Ooh Ooh Ooh, Complete CLASH POLL (that's a laugh) - ILX Artist Poll #41 (?) - Voting Ends July 9th at Midnight (EST)

Christgau on London Calling: "Here's where they start showing off."

totally going to participate in this. unfortunately i'm not going to have much time to reassess the albums, but a blindly nostalgic approach kinda suits the relationship i have wit The Clash.

Ballot sent!

xposting Not only is E relatively uncommon in rock songs, open tunings are totally uncommon in the Clash, aren't they? I can't think of anything in open G, which is the most common Stones open tuning, and the one you'd think would be most useful for the Clash. But anyway, "Supermarket" just sticks out as the one odd tuning in the catalog, and certainly the only on that album. I wonder if they ever played it live?

Looks like they played it a bit in 1983. Can someone with better ears than me tell if they altered it to do it live here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5uvlGOoLog

Tuning a guitar to open E isn't like solving the energy crisis. It can be done in less than a minute. Probably less than 30 seconds.

Not if you're the Clash! Or me!

I'm such a tuning loser.

If the US Festival show is any indication, Joe's yapping gave Mick plenty of time to retune.

Sent!

It's hard to tell if something is in an open tuning (especially E) until you hear the harmonics. Then the lightbulb goes off.

Like, I had no idea until a couple years ago that a bunch of Keef's Stones riffs were in open tunings, largely G, because I'd never really tried to learn them with any real sense of purpose. I just figured he had a knack for complex chords. Then I saw a thing on youtube about Stones riffs and it all made sense.

I bet there's a lot of BAD/BADII/Big Audio stuff that Mick plays that's in open tunings. The opening chords of "The Bottom Line" just don't sound like they're played in standard tuning.

Opening tuning, G, E ... how can you guys tell?

oh! nm

Ha, the easiest way to tell is when you try to play something and you can't figure it out, or it sounds wrong, and then someone tells you it's in an alternate tuning. See also: capos.

Thank goodness, it sounded like you were idly skipping through London Calling going "A .. G ... open E"

Keef's whole open-tuning deal was just to make the songs as easy to play as possible, right? Feel like I read something about him saying you should never need more than two fingers.

I worked it out years ago in standard tuning, E and Amaj7, adding fingers to the 4th fret to make the riff. Had no idea it was in open E.

Open G takes about 30 seconds to do, I used to know how when I played guitar but have long forgotten.

Just voted. I cannot believe the quality of songs that didn't make my ballot. The Clash were just insanely good.

Open G is a pretty easy alternate tuning. Keith didn't really start using it a lot until the late '60s, maybe 1969. But it's pretty key to a lot of his stuff from "Honky Tonk Women" on up.

Yeah, my song list after the first cut was still 120 or so. Chopping down to 30 was the hard part, then I ordered the crucial top 15 or so, then just left the rest in whatever order they happened to be in.
xp

My list of absolute essentials was at 38. This was gruelling.

The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good. The Clash were just insanely good.

Yes.

I got it down to 32 with some brutal cuts. I feel like I'm killing my children.

Poor Sean F. Snappin!

Ballot sent. Fuck, that wasn't easy. First draft of my ballot was pretty much their entire output (minus CtC).

I might excise some sacred cows I know everyone will vote for.

I did a good bit of that.

Ballot sent. Only voted for one set of the original & dub versions. Ditched a whole bunch of "hits"

Okay, that's 26 ballots in so far.

Okay, I lied and picked two songs and their dub counterparts. I love dub Clash!

so a propos of this thread I heard "I fought the law" on of all things sf drivetime radio a couple days ago. clearly summoned by this thread. still had just incredible stopping power. urgency, immediacy, all that cliche stuff. but and this is what makes the clash stand out wrt the punk/noise convo upthread this incredible clarity too.

and that's sandwiched between modern brickwalled-for-radio stuff. glad I haven't sent in a ballot yet bc this track clearly needs to be higher than I had it.

Nobody forget to vote for:

Stay Free
One More Time
Washington Bullets

I voted for one of those, and another was a one of my very last cuts.

I voted for one too.

Two of them in my top ten so far, no worries.

one of those songs is my no.2

sent my ballot!

mine too

I'm slightly bummed that I'm going to be out of town for a week and will be following the rollout in snatched moments during my Chicago trip.

I Fought The Law xp - totally agree that there's a mysterious power to that track. I was iirc the first to nominate for our 20th century poll and that was one of the first things that immediately leapt to mind - which I can't explain at all, it was never more than a ditty to me at that point.

also obv the sweet percussion action on "robbing people with a - pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop - six gun" but yeah that alone doesn't explain what they drew out of that old chestnut.

They give it oomph and danger? I love the original, but it is quaint.

Washington Bullets would have made my list if we went to 40.

hope i'm not the only one voting the shit out of Give'Em Enough Rope.

Gukbe, are you sending confirmation mails?

i will be voting tonight :D

no you weren't!

xpost

I'll be doing it in the morning, promise

I'm a big believer in the Clash mythology, but I don't think Bobby Fuller is quaint. (Sorry if that's just semantic nitpicking.)

I'm slightly bummed that I'm going to be out of town for a week and will be following the rollout in snatched moments during my Chicago trip.

dude I'm still bummed that I can't even do a ballot due to travelling, let alone follow any of the rollout

disco poll is going to be worse though