By the end of the 1970s, pop music was up for grabs. Punk, which had done its damnedest in 1977, had already been replaced by an exciting but less threatening development called "new wave". To the cynic, it was no more than the music industry's approved version of punk - more manageable, more palatable and ultimately more saleable. But to be fair, it was also a very innovative time which threw up some extraordinary and enduring music.
The best of the new wave bunch had vision, ambition and a musical ability which set them well apart from their punk predecessors. Certainly they took the spirit with them, but they also added much more and that end-of-the-1970s roll-call remains an impressive one - Ian Dury, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Graham Parker, Joy Division and XTC are all in there. Joe Jackson was another in the top rank, and his first three albums made him one of the leading pop stars of the day, his position secured by the 1979 hit, Is She Really Going Out With Him? By then, his own formative days with a Portsmouth punk outfit, Arms and Legs, were soon forgotten.
"Well that was what was happening at the time. You get caught up in it. It's all about being a certain age and certain time, in a certain place. There was a general feeling that it was time to strip everyone down to the basics. And I was definitely caught up in that - even though, musically, I had nothing to do with punk. For one thing, by the time punk started, I had a diploma from The Royal Academy of Music and these guys could barely play three chords. But I loved it and I thought it was brilliant. There was something about the spirit of it - keeping it simple and I was all for that. That's what put it in the category of new wave. That and the fact that I was 24."
Growing up on the south coast of England, Jackson describes his childhood as on the miserable side. His salvation however was in his music and, by 11 years old, he was learning violin and making his first attempts at composition. In his memoir, A Cure For Gravity, Jackson contends music actually saved his life. He was, he confesses, "a total misfit" and that, if it hadn't been for music, he would have ended up milling around outside pubs at closing time looking for a fight.
"There were very few other options open to me. I had a restless spirit and some kind of desire to escape from what otherwise would have been a bit of a dismal life. Why I had this burning desire, and other people didn't, I can't explain at all. But if I hadn't had music, I just can't imagine. I think music is a very precious thing - every time any artist does something, that's unique, and it's their own voice. It would be a terrible world if we were all nine-to-five and wearing a suit. The artist is supposed to be the shaman of the tribe although all too often he's the village idiot. So yes, I'm serious when I say that music saved my life."
And so, his life secure, and with one ear on pop and the other on classical, Joe Jackson set about finding his own musical voice.
THERE were spells as a pianist in a Portsmouth club, a stint with The National Youth Jazz Orchestra and of course those punk days with Arms and Legs. But even when his hits finally came, he remained a hard act to follow. In 1981, he released Jumpin' Jive, a jump blues set which, in a quite bizarre career twist, saw Jackson singing Louis Jordan in the charts. After that came Night and Day. It took him into the songwriting territory, which, he says, was more himself than anything he had done previously. An instrumental album followed, then a live album, and the first of several movie soundtracks including Tucker, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In 1999, as if all that hadn't been eclectic enough, he released his Symphony No 1.
"I'm a marketing nightmare, I know. It's frustrating sometimes but I've done a lot of thinking about it and I've decided that it's just not my job to force myself into another more marketable mould. I wouldn't be myself and what would be the point? I'm compared to a lot of other people who are quite diverse and hard to classify and I'm aware of it, but I just have to shrug it off. What I have to do is the best work that I possibly can and just keep going. If I only have a small audience, well at least it's a genuine audience that is there for the right reasons. But, in fact, I'm doing quite well. I have enough money, I'm on tour at the moment and I'm selling out practically everywhere I go."
Jackson's latest release, Night and Day 2 - a follow-up to the 1982 record - explores the lives of a bunch of New York characters over a 24-hour period. It's all part of a long-running love-affair with his adopted home in Downtown Manhattan, a place where even a former misfit like Jackson can feel as comfortable as the next man. In fact, there's a song on the album (Stranger Than You) which celebrates just that.
But what about the old songs ? Are they still part of Joe Jackson's world ? Does he still sing them ? Is it still different for girls? And will the real Joe Jackson please stand up ?
"People are obviously very attached to the first couple of albums. They have this romantic idea that that was the real Joe Jackson. That was when they were at college and first heard me or something. But I don't have the same outlook. Those records were great for what they were at the time and I still quite like them, but there was no way I could keep doing the same thing for 20 years. But we still play a couple of songs from the first album, it's not like I ever turn my back on thingsthat I've done. The one project that I wish, in a way, that I hadn't done was Jumpin' Jive. It was great fun but I think it really confused people and gave rise to a lot of misconceptions about me that are still around now. There are still people who think I wrote those songs. And people who write about music don't always get the humour. I think my work is absolutely full of humour. They take my work way too seriously. And then, of course, they have the nerve to say that I'm too serious."
Joe Jackson plays The Olympia Theatre on February 25th and 26th.