Obituary: Rick Buckler, musician

Otago Daily Times

09-05-2025

Rick Buckler of The Jam outside the Nakano Sunplaza, Tokyo, Japan, May 15, 1981.
Rick Buckler was the business-like drummer in British band The Jam, an outfit which racked up four No 1 singles and four top 10 albums in the late 1970s and early '80s. The Jam (Buckler, Paul Weller on vocals and guitar and Bruce Foxton on bass) started out at the forefront of the punk explosion, but as the trio matured they embraced influences from Northern Soul, Motown and the British invasion bands to become an influential pop trio in their own right. Born in Woking, Buckler was a year or more ahead of his future bandmates at secondary school: a self-taught drummer, he joined Weller's band for an early show at a local youth club. He quit school when he was 17 and threw himself full-time into what had become The Jam. A hard-working band which would play anywhere and everywhere, they showed more polish and more endurance than most of their punk contemporaries, going on to score 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the UK. After the band split in 1982, Buckler played in various short-lived bands before deciding in 2005 to capitalise on his history and formed the Gift to play material from The Jam. Foxton briefly played in the Gift, the rhythm section having earlier collaborated on a book about their Jam experiences. Rick Buckler died on February 17, aged 69.