'London Calling,' The Clash (1979)

Photos and words by Adrian Hedden

The cover of "London Calling" features Paul Simonon smashing his bass at a concert.

Born out of the rebellion and anti-establishment ethos on the 1970s punk movement, the Clash by 1979 had matured in their eclecticism and music taste, delivering what many consider their greatest album with “London Calling.”

The righteous socio-political commentary from their first two albums remains, but this third record provides a much more diverse backing track to the angry, and in a few places tragic, idealism of the group that came to be known as “The Only Band that Matters.”

The Clash were one of the original three British punk rock bands that came to life in the late 1970s, alongside the Sex Pistols and the Damned. Although early American “proto punk” bands like the Stooges and MC5 had already simplified and added an unprecedented level of anger and violence to rock music about a decade earlier, it was these British bands that turned punk into a movement, and a sounding board for the disaffected and dissatisfied youth of the time.

The Clash’s first outing stood apart from the nihilism of the Sex Pistols and the romanticism of the Damned, bringing forth a debut album in 1977 that injected specific political commentary, simplistic but aggressive guitars, and articulated the problems of the present and needs of the future with an intensity unheard since Bob Dylan pioneered the protest song in 1964.

But with “London Calling” the band expanded its sound, raising awareness for not only the political and social climate of the time, along with descriptions of specific current events as the Cold War was in full swing, but also for genres like reggae that many listeners in the U.K. and the U.S.A. lacked in their record collections.

The album spans across two records, four sides, a length unheard of amid the minimalism of the punk movement, but “London Calling” never drags. The band plays at top speed, musically or emotionally, through the 18 songs.

The opening title track cuts into the speakers suddenly, rhythm guitar player and vocalist Joe Strummer, frequently cited as the band’s leader and political heart, gouges the air waves with his staccato, stabbing guitar announcing the Clash are back and aggressive as ever.

Strummer’s ragged voice calls out urgently and with a sense of tragedy as he describes a dystopian future where “war is declared and battle come down.”

He later cries out for the “zombies of death” and asks the listener to “quit holding out and draw another breath,” urging whoever is in earshot to not give in to their oppressors who would bring the song’s tragic world to reality.

Much of the remaining 17 tracks are filled with similar political rock music and biting commentary but several standout tracks eschew this formula, opting to bring sounds from other parts of world, namely South America and the Caribbean into the fray, creating an almost world-music appeal to the album stretching well beyond the punk and new wave genres it is generally classified within.

The expanded sound is fitting with the globalist stance Strummer and the band seem to take, bringing us from the cold streets of London in the opening to Communist Costa Rica in reggae-tinged ballad “Spanish Bombs” at the opening of the second side. Songs like “Guns of Brixton” and “Rudie Can’t Fail” rely heavily on Paul Simonon’s bass lines, heavily influence by the sounds of the West Indies as Simonon famously lived for a time in the slums outside London, surrounded by poverty but also music from around the world in immigrant districts.

The lyrics of "London Calling" range from biting political commentary to cautionary tales of oppression.

But if there can be a peak to the consistently awe-inspiring songs of “London Calling” it comes at the second-to-last track on side two. “The Clampdown” sees Strummer at his most aggressively cautionary, coupled with loud, melodically epic guitars, warning that modern society could be drawing close to the totalitarianism threatened by the Nazi movement only a handful of decades in the past when the album was released.

But it can’t really be said the album declines in energy, anger or creativity as the second side draws to a close. “Wrong ‘Em Boyo” opens side three with a strange but catchy, and to this day un-replicated combination of rockabilly and reggae.

The innovative genre-melding continues throughout the rest of “London Calling” as the it ebbs and flows from high-energy, epic punk songs to relaxed pop ballads, and catchy reggae tunes. The result is an album that gives voice to the frustrations and anger of rebellion, while raising awareness to a world of great music.  

Personnel:

Joe Strummer – vocals, rhythm guitar

Mick Jones – lead guitar, vocals

Paul Simonon – bass, vocals

Topper Headon – drums, percussion