. The song featured backing vocals from Chas Smash of Madness.

References

External links

"That's Entertainment"
– Song and discussion at BBC * {{Authority control 1980 songs 1981 singles The Jam songs Songs written by Paul Weller Song recordings produced by Vic Coppersmith-Heaven Polydor Records singles