The Style Council were an English musical group formed in 1983 by ex-The Ja… Read Full Bio ↴The Style Council were an English musical group formed in 1983 by ex-The Jam singer and guitarist Paul Weller with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent lineup grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn (Everything but the Girl) also collaborated with the group.

The band showed a diversity of musical styles. Singles "Speak Like a Child" (with its loud soul-influenced style), the extended funk of "Money-Go-Round", and the haunting synth-ballad "Long Hot Summer" all featured Talbot on keyboards and organ. Near the end of 1983, these songs were compiled on Introducing The Style Council, a mini-album initially released in Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States only. The Dutch version was heavily imported to the United Kingdom.

In 1984, the single "My Ever-Changing Moods", backed with the Hammond organ instrumental "Mick's Company", reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song remains Weller's greatest success on the American charts (including his efforts in The Jam and as a solo artist), while the group reached the peak of its success in the United Kingdom with the 1985 album Our Favourite Shop.

To Weller's fans, the decision to split up The Jam at the height of their commercial success was met with considerable controversy[citation needed]. Weller deliberately distanced himself from The Jam's sound and style, with his use of new musical arrangements and instruments in a much slicker, more heavily produced style. In the place of the Bruce Foxton-Rick Buckler rhythm section were drum and bass parts done entirely on synthesisers.

Structurally, many of the band's early singles were not far removed from The Jam's latter-day soul-pop efforts such as "Town Called Malice" and "Beat Surrender", but they were often criticised as overproduced, despite Weller's impressive songwriting[citation needed]. Also, many observers saw even the early albums as indulgent and overly experimental; Trouser Press called Café Bleu "too schizophrenic to be a good album".

The Style Council took a more overtly political approach than The Jam in their lyrics, with tracks such as "Walls Come Tumbling Down", "The Lodgers", and "Come To Milton Keynes" being deliberate attacks on 'middle England' and Thatcherite principles prevalent in the Eighties. Weller was also instrumental in the formation of Red Wedge with Billy Bragg. However, he later said that this began to detract from the music: "We were involved with a lot of political things going on at that time. I think after a while that overshadowed the music a bit"

In 1986, the band released a live album, Home and Abroad, and, in 1987, the album The Cost of Loving was launched, followed later in the year by the upbeat non-album single "Wanted", which reached #20 in the United Kingdom. However, Confessions of a Pop Group, released a year later, sold poorly. This led to their record label Polydor rejecting their final album (Modernism: A New Decade), which was heavily influenced by the contemporary house scene. A greatest hits album, appropriately called The Singular Adventures of The Style Council, was released internationally in 1989; it included the non-album single "Promised Land", which had reached #27 in the United Kingdom earlier that year.

In 1989 members of The Style Council went under the name of King Truman to release a single on Acid Jazz titled "Like A Gun". This was unbeknown to Polydor and the single was pulled from the shops only 3 days prior to release. Acid Jazz founder Eddie Piller said "The pair offered to make a single for my new label, which I'd just started with Radio 1 DJ Gilles Peterson as a side project. Mick and Paul took pseudonyms Truman King and Elliott Arnold." [1]

The Style Council broke up in 1989. The cover of "Promised Land" (originally by Joe Smooth) was the only release which surfaced from the Modernism sessions at the time; however, the entire album was released in 1998, both independently and in a 5-CD box set, The Complete Adventures Of The Style Council. After the split, Weller embarked on a successful solo career (still featuring Steve White on drums, who had left The Style Council by the time Confessions of a Pop Group was released, having only played on a few of its tracks). Talbot and White released two albums as Talbot/White — United States of Mind (1995) and Off The Beaten Track (1996). More recently, Mick Talbot and Steve White have formed The Players with Damon Minchella and Aziz Ibrahim.

All of The Style Council's UK releases (including singles, 12" maxis, albums, compact discs and re-issues thereof) featured the work of graphic designer Simon Halfon, who often collaborated with Weller to hone his ideas into a graphic form. Weller and Halfon began working together at the end of The Jam's career, and continue to work together to this day on Weller's solo material.

