As his pretensions increased, the number of hits the Style Council had decreased by the end of the decade, the group was barely able to crack the British Top 40 and Weller had turned from a hero into a has-been. His scathing criticisms of racism, unemployment, Margaret Thatcher, and sexism sat uneasily beside his burgeoning obsession with high culture. Weller's lyrics were typically earnest, yet his leftist political leanings became more pronounced. With the Style Council, the underlying intellectual pretensions that ran throughout Weller's music came to the forefront.Īlthough the music was rooted in American R&B, it was performed slickly - complete with layers of synthesizers and drum machines - and filtered through European styles and attitudes. Together, Weller and Talbot became the Style Council - other musicians were added according to what kind of music the duo were performing.
#Story of the style council mod#
In order to pursue this musical direction, he teamed up in 1983 with keyboardist Mick Talbot, a former member of the mod revival band the Merton Parkas.
Weller wanted to incorporate more elements of soul, R&B, and jazz into his songwriting, which is something he felt his punk-oriented bandmates were incapable of performing.
Guitarist/vocalist Paul Weller broke up the Jam, the most popular British band of the early '80s, at the height of their success in 1982 because he was dissatisfied with their musical direction.
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