Rick Buckler Obituary
Music Instrument News is sad to report the death of Rick Buckler, drummer with seminal Mod band The Jam.
The Jam were one the biggest successes in the 1970’s, with six studio albums, and 18 consecutive Top Forty singles, four of which reached Number One. The band enjoyed a ten-year career before disbanding in 1982.
The Jam were forged in the growing ‘pub rock’ scene in London, which gave career starts to The Stranglers and R ‘N’ B stalwarts Dr Feelgoood. As the engine room of the three-piece Jam, the sharp attacking style of Buckler’s drumming was the backbone to Paul Weller’s incisive rants about the inequality of the society in which the band was living. It was as much Buckler’s urgent percussive style that drove the music of The Jam, as Bruce Foxton’s fluid bass lines, and Weller’s spikey minimalist lead guitar. The staccato drum-roll climax highlighting the classic Northern Soul rhythms of A Town Called Malice were typical of Buckler’s approach to the drums, an absence of flowery embellishments in favour of solid melody-enhancing rhythms.
Following the sudden and unexpected split of The Jam, Paul Weller formed The Style Council and his career continued in a different musical direction. Foxton and Buckler however, were unexpectedly cast adrift.
Rick Buckler formed another short-lived band, Time UK, and tried his hand at record production. He left the music business and embarked on a new career in the furniture design and restoration business, before returning to music in 2005 with a new band, The Gift. His project with bassist Bruce Foxton, From The Jam, lasted four years, with the band touring and playing The Jam’s back catalogue. Buckler departed from the line-up, citing frustration at the absence of new material, and apparently unimpressed by Foxton’s decision to work again with Paul Weller.
Following the end of his full-time career as a musician, Rick Buckler continued to play drums occasionally, and also wrote several books about his experiences with The Jam. He was due to undertake a Spoken Word tour which was cancelled due to health problems.
Rick Buckler passed away on February 17 2025 at home, surrounded by his family, after a short illness – the cause of death has not been announced at the time of writing. He was sixty-nine.
Music Instrument News wishes to extend heartfelt condolences to Rick’s family, friends, colleagues, and many fans, at this sad time.
ANDY HUGHES.
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Source: musicinstrumentnews.co.uk
