"Rock & roll is rarely as edgy, invigorating, and sonically revolutionary as The Clash." - Allmusic.com
"#1 Album of the 1980s; #9 of All-Time" - Rolling Stone Magazine on the LONDON CALLING album.
""Always wear shoes that are good for running, and good for fighting." - Joe Strummer, when asked by Johnny Green why he was missing many teeth.
"The Only Band that Mattered." - Fans-given motto for The Clash.
"Perhaps rightly the Sex Pistols are intertwined with the legacy of Punk Rock, but The Clash not only lasted much longer and recorded several albums, but actually evolved in their music. The Pistols may be the poster child of the relentless rage and insane energetic attitude in their music playing of Punk Rock, but The Clash might be the one prominent group of the genre that actually fulfilled Punk's full potential" - Local DJ in East Tennessee.
Anyway, we count down from #15 to #1, where the tunes and their album of origin will be listed, and I'll give my arguments for their placements. Plus, I'll add Youtube music videos that will help jog memories, and help encourage people to totally attack my list.
MISSED THE CUT: A few, but not all, Tunes from The Clash that came close to making my list, but failed to make the cut.
The rest of the LONDON CALLING album
Somebody Got Murdered (SANDINISTA!)
Ivan Meets G.I. Joe (SANDINISTA!)
Know Your Rights (COMBAT ROCK)
White Riot (THE CLASH - U.S. Version)
Straight to Hell (COMBAT ROCK)
Now onto the SETLIST for THE CLASH!
(15) I Fought the Law (THE CLASH - U.S. Version)
Originally recorded by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets in the 1950s, it was covered by the Bobby Fuller Four in 1965 where it was a Top 10 single hit. In 1978, The Clash found Fuller's cover in the jukebox at their recording studio and were inspired to create their own cover. Today it might actually be the more well-known version. I Fought the Law
(14) Lost in the Supermarket (LONDON CALLING)
The very fundamental reason as to why fans of The Clash have stayed fiercely loyal, besides their great music, is probably because of the band's hard-worked relationship with their fandom. Certainly their decision to make their landmark, legendary masterpiece double-disc album LONDON CALLING be priced the same as a single-disc album is an act that cost them alot of potential millions, but that wasn't what mattered to the band. They wanted budget-prices for their high quality affordable to the people. Certainly how many of the major music acts would even dare to lose their precious Mercendes or $50,000 gold watches for their fans? Very very very few!
Anyway, the first song from the LONDON CALLING on SETLIST is this little diddle that Joe Strummer wrote about his very comfortable childhood upbrining in the suburbs, and about a protagonist that has lost the urge for life, except only for the cycle of materialism around him. Lost in the Supermarket
(13) I'm So Bored with the USA (THE CLASH)
If LONDON CALLING is the evolving and polished creative energy of The Clash, then their own legendary self-titled debut album has its own raw, unclean attitude that typifies the Punk Rock movement of the late 1970s. Listen to this song, and remember that it was originally written as "I'm So Bored with You" by Mick Jones (the band's love/relationship writer) before Strummer (the band's political commentator) slightly reworked the lyrics. I'm So Bored with the USA
(12) Should I Stay or Should I Go (COMBAT ROCK)
Yet another Mick Jones love tune, it was a Top-20 single hit for The Clash on both sides of the Ocean (U.S.:#13/U.K.:#17), it would later become the band's only #1 single chart topper, but in bizarre circumstances. In 1991, this almost self-retro punk song of The Clash was licensed for for a commercial for Levi Jeans and released subsequently as a single, which went to #1 for 2 weeks on the UK Single charts. Should I Stay or Should I Go
(11) Bankrobber (BLACK MARKET CLASH)
Originally written and performed by Strummer as another heroin-quick punk rock tune, it was retuned into a slow-paced raggae, almost do-wop-like song. Topped #13 on the UK Single charts. Bankrobber
(10) London's Burning (THE CLASH)
LONDON'S BURNING! *drum-roll* How can you not dig a song about political apathy that plays itself in a mocking, surf-song fashion? London's Burning While you are at it, check out the short-lived, one-night-only reunion of Mick Jones and Joe Strummer back in November 2002, their first in 18 years over on YouTube. Its real emotional, since you realized that a Clash reunion tour could have so happened, but instead, Strummer drops dead a few weeks later. Well, at least the serious Clash contributors got to play again together before it was too late.
(9) Police on My Back (SANDINISTA!)
Long story short, after the phenominal success of LONDON CALLING, The Clash decided to raise the stakes. In a 3-week jam recording fest, their end result was a 3-disc schezephrenic album SANDINISTA! Like LONDON CALLING, it was sold for the price of a 1-disc album in stores, but the general consensus is that out of the 3 discs of the band experimenting in every possible genre (even dance ballad music. Don't Ask), there is a great 1-disc album buried in there. Still, there is lots of great music on the album, like their cover of this song, originally recorded by The Equals.
