The “first real guitar hero” of the 1970s, according to Paul Weller
Guitar heroes have been the bread and butter of rock expression since its very earliest origins, with the six-string giving rise to some of the most important, innovative, and captivating artists of all time. Although Paul Weller is most often hailed as a songwriter, rather than the skilled guitarist he clearly is, he still owed a lot of his early inspiration to the guitar heroes who came before him.
It was during the punk explosion that Weller first established his songwriting prowess, with a battered Rickenbacker 325 in hand. Although The Jam appeared alongside a lot of safety pin-wearing, spikey-haired, glue-sniffing punks during their early years, Weller and the band were never truly at home in that movement.
After all, the songwriter was always indebted to the influences of 1960s rock, worshipping the likes of The Small Faces, The Kinks, and, of course, The Beatles. What’s more, his adoption of the mod subculture prevented him from ever stepping out of the house in a ripped T-shirt or Ramones-style leather jacket. He did, however, find an appreciation for the sharply dressed proto-punks of the pub rock generation.
A precursor to the punk revolution, pub rock saw rock and roll taken back to its roots. A reaction against the big budgets and overly complex compositions of the prog rock scene, pub rock was dominated by grassroots artists playing typically simplistic rhythms in small venues, like the pubs and clubs of London. It wasn’t quite as abrasive as the punk scene that followed, but it certainly laid the groundwork for groups like The Jam to take to the stage.
Weller was a natural disciple of pub rock’s grassroots leaning, and the infectious sounds of Dr Feelgood remain particularly close to his heart. Speaking to Danielle Perry on Absolute Radio, Weller shared, “Dr Feelgood were the first band, for me, in the middle ‘70s, that really meant something to me, really.” First formed in 1971 in the mystical land of Canvey Island, Essex, Dr Feelgood typified the sound and attitude of the pub rock age, creating a range of incredible tracks, infused with the back-to-basics style of old-school American rock.
With that retro rock basis, though, Dr Feelgood also had a sense of edge to them, usually coming from the enigmatic, confrontational guitar playing of Wilko Johnson. A unique strumming style and a whole host of theatrics, including using his guitar as a machine gun, shooting down the audience, Johnson paved the way for an entire generation of guitar devotees, including Weller. “He was like the first ‘70s guitar hero for me,” he shared.
“It sort of preceded punk in lots of ways,” the former Jam frontman continued. “It was very short, sharp songs, spiky and a lot of aggression in it and, kind of, all the things you want when you’re 16-17.” It could certainly be argued that the early days of The Jam fit the same billing, with Weller’s confrontational performance style and angular strumming often evoking the guitar heroism of Wilko Johnson.
Although Dr Feelgood never made a colossal impact on the mainstream, aside from the 1979 single ‘Milk and Alcohol’, recorded after Johnson had left the band, countless now-iconic groups, guitarists, and songwriters seemed to follow in the footsteps of the pub rock titans, with Weller being only one example.
