"Going Underground" is a single by English rock band the Jam, released in March 1980. It debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart,[3] spending three weeks at the top.[4] "Going Underground" was the first of four number one singles the band were to achieve throughout their career.[5][6]
"Going Underground" was not released on any of the band's six studio albums, although it has appeared on many compilations since the 1980s, as well as reissues of Setting Sons. The song was released as a double A-side with "Dreams of Children", which originally had been intended to be the sole A-side;[7] following a mix-up at the pressing plant, the single became a double A-side, and DJs tended to choose the more melodic "Going Underground" to play on the radio.[8] The lyrics offer a sharp condemnation of Margaret Thatcher's recently elected Conservative government, the voter apathy that led her to power, and the military–industrial complex.[9]
"Going Underground" became the Jam's first UK number-one single and one of the top-selling releases of their career. At the time the single reached number one, the band were touring in the US, where they had long struggled commercially. Foxton recalled: "The record company called us up and told us we'd gone in at Number One. We said, 'Well, what are we doing here then?' We jumped on the plane and went home to where people did want to hear us. We flew back on Concorde and recorded Top of the Pops."[10]
"Going Underground" was the 15th best-selling single in the UK in 1980.[11] The song was ranked at number 2 among the "Tracks of the Year" for 1980 by NME.[12]
"Going Underground" was coupled with "Dreams of Children" as a double A-side. It opens and is intermittently accentuated with a backmasked sample of the band's 1979 song "Thick as Thieves". In the US the backwards intro was edited out making the single 10 seconds shorter than the UK Version. This US edit is available on the best-of compilation Snap!.
^Nick Edwards (October 2003). "Buffalo Tom". In Peter Buckley (ed.). The Rough Guide to Rock (3rd ed.). Rough Guides. pp. 147–148. ISBN9781843531050. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
