The regret Tom Jones holds about his career: “I was digging my own grave”
The deep baritone vocals of Tom Jones have been a cornerstone of popular music for over six decades. From his early beginnings in the pop-rock age of the 1960s to his extensive residencies in Las Vegas and the countless hits he has achieved in the UK, Jones has enjoyed one of the most celebrated and acclaimed careers of any singer in British music history. It is difficult, therefore, to imagine the Treforest-born vocalist having any regrets with regard to his journey through the world of music.
With such a distinct and enchanting vocal performance, it seems ridiculous to imagine Tom Jones doing anything else other than dedicating his existence to the pursuit of musical excellence. In the beginning, Jones was a disciple of the rock ‘n’ roll age, starting his musical journey as a singer in a local beat group in Wales, following in the wake of groups like The Beatles, who had captured the imagination of the youth both in the UK and around the world. As he matured, however, Jones embraced a much more timeless sound, pioneering the kind of sound which transcended generations and genre conventions.
Jones was never particularly tied to one genre, though he always held a healthy appreciation for the rock ‘n’ roll stars that had provided him with his earliest inspirations. Over the years, his material has touched on everything from gospel to country, each with seemingly impeccable success. Although he is perhaps best regarded for classic hits like ‘What’s New Pussycat?’ or ‘It’s Not Unusual’, that barely scratches the surface of his discography, which spans a whopping 40 solo studio albums.
Despite this perception of Jones as an infallible and endlessly successful vocalist, his career has not always been sunshine and flowers. As he became more and more successful, his live act began to dominate his output. With endless residencies in Las Vegas and countless world tours, he grew a reputation for his energetic and entertaining live shows, which most often ended with Jones being rained on by the underwear of adoring fans – something which was bizarrely normalised at his gigs.
According to Jones, this immersion in live performance was to the detriment of his recorded material. “I was digging my own grave then,” he revealed to The Guardian in 2010, “I realised. Because I was ignoring the rest of the world”. That quote refers to Jones’ dedication to American audiences during the 1970s and 1980s, showcased by his Vegas shows and his pivot to recording largely country music. “Things were working very well through the 1960s and the 1970s,” he remembered, “but then things didn’t”.
It was this period that formed potentially the only regret in Jones’ career. “I was doing a lot of live shows;” he said, “and when you’re doing a lot of live shows you’re not so concerned about the recordings. Which I should’ve been. People have asked me, ‘If you had your time again …’, and I always say I would concentrate more, in the 1970s, on the recordings”.
In order to solve this issue, Jones started to subvert expectations of his performances – particularly the underwear throwing. “[His son] Mark said to me, ‘Look, if they throw them, leave them– don’t go catching them and wiping your brow with them'”, the singer recalled. Eventually, Jones began to place more importance on the recorded material, helping to get his career back on track.
