Popular music · Rock
1976–1986 · British (London)
Punk rock, then reggae, dub, ska and rockabilly
The Clash were the political conscience of British punk and, unlike most of their contemporaries, kept growing. Joe Strummer and Mick Jones wrote the songs, Paul Simonon supplied the reggae bass and the visual style, and Topper Headon's drumming took them from three-chord thrash to funk and dub within four years. London Calling, released at the end of 1979, is routinely named among the greatest albums ever made. Strummer died in 2002.
A 1979 sleeve of a bassist smashing his instrument on a New York stage, with pink and green lettering lifted from a 1956 Elvis Presley album (1979)
London Calling — Pennie Smith's photograph of Paul Simonon at the Palladium, New York; Ray Lowry designed the homage sleeve.
A 1979 title track warning of ice age, nuclear error and the Thames rising, its refrain a wartime radio station identification (1979)
'London Calling' — the phrase is the BBC's wartime overseas service announcement; the song alludes to the Three Mile Island accident.
A 1980 triple album, six sides sold at the price of one, ranging from rap and gospel to dub and children's choirs (1980)
Sandinista! — named after the Nicaraguan revolutionary movement; the band took a royalty cut to keep the price down.
A 1982 single about an Arab king who bans rock music, later played by American forces during the Gulf War (1982)
'Rock the Casbah', largely written by drummer Topper Headon; their only US top ten single.
A 1982 single that reached British number one nine years later on the strength of a jeans commercial (1982)
'Should I Stay or Should I Go' — a 1991 Levi's advert took it to number one, the band's only UK chart-topper, long after they had split.
A 1977 debut album with a reggae cover version and a song about being bored with America, withheld in the US for being too crude (1977)
The Clash — it includes Junior Murvin's 'Police and Thieves' and 'I'm So Bored with the U.S.A.'; the American release was delayed until 1979 with a different track listing.
A 1977 single about wishing for a riot of one's own, written after the Notting Hill Carnival disturbances (1977)
'White Riot' — their first single.
A 1985 final album made without the sacked guitarist, largely produced by the manager, and later disowned by everyone involved (1985)
Cut the Crap — its one salvageable song is 'This Is England'.