that's a ridonculous line-up
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:34 (ten years ago) link
16. Lost in the Supermarket - 465 pts - 25 votes
http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/2899/1dhf.jpg
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:35 (ten years ago) link
idg why Lost In the Supermarket is so high...I mostly skip it (sorry Mick)
Career Opportunities is such a jam. and it always get me fired up! ...even though I've been gainfully employed for 10 yrs
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:38 (ten years ago) link
THIS IS RADIO CLASH AT #17? THIS IS INSANITY.
For reals, I thought it had a great shot at winning, but definitely going top 5.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:38 (ten years ago) link
see I *like* Radio Clash, but I don't rate it in the top 10
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:39 (ten years ago) link
Btw that's "This is Radio Clash" and "Radio Clash" combined.
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:40 (ten years ago) link
Hmmm I dislike "Radio Clash."
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:46 (ten years ago) link
Mick really picked up what was going on in New York dance production around that moment and went nuts with it.
otm. That was a top 10 pick for me, still sounds so urgent and funky and freaked-out.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:47 (ten years ago) link
acts' big singles do usually get the shaft in these polls, but none more unfairly than Rock The Casbah imo
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:49 (ten years ago) link
15. Spanish Bombs - 476 pts - 26 votes
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/5830/rvhi.jpg
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:51 (ten years ago) link
"Lost in the Supermarket," besides the great hook, has some of Joe's best writing ever. The thing about "the people who lived on the ceiling" screaming and fighting and "hearing that noise was my first ever feeling" -- and "long distance callers make long distance calls/and the silence makes me lonely" -- I mean, lots and lots of people have done middle-class anomie, but not many have made so plaintive and identifiable. He empties a bottle, he feels a bit free, he puts on his giant-hit discotheque album, the pipes in the walls make him noises for company. It could have been a novelty song, but instead it's a Raymond Carver story.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:52 (ten years ago) link
I once saw Spanish Bombs as an audio exhibit at the Imperial War Museum, alongside some period propaganda and a book of Lorca
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:52 (ten years ago) link
Love all the old Austin, Texas stuff in the Casbah vid...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ
― Uncle Cyril O'Boogie (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:53 (ten years ago) link
did This Is Radio Clash leave a legacy? I'm not aware of it having been sampled, or becoming a club classic or anything
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:53 (ten years ago) link
xp Joe's haircut in that video is so now
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:55 (ten years ago) link
I love Spanish bombs
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:55 (ten years ago) link
I do know the Clash rarely get name checked as early hip-hop adopters, unlike Blondie, say. Sandinista! came out like a month after Autoamerican.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:57 (ten years ago) link
I love Lost in the Supermarket - it made my top ten and Spanish Bombs almost did but came in at #11 for me.
― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 18:59 (ten years ago) link
"Magnificent Seven" was used in some early hip hop songs, no? xpost
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:00 (ten years ago) link
did This Is Radio Clash leave a legacy? I'm not aware of it having been sampled, or becoming a club classic or anything― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, July 17, 2013 1:53 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, July 17, 2013 1:53 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Pardon my ignorance, but how much Clash stuff has been sampled in the post-clearance era? I guess it could be alot, and I'm probably forgetting something, but I seem to recall an interview w/Garbage after their debut wherein they allude to paying an arm & a leg by a major act to clear a sample, which had to be "Train In Vain" on "Stupid Girl" because The Clash were easily the biggest act of the three or four samples on that album.
― Uncle Cyril O'Boogie (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:01 (ten years ago) link
"To a major act"
― Uncle Cyril O'Boogie (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:02 (ten years ago) link
"This is Radio Clash" was in my top 10. Love it. I didn't hear it until the late 80s, and for a long time I had no idea where it fit into their chronology. I assumed it was the last thing the original lineup had done (post-Combat Rock, pre-Crap), and while it obviously wasn't, it sounds like it could've been.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:02 (ten years ago) link
"Paper Planes" sampled "Straight to Hell"
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:04 (ten years ago) link
<facepalm> Of course...
