DeNiro, technically true, but while the album was released in the UK in December 1979, it was released in America in 1980, which is why it was eligible for the crown for the 80's.
(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 days
Train 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.
