Why does everyone hate "Rock the Casbah"?

THE CLASH ARE THE MOST OVERRATED BAND IN THE HISTORY OF RECORDED MUSIC!!!! (YES, EVEN MORE THAN THE BEATLES)

Ugh, Joe Strummer = world's worst "singer" (Tone-deaf bellowing is not technically singing)

First album, fine
A few songs thereafter, ok-ish
But most is just leaden, oafish crap.

95% of the love for this band is probably related to their politics, yeah I thought the contras sucked too, but, please......

Uncle Joe and the lads were being ironic of course, but there you are.

The Clash are probably my favourite band, and I don't even care for there politics.

Oh no, not the briar patch!

-- scott seward (skotro...), January 20th, 2006 9:44 PM.

yes! but Rock the Casbah is a piece w/the stuff on that comp, i think except with an awesome chorus.

But I do mind Virgin Radio playing it three times per hour. They did make other records.

-- gear (speed.to.roa...), January 20th, 2006 8:27 AM.

gear 100% OTM

the only problem that i have w/ "rock the casbah" is that it's overplayed (in the 80s, it -- and "train in vain" or the ramones' "i wanna be sedated" -- were the token punk songs on the rock stations in my neck of the woods).

http://arabworld.nitle.org/audiovisual.php?module_id=5&selected_feed=294

the mustapha dance pandora station is everything

(it's probably identical to the rock the casbah station)

currently listening to: paul young - sex

That's a bit like Scritti Politti's song with the same name

I dunno I find the Tahid live version moving so here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1p_dkJo6Y8

Rachid Taha... ugh

Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin' to the top
The sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a' cruisnin' down the ville
The muezzin was a' standing
On the radiator grille
CHORUS
The shareef don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah

By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the Bedouins they brought out
The electric camel drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the shareef
Had cleared the square
They began to wail

CHORUS

Now over at the temple
Oh! They really pack 'em in
The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band took five
The crowd caught a wiff
Of that crazy Casbah jive

CHORUS

The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way
As soon as the shareef was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare
As soon as the shareef was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed

CHORUS

The Clash of Civilizations

The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing

the music on "Rock the Casbah" was allegedly primarily written and even recorded by Topper Headon - hope he got a publishing credit at least!

Not even allegedly, Topper did the piano and drums one night ... maybe he did more. The other guys filled it in.

Sandinista! and Combat Rock, I think all songs are credited to the Clash collectively.

Saw this:

ou wrote many songs for the band. How did you write and what instruments did you use?

Well, I can play the piano in D – but in D only, that’s why Rock The Casbah’s in D. I can play a great Mose Allison bass line and I used to play Stanley Clarke’s School Days on the bass too. It could be anything. I used to play all the instruments at sound checks and in rehearsals. I just picked it up.

How did Rock The Casbah come about?

I was in the studio and they weren’t - that’s how Rock The Casbah happened. Mick and Joe weren’t really speaking by this point - we just weren’t gelling. The song was based around the piano – it was my song, my tune! Joe wrote the lyrics and then - Mick wants to put his wristwatch on there, “No! No way Mick!” He was upset because it was nothing to do with him really. I had this song where I’d done everything and it was me and Joe’s song - I laid down the drums, bass and piano when no one else was around.

Strummer told the same story, that he got to the studio early and found Topper had written and recorded the song overnight; Joe added guitar and the vocal before anyone else turned up.

Songwriting on Combat Rock is credited collectively to The Clash, and I've always assumed that behind the scenes they give the lion's share, or possibly all the publishing, to Topper for Casbah, and that this is why it's one of the most-licensed and sampled Clash records. Along the lines of Mick & Joe periodically paying for rehab for him in the post-split decades.

lol did i really start this thread

anyway "mustapha dance is so much better" otm

Sandinista! and Combat Rock, iirc they were recorded pretty piecemeal a la The White Album, rarely with all four in the studio at the same time.

Sandinista was largely recorded with a five-piece band of Strummer, Jones, Headin, Watt-Roy and Gallagher.

i o

stuck in my head right now but it's

By order of the prophet
On the radiator gri-i-i-i-il
Degenerate the faithful
On the radiator gri-i-i-i-il
etc

Wow never realised how bad the lyrics actually are before seeing them all written down

Wait, people hate this song?????
― Dan (FFS) Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, January 20, 2006 9:00 PM (eleven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the song/video feel kind of racist to me?

Modern artifact. I doubt one could make a song about Mideast cultural conflicts without being either maudlin or appearing racist.

Wait, people hate this song?????
― Dan (FFS) Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, January 20, 2006 9:00 PM (eleven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 17:08 (one hour ago)

I fucking love this song so much

let's explore the racism, it's not clear to me

I guess using a bunch of foreign words incorrectly is pretty racist

Everybody who likes music loves The Clash!

40 years later: we regret to inform you that The Clash is racist

some of joe strummer's singing style is probably kinda racist

So racist they played at Rock Against Racism in '78.

Legendary Spotify forum complaint pic.twitter.com/wrUdOcilfh

— Face (@Arr) August 15, 2018