The Jags

The Jags are a fondly remembered part of the late-70s/early 80s UK Powerpop explosion. The quartet was formed in 1978 by the Yorkshire-based song writing team of Nick Watkins and John Adler with Steve Prudence on bass and Alex Baird on drums. In July of 1978, they signed to Island Records and released a promising four track EP. Their debut LP in 1980, Evening Standards, included the memorable Back of My Hand, which reached the Top 20 . The follow-up, Woman's World barely scraped its way in to the charts.

Though Evening Standards featured a really solid set of punchy power pop songs, critics focused instead on Watkins' Elvis Costello-like delivery, writing the band off as merely mimics.

As steam ran out of the Powerpop craze, the band attempted to change their sound a bit. 1981's No Tie Like The Present, featured a slightly new direction but it was generally overlooked, despite containing strong singles in The Sound Of G-O-O-D-B-Y-E and I Never Was A Beachboy. By 1982, The Jags had disbanded for good, though Back of My Hand had a revival of sorts in the 1990s, appearing on several compilations.