Since 2007, the song "Walls Come Tumbling Down" has been used as the theme song for the German TV series Dr. Psycho – Die Bösen, die Bullen, meine Frau und ich.

Blood Sports
The Style Council Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Who takes the heart from a stag
Who gets a hard-on with blood on their hands
Who strips the wonder of life
When they don't have the right
But they say it's fair game
And they won't feel no pain
As we feel no shame

So let the sun come down
Let our eyes close the blind
Let the rivers run dry
Let the forest life die
But who they're to decide
As if their right is divine
As if their right is sublime

Who wins the hooves loses respect
Who kills the Grace treads with intent
Into Heaven's domain, playing little Christians
Hear their voice soar in church
Giving thanks for this earth
Then destroying its birth

So let the sun come down
Let our eyes close the blind
Let the rivers run dry
Let the forest life die
But who they're to decide

As if their right is divine
As if their right is sublime

Overall Meaning

The Style Council's "Bloodsports" is a politically charged song that challenges the ideas and practices of trophy hunting. The song opens with a set of rhetorical questions that condemn the act of killing for sport. The singer asks who takes the heart of a stag and who gets excited by the sight of blood on their hands. The lyrics suggest that those who engage in this activity are stripping the wonder of life and ignoring the rights of the animals they are hunting. The singer questions the mindset of these hunters, who justify their actions as "fair game" and who appear to be immune to the pain caused by the killing.

The song's chorus continues to express frustration and anger at the disregard for the natural world that is exhibited by trophy hunters. The singer calls for the blindfolds to be drawn, so we don't have to witness what is happening, for the rivers to run dry and the forest life to die out. The lyrics highlight the arrogance of those who hunt, who believe that their right to kill is divine and sublime. The final verse of the song claims that trophy hunters have lost all respect, and that they are treading on sacred ground into Heaven's domain. The lyrics suggest that those who give thanks for the earth in church and celebrate its bounty are the same people who are destroying it with their actions.

Line by Line Meaning

Who takes the heart from a stag
Who mercilessly kills innocent animals for sport?

Who gets a hard-on with blood on their hands
Who derives pleasure from killing and shedding blood?

Who strips the wonder of life
Who robs the beauty and value of life by taking it away?

When they don't have the right
Without the proper authority or justification to do so?

But they say it's fair game
But they consider it justifiable and fair to engage in this activity?

And they won't feel no pain
And they won't experience any remorse or guilt about their actions?

As we feel no shame
But we, as the lyricist, feel immense disgust and shame for their behavior.

So let the sun come down
So let the end of days come,

Let our eyes close the blind
Let us shut our eyes to the horrors happening around us,

Let the rivers run dry
Let the water sources dry up, illuminating the horrors of our actions and their consequences.

Let the forest life die
Let the forests, which we have devastated, suffer a painful and slow death, reminding us of our wrongdoings.

But who they're to decide
But who are these hunters to decide the fate of these innocent creatures and the environment?

As if their right is divine
As if their right to hunt and kill is ordained by a higher power, therefore untouchable and unquestionable.

As if their right is sublime
As if their right to kill and destroy is a noble act, achieving a higher purpose or meaning.

Who wins the hooves loses respect
Those who hunt and kill innocent creatures for sport lose respect in the eyes of the lyricist.

Who kills the Grace treads with intent
Those who intentionally kill gracious and beautiful creatures with the purpose of sport or pleasure should be ashamed.

Into Heaven's domain, playing little Christians
Those who consider themselves religious and participate in activities that go against the very principles of their faith, such as respecting life and all creatures.

Hear their voice soar in church
Witness these individuals praise and glorify their faith, while simultaneously contradicting it with their actions in the outdoors.

Giving thanks for this earth
Giving thanks for the very environment and ecosystem they participate in destroying.

Then destroying its birth
Then actively destroying the very same environment and ecosystems they are supposedly grateful for.

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PAUL JOHN WELLER

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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