Music |
London Calling
The Clash
By
Published: Jan 01, 2004
Category:
Rock
Some of you are Young and know The Clash only as a name. Some are Older and ignored The Clash (as you ignored a lot of things in 1980). And some, like Butler, were there at the time and didn’t quite realize that the greatness they were seeing and hearing was the stuff of legend.
So consider the 2004 Clashfest a news flash or reminder. The flashing neon message: Ignore The Clash at considerable peril to your immortal soul.
For those who like Credentials, The Clash’s “London Calling” has more than any rock release since…oh…”Sgt. Pepper.” Rolling Stone called it the best album of the ’80s. "The greatest rock & roll band in the world," Village Voice critic Robert Christgau announced. And, from this release forward, The Clash had a nickname — "The Only Band that Matters.”
Were they? Well, they surely had the range: punk, rock, reggae. And they had passion to burn. “”People prefer to dance than to fight wars,” they believed. “In these days, when everybody’s fighting, mostly for stupid reasons, people forget that. If there’s anything we can do, it’s to get them dancing again."
Dancing with a purpose. Joe Strummer didn’t so much sing as snarl — he spits out the lyrics, crying for justice, condemning the guilty, taking no prisoners, tugging at your heart and mind even as the music gets you to your feet. Personal politics fuse with official politics; at every moment, The Clash challenges you to declare what side you’re on. (Love? Sex? These guys like pleasure, but it’s not their biggest priority. If it’s yours, better look elsewhere.) As the New York Times reviewer put it, “’London Calling’ may just be that increasingly rare phenomenon, an album prized for its seriousness even as it reaches out to the millions.”
In the history of modern music, The Clash comes after the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. After them comes U2. To be securely in the middle of that lineup, to influence thousands of bands, to inspire millions of listeners — it’s the very definition of glory.
