Town Called Malice
by The Jam
- 99
- BPM
- D major
- Key
- 10B
- Camelot
- 56
- Danceability
- 1
- Acousticness
In early 1982, the Jam were finishing their run as a band, and "Town Called Malice" came from The Gift, their sixth and final studio album. Released on January 29, 1982 as a double A-side with "Precious", it entered the UK Singles Chart at number one and stayed three weeks. That kept "Golden Brown" by the Stranglers from the top spot. The Stranglers' label, EMI, objected to the sales of both versions of the Jam's single being combined.
It was the Jam's third UK number one. The Official Charts Company ranked it the 10th best-selling single of 1982 in the UK. A 12-inch version carried a live recording of the song, backed by an extended "Precious". In the US it reached No. 31 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the band's sole entry on a mainstream American chart.
Paul Weller said he wrote about his hometown of Woking, shaped by his working-class upbringing there and his wish to leave. The title echoed Nevil Shute's 1950 novel A Town Like Alice, though Weller said in 2012 he had not read it at the time. NME ranked it among the top ten tracks of the year for 1982.
Town Called Malice runs at 99 BPM, the tempo of hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.42 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 606 ms. It is in D major, Camelot 10B, which shares its notes with B minor and mixes cleanly with G major and A major.
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