The second appearance of Mick Jones in the top ten (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/2339 ) as part of the most credible, ethical and fuck the establishment band that ever-had mainstream success – The Clash. They were almost legendary figures as they were not on TV. They released singles and refused to have them on albums not to rip off the fans.
They were the longest lived of the big three of the punk bands, though their final album was without Mick Jones and is a disappointment – apart from the single This Is England.
Their first album is the best punk album. Simply titled The Clash it is 35 minutes of invective against the dead end lives they saw ahead. It does already include elements reggae and black culture that were a big part of punk before the extreme right started infecting the genre. The Clash would never lose touch with their multi-cultural urban roots.
(This is how a rock band should look)
The Clash’s career was always slightly chaotic and not planned well. Their second album, Give ‘Em Enough Rope, is already moving into a less punk feel. The best track is Safe European Home – the band went to Jamaica to write music and were so scared by the violence they saw they stayed in their hotel for a fortnight. Hardly the tough image punk rockers like to project.
Punk espoused a simplicity in its music and a move away from the overblown prog rock of the seventies which made the fact that their next album was a double and their fourth was a triple album. London Calling is considered one of the great rock albums of all time, but would be improved by being cut down. It’s triple sequel Sandinista! is a spawling mess (The Sandinistas were the Nicaraguan resistance to the USA puppet government). One side is pretty much dub version of the other tracks (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1677 ). It really would make a great single album and the Cold War commentary Ivan Meets GI Joe is an overlooked classic.
The final album from the classic line up was in 1982 and was successful. Combat Rock is a fitting end point for them. What was not fitting was that in 1991 Should I Stay or Should I Go was rereleased after being used in a Levi jeans commercial and was their only UK number one. Rock the Casbah was about Iran banning rock music. It was used by American forces in the first Gulf War and even written on a bomb that would “rock a casbah”.
Joe Strummer cried when he heard that. It was the total antithesis of what he, and the Clash, stood for. He sadly died at the age of 50 in 2002. Rest in Paradise – by all accounts he was not just a great musician but a wonderful human being (based on numerous accounts, including Lily Allen).
(The Thames Barrier)
The idea of London drowning was prescient. Without the Thames Barrier the city would be flooded many times a year.
Listening to it in2021 I think it may be the most perfect example of a rock track ever. The classiest group, meaningful lyrics and no bullshit.
In many ways this is the counterpoint to Waterloo Sunset (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1999 ). This track sounds so ominous. It sums up that mood of the UK as the seventies swung into the eighties. Britain was in seemingly terminal decline, never having come to terms with its post-colonial position. The post war political consensus had broken down and Thatcher was about to detonate monetarism in Britain. The inner cities were seething due to unemployment and a terrible attitude to young people from the police. It had been a crap decade and things were not going to improve much for a long time.
London Calling
Playlist:
- Janie Jones
- White Riot
- I’m So Bored With the USA
- Deny
- London’s Burning
- Hate and War
- Police and Thieves
- Garageland
- Career Opportunities
- Safe European Home
- English Civil War
- Tommy Gun
- Last Gang In Town
- Clash City Rockers
- London Calling
- Armagideon Time
- Spanish Bombs
- Lost in the Supermarket
- Clampdown
- Guns of Brixton
- Bank Robber
- Hitsville UK
- Justice Tonight
- Ivan Meets GI Joe
- Somebody Got Murdered
- The Call Up
- Know Your Rights
- Should I Stay or Should I Go
- Rock the Casbah
- Straight To Hell
- This is England
Five Miles Out 