Day After Day #62: London Calling

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

London Calling (1979) 

As I've noted earlier, I enjoy punk rock but I'm about as unpunk as it gets. The Clash was the first punk act I really got into, albeit through some of their least punk-sounding songs in "Train in Vain" and "Lost in the Supermarket." You could argue they were already post-punk by this point, anyway. 

Led by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, the band was already established as one of flag-bearers of UK punk by the time they went into the studio to record their third album, London Calling. They really stretched out on the album, experimenting with a variety of styles including reggae, ska, pop, rockabilly and heavy rock. What didn't change was their penchant for social commentary, whether it was about consumerism on "Supermarket," paranoia ("The Guns of Brixton") or oppressive capitalism ("Clampdown"). Quite simply, London Calling is one of the greatest rock albums. Period.

The first single from the album was the title track, which reflects Strummer's concerns about the world around him, including nuclear accidents such as Three Mile Island, police brutality and even the band's situation, which in 1979 found the Clash in debt and without a manager. It opens with a slashing guitar riff as Strummer barks out the lyrics.

"London calling to the faraway towns/Now war is declared, and battle come down/London calling to the underworld/Come outta the cupboard, ya boys and girls/London calling, now don't look to us/Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust/London calling, see we ain't got no swing/Except for the ring of that truncheon thing."

Things aren't looking up for, well, anyone.

"The ice age is coming, the sun's zoomin' in/Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin/A nuclear error, but I have no fear/'Cause London is drowning and I live by the river."

"London Calling" went to #11 on the UK Singles chart, but it didn't chart in the U.S., where "Train in Vain" was a hit instead, going to #23 on the Hot 100. The album of the same name hit #9 on the UK album chart and #27 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. The Clash were set up for major success, so of course they followed it up with a sprawling triple album, Sandinista! The band decided to stick it to their label CBS, which resisted releasing London Calling as a double album and then released Bruce Springsteen's The River as a double a year later. Despite mixed reviews, it went to #24 in the U.S.

Fast forward a few years later and the Clash were everywhere. "Rock the Casbah" was a top 10 hit, as was the Combat Rock album. The band opened for the Who on the latter's "farewell tour," which surprised me because the tour was called "Schlitz Rocks America,' which seemed pretty far from punk. Not long after, Jones left the band and was replaced by two guitarists; the new lineup released the unfortunate Cut the Crap in 1985. It was widely panned and Strummer broke up the band weeks after it came out. 

In the years that followed, Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite and Strummer began a solo career, but they resisted reuniting the Clash despite receiving constant big-money offers. Strummer died in December 2002 from a congenital heart defect, a few months before the Clash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I saw B.A.D. play at the House of Blues in 2011, which was fun. Wish I'd gone to see one of Strummer's tours before he departed this mortal coil. The Clash remains one of my favorite bands. Fortunately, they left a decent amount of music behind...even Sandinista.