― Uncle Cyril O'Boogie (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:05 (ten years ago) link
14. London Calling - 477 pts - 27 votes - 2 #1
http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/6794/gdif.jpg
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:06 (ten years ago) link
xp: Yeah, "Lost" describes simultaneous alienation from and comfort from capitalism at the bottom of heap better than just about any song I can think of--it's a warmer "Janie Jones."
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:07 (ten years ago) link
Happy to see "London Calling" this low. It's a cracker, and a classic one at that, but enough is enough.
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:16 (ten years ago) link
Higher than I thought it would be tbh. Rock The Casbah should be higher
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:19 (ten years ago) link
13. White Riot - 494 pts - 29 votes
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/831/0yki.jpg
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:25 (ten years ago) link
Some songs I thought were Top 10 locks are falling short!
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:27 (ten years ago) link
xpost Post clearance is a different issue. I know the aforementioned Too Much Joy tried to sample the Clash and was denied. Obviously the Beastie Boys pulled it off. Um, Big Audio Dynamite sample the Clash!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:30 (ten years ago) link
Will Smith borrowed virtually the whole of Casbah, but he rapped about the 'year 2G' in it so I'm cool with it
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:32 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, I always wondered that. Was it super easy for Mick to get the rights to Clash samples, or did he just have to go through the usual channels?
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:32 (ten years ago) link
I remember Joe talking about the "Should I Stay or Should I Go" usage in the Levi's ad, and he said something to the affect of "it was Mick's song so he could do what he wanted with it."
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:35 (ten years ago) link
But he and Strummer share writing credit on that; surely Joe could've nixed it (like John Densmore did with a Doors song not too long ago) ?
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:36 (ten years ago) link
Well he could have, but I think the point was that he felt it was Mick's and so didn't get in the way.
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:37 (ten years ago) link
Ah, got it.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:38 (ten years ago) link
xp: By 1990 "This Is Radio Clash" was still getting regular play as a video/track in Danceteria-type clubs like the 9:30 in D.C. and First Avenue in Minneapolis, a perfect bridge for mixing rap, house, industrial, punk, etc. And it got regular play on MTV well past it's release, like into '84 at least. That's an amazing afterlife, when you think about it. The Clash coming out on CD in '88 must have helped.
Samples aren't always the best chart of influence, but I do wonder if ESG playing that Bonds gig the same month as their release of "UFO" helped make that the most sampled punk record of all time.
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:39 (ten years ago) link
12. Clampdown - 521 pts - 25 votes - 1 #1
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2282/h3un.jpg
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:40 (ten years ago) link
so good! who is not voting for clampdown? savages
― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:42 (ten years ago) link
My #1.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:42 (ten years ago) link
Love the Vanilla Tapes version of "Clampdown," and the Indigo Girls':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0oai2wAj4Q
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:42 (ten years ago) link
I stuck "Clampdown" and "London Calling" at the very end of my ballot because I wanted to throw some weight behind other tracks. They're both amazing though and I felt compelled to include them.
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:45 (ten years ago) link
i have cranked out this tune before but a pox on any kind of tactical voting in these polls imo
― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:48 (ten years ago) link
It became tactical when there were 50+ deserving songs. Top 15 in order, and then the rest fall as they may.
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:49 (ten years ago) link
No vote from me for Clampdown. Probably my least-favourite on the album, never gets going for me.
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:50 (ten years ago) link
11. I Fought the Law - 522 pts - 23 votes
http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/6674/fiqd.jpg
― Gukbe, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 19:59 (ten years ago) link
TOP TEN, PEOPLE. WE'RE TO THE TOP TEN!
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 20:01 (ten years ago) link
Never thought this cover was anything special. They did much better covers than "I Fought The Law"
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 20:02 (ten years ago) link
if 20-11 had been their top 10 tracks the clash would have every reason to be delighted with themselves. but there are still ten more tracks to come, and another mile of height atop this precarious punk tower of babel.
― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 17 July 2013 20:04 (ten years ago) link