10 Albums You Should Listen to Before You Die - London Calling

For those that don't know, and seriously where the fuck have you been, The Clash are a punk rock band, and 1979's London Calling is their creative apex, and my favourite album of all time, so you know it means a lot to me. I can honestly say that without this album I would not be the same person.

By late 1976, early 1977, the punk movement had become worldwide, to some extent. In the United States, you had bands like The Ramones leading the front for the whole American punk scene, with bands like Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, and other bands following in their wake in the late 70s. Across the pond though, the movement was much larger. Bands like the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and namely, The Clash, were leading the "punk movement" in the U.K., where the youth had largely seemed to have been angrier, which is in large part because of unemployment, alienation, homelessness, etc.

Some critics labelled them as just propaganda-pushing punks who talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk. In 1979, though, The Clash released on of the greatest albums of all time, a testament to political and social awareness in the world via music. This is London Calling.

London Calling's title track holds steady as the record's celestial cornerstone: Horrifyingly apocalyptic, "London Calling" is riddled with weird werewolf howls and big, prophetic hollers, Mick Jones' punchy guitar bursts tapping little nails into our skulls, pushing hard for total lunacy.

Now what makes this album so different from other punk of the time? The fact that it was a grab bag of songs that spanned multiple genres. You have apocalyptic, dreary punk ("London Calling"), lounge jazz ("Jimmy Jazz") ska ("Hateful,") and ("Rudie Can't Fail"), disco-pop ("Lost in the Supermarket"). While this mixture may seem overwhelming and unorganized, it isn't. Oddly enough, The Clash seem to make the songs fit almost perfectly together and The Clash do not let go; each track builds on the last, pummelling and laughing and slapping us into dumb submission.

The political outcry and social awareness, The Clash's trademark, are also fully present here, but in a vaguer manner. Instead of chanting “REBELLION” they use clever little metaphors and tell stories. Though it may seem like The Clash have turned into a roots-revival band, they still know how to rock. "Clampdown" may be just one of the most truly energetic and angry songs any band has ever written a war cry against conformity and working the bullshit 9 to 5 in a gloomy, Orwell-esque world.

London Calling is one of the greatest, and one of the most important albums of all time. Every song is fantastic in its own right, each deserves your full attention to fully understand what exactly Joe or Mick is trying to get you to understand. Who knows, maybe it will change your life. It certainly has mine.

Best Songs
London Calling
Brand New Cadillac
Spanish Bombs
Clampdown
Lost In The Supermarket