"Town Called Malice" is a song recorded by British band the Jam from the albumThe Gift. It debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart in February 1982.
Overview
The title is a play on words of the 1950 Nevil Shute novel A Town Like Alice, although Paul Weller says he had not read the book at the time. It was a double A-side single release featuring "Precious" as the flip side. A 12" version was also available with a live version of "Town Called Malice" backed by an extended version of "Precious". Paul Weller has said that it was written about his hometown Woking as a result of his teenage experiences there. Released as the first single from the album on 29 January 1982, it entered the chart at number one on the British music charts, staying at the top for three weeks, and preventing "Golden Brown" by the Stranglers from reaching number one. EMI, the Stranglers record company, objected to the sales of both versions of "Town Called Malice" being aggregated, arguing that Jam fans were buying both and thus preventing their band from reaching the top of the chart. "Town Called Malice" was the band's third number-one single in the UK. It was the band's sole chart entry onto any American chart when it hit No. 31 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1982. The song was ranked among the top ten "Tracks of the Year" for 1982 by NME.
"Town Called Malice" was featured prominently in the 1985 comedy filmNational Lampoon's European Vacation, provided the soundtrack for a key scene in the 2000 drama Billy Elliot, and was the opening track to the 2005 filmThe Matador. It also appeared in the opening sequence of the third episode of the seventh season of The Walking Dead. It is played before every Millwall F.C. home game and is also played before the second half of Woking F.C. games when they play at their home ground Kingfield Stadium.. The song was used in the opening scene of a season six episode of the CBS series Elementary titled "The Visions of Norman P. Horowitz". It was also used in a minor scene in the 2019 superhero movie .also in the movie "accident man".
Chart performance
Certifications
Covers
The song has been variously re-recorded as cover versions by several artists spanning a number of genres:
