Best band of all time. Canāt hit that 5 hard enough. Got me into punk, ska, reggae etc. London Calling is my favourite album, just a complete spectrum of what band like that could be, politically aware, visceral, thoughtful, melodic, fun. I still listen to it at least once a week. The debut and GEER are fucking great too and Sandinista and Combat Rock are at worst very very good.
A lot of their best songs, as richie said, werenāt singles, so Iāve voted for White Manā¦ but if I could itād be Rudie Canāt Fail, a perfect almagm of their influences and what would be their influence. Most of the bands you like probably wouldnāt exist without The Clash (donāt @ me). The greatest. A big fat 5.
Itās funny how Sandanista got a lot of stick for being too weird and eclectic, itās almost a quaint thing to complain about now. Always enjoyed the whole thing, aside from maybe 2 tracks
Gone for a four, the highs are staggering but there is quite a bit that leaves me colder. Rock the Casbah does my head in and ska is a bit of a general blind spot for me. Guns of Brixton is better than most other music.
May have a listen to Sandinista! later on - donāt think Iāve ever heard the whole record, so could edge the score up.
Agree theyāre the best. One of the greatest melting pot kind of bands where they brought so many influences and ideas into their music and made them all magically work. Who else could write such a wonderful anti-imperialist calypso pop song as Washington Bullets? Them capturing my teenage brain is probably the main reason Iām a big lefty. Any fan should also check out Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros because he continued to be awesome.
It was certainly good value! Iād agree that thereās only a handful of songs I skip. The weird kiddy karaoke version of Career Opportunities springs to mind
Also, Hitsville UK is one of my favourite Clash songs. Itās madly poppy and I can see why it might have alienated some of the old punks, but itās brilliant.
Aye, the Mescaleros album was great. I saw the live twice when Joe was doing a live mix of that album and some old Clash favourites. Among my favourite gigs of all time.
haha Hitsville is glorious. Maybe 2 songs was generous - thinking back there was two kiddie choir versions alone. But thereās some really cool stuff even on Side ā4/6ā or whatever it was.
Sound System has some nice extended* versions from Combat Rock, an album that was really harmed by being edited to be more concise.
That live album (forget the name) has an incredible version of Straight To Hell
