That's Entertainment (3:33)

“That’s Entertainment” is a 1980 song by British punk/Mod Revivalist group The Jam from their fifth album, Sound Affects.

Paul Weller allegedly wrote it in around 15 minutes upon returning late one night from the pub.

Song profile

“That’s Entertainment” is probably The Jam’s best known and most acclaimed song; it is the group’s lone entry, at #306, on the list of the 500 greatest songs of all-time released by Rolling Stone in 2004. It consistently makes similar British lists of all-time great songs, such as BBC Radio 2’s Sold On Song 2004 Top 100, at #43.

It was never released as a domestic single in the UK during the band’s lifetime, but incredibly it made the charts as an import, backed by a live version of Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, peaking at #21. It was given its first full UK release in 1983 and peaked at #60. A second reissue in 1991 also made the Top 50.

Given today’s shared platforms and ease of cross-border purchasing, it would seem that the song will be the last ever to reach #1 in a country where it was never released as a single (import copies covered the shortfall). The Jam also owned the second-biggest selling import single in the UK, Just Who Is the 5 O’Clock Hero?, which would hit the charts at #8 in 1982. It is still considered surprising by Brits that the track made the Rolling Stone list, although the list appeared 24 years after the song’s release - this due to the band’s lack of visibility in America and their absence from such American lists previously.