Charlene's On Lightning
In the battle for punk rock dominance, the Clash always finished a poor third for me behind the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. I liked them quite a bit. I just didn't think they mattered as much as they claimed.
Their lead singer, Joe Strummer, died nine years ago today, only 50 years old. Perhaps it's hard for punkers to age gracefully, but they'd still probably rather rust than burn out.
My favorite song of theirs was their biggest mainstream success--a sign to some fans that they'd sold out. Punk rockers could be pretty silly.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:19 AM
5 Comments:
London Calling, the song, was one of the most stirring songs I recall from college years. Funny thing is that the politics is jsut a backdrop- the tune works easily well as a fascist march or a sports chant.
secret word= "mocking"
well yeah
I prefer "Should I Stay or Should I Go," even though it was a gay anthem (should I cool it or should I blow, so if U want me off your back, don't know which clothes even fit me)
"Know Your Rights" and "The Guns of Brixton" and "English Civil War" were other great martial tunes. In fact martial tunes were probably their signature until "Combat Rock"
They didn't do much after that, did they?
The one post- Casbah song I do like is the Johnny Cash/Joe Strummer duet of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" which I think they did less than a year before Joe died (and only a few years before Johnny did).
Hmm- I knew most of the lyrics to Casbah- but for years until I saw the lyric sheet, I though 'cockpit radio blare" was Catholic Radio Front which I imagined was some obscure Middle Eastern Arab christian faction the boys were singing about
I knew a guy who thought they were singing "Fuck the Casbah!" It was punk, after all.
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