Police on My Back
(8) This is Radio Clash (SUPER BLACK MARKET CLASH)
By 1979 and 1980, with their club and arena dates in New York City, The Clash came into contact with a brewing black music movement from the streets of Harlem that would be marked as the early days of Electro and Hip-hop rap.
Considering that Punk Rock and Hip-Hop had the same origins and energetic fresh attitude for their time, it seemed obvious that The Clash would fully embrace it, yet they suffered severe backlash with their fans for moving away from their routine punk tunes. Now history fully vindicates The Clash for at least being a pioneering white rock act that understood the quality of hip-hop almost a decade before the rest. This is Radio Clash
(7) English Civil War (GIVE 'EM ENOUGH ROPE)
In economically depressed regions, extremists tend to gain public traction. Its a historic fact. In the late 1970s, the Neo-Nazis were at the peak of their notoriety in England, and Strummer feared the inevitable clash for the country. The song is played on the rhythmn of the American Civil War-era song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." English Civil War
(7) English Civil War (GIVE 'EM ENOUGH ROPE)
In economically depressed regions, extremists tend to gain public traction. Its a historic fact. In the late 1970s, the Neo-Nazis were at the peak of their notoriety in England, and Strummer feared the inevitable clash for the country. The song is played on the rhythmn of the American Civil War-era song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." English Civil War
(6) The Magnificent Seven (SANDINISTA!)
If "This is Radio Clash" indicated The Clash's deep investment within hip-hop, "The Magnificent Seven" represents a successful hip-hop-inspired danceful effort that seemed almost a promising fusion with punk rock. Check out their performance on the Tom Snyder Show from way back in 1981. Really, The Clash are very notable in actually being better at times live in concert or TV gigs (where most acts coast) than many of their studio recordings. The Magnificent Seven
(5) Tommy Gun (GIVE 'EM ENOUGH ROPE)
Opening with machine gun-like drum smacks, "Tommy Gun" is a feverish-pitching yell for action and gangster storytelling. The culmination of their early raw musical works. Tommy Gun
(4) Clampdown (LONDON CALLING)
Talk about a song that fans endlessly debate its meaning. Is it about the inevitable "clampdown" on the lower-middle class/impoverished intelligentsia due to the failings of capitalism? Is it about the clamdown smacked upon the masses by the state? You decide...as you rock along. Clampdown
(3) Rock the Casbah (COMBAT ROCK)
You think the Iranian government's hypocritical rants about the decadent West is anything new? Bah! In the early 1980s, rock music was "outlawed" for its corruptive nature. Naturally The Clash took offense to a country's leadership that rode Cadillacs and wore Swiss-made watches while bemoaning the West by writing up a Top 10 single hit across the world that depicted a people of a corrupt Arab Emir "rock the casbah" by listening to rock music. Bizarrely, a feel-good populist song created by a leftist socialist-friendly British band became a popular radio song for the American Armed Forces during the First Gulf War. Does that fit the criteria for irony?
Anyway, I think it should be noted that in their time the Clash were trashed by many within the Punk Rock scene for not following the nilhistic message that the Sex Pistols and others were giving out. The Clash fundamentally in their music believed that change was possible when tyranny is placed upon the people, and that revolution is a recourse outlet for change.
"Rock the Casbah" recently was the focus of an annoyingly funny TV commercial for Verizon, where two guys misunderstand the lyrics. "Lock the Catbox!" Rock the Casbah
(2) Train in Vain (LONDON CALLING)
Perhaps The Clash's most radio-friendly populist chart-single, its the epitome of Mick Jones' work for The Clash. It helps that its a really damn good song in itself. Originally released on the LONDON CALLING album as an unlisted "surprise" bonus track, it became a surprise chart-crawler in America, hitting #23. Certainly by the way that The Clash were able to evolve in their music from simplistic power chords full of rage to moving easy-to-dig music, they are very comparable to the Beatles, except instead of coming to prominence in hippie times, they came through in a very politically confusing daysTrain in Vain
(1) London Calling (LONDON CALLING)
Clash fans saw this coming by a mile away. I'm sure of it. But its just so damn obvious. Its fitting that this song seems as relevant today as it was in 1979. The unnerving sense of us trying desperately, but failing, to hang on the cliffs by our bare fingernails before falling into impending doom. America is mud-stuck in a sure-fire genocidal and anarchistic Civil War in Iraq, the Iranian government is developing nuclear weapons, North Korea is waiting to stab America in the back on the latest nuclear agreement, and Osama Bin Laden is still at-large.
Of course, we survived 1979, and most of all, the absolutely tasteless 1980s. There is hope after all.London Calling
--------------------------------
Well, debate, arguments, and thoughts would be greatly appreciated. In my opinion, The Clash are one of the most pivotal and critically important rock influences in the music's history. They gave us great energy and music...and they were only together for less than a decade. They kept threatening to explode into super-stardom, but instead became mythic outlaws for the disenfranchised and chided hard rock fans. Maybe that destiny is for the better.