Tag Archives: The Clash

Music Video of the Day: London Calling by The Clash (1979, directed by Don Letts)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

“This is London calling…” were the opening words used by the BBC World’s Service’s station identification.  Those words especially became well-known during World War II, when the citizens of occupied Europe would listen to the officially-banned BBC in order to discover how the war was actually going.

In The Clash’s song, London is calling because it’s worried about what’s happening in both the UK and the rest of the world.  Along with mentioning police violence, the rise of drug use, and the risk of the Thames overflowing, the song also finds time to mention the recent nuclear accident at Three Mile Island on the other side of the pond.  At the time the song was written, it seemed that London was drowning in more ways that one.

The Clash managed to go for 23 years before finally allowing London Calling to be used in a commercial.  At the time, Joe Strummer said that, after 20 years, the members of the group deserved something for having recorded one of the most iconic punk songs and, as such, the song was used in a Jaguar commercial.  It has since gone on to be used in a British airways advertisement.

The video was directed by longtime Clash associate and Big Audio Dynamite co-founder, Don Letts.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Tommy Gun by The Clash (1978, directed by Don Letts)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

“I was saying us rock ‘n’ rollers are all posers and egomaniacs, but we know that terrorists are as bad, or worse than we are. They definitely love to read their own press… I know they dedicate their life to a cause, but they’re always posing for pictures.”

— Joe Strummer, on Tommy Gun

It’s always hard for me to listen to The Clash without also thinking about the way that Johnny Lydon dismissed them as not being a real punk band.  (Lydon was fond of pointing out that Strummer was a diplomat’s son and that he had previously been in a “pub band” before getting involved with punk scene.)  Johnny may have had a point about The Clash never really being as working class as they claimed to be, though that didn’t stop him from collaborating with members of the band on a few projects after The Clash broke up.  Still, I’ve always liked The Clash’s music.

Tommy Gun was the band’s take on international terrorism.  When it was first released, there was some controversy over whether the band was pro-terrorism or anti-terrorism.  As with many of The Clash’s songs, it could be read both ways.  It was The Clash’s first top twenty hit in the UK, peaking at #19.

This video was one of the first of many to be directed by Don Letts.  Some sources say that this was the first video that Letts shot for the band, though Lett’s video for The Clash’s White Riot was actually released before the video for Tommy Gun.  I don’t know how true that is but I do know that Letts went on to direct several videos for both The Clash and Mick Jones’s Big Audio Dynamite.

Enjoy!

Music Video Of The Day: Bankrobber by The Clash (1980, directed by Don Letts)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

My daddy was a bank robber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to steal your money
Some is rich, and some is poor
And that’s the way the world is
But I don’t believe in laying back
Sayin’ how bad your luck is
So he came to jazz it up
Never learned to shovel
Break your back to earn our pay
Don’t forget to grovel
My daddy was a bank robber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to take your money
He’s gone now

No, the lyrics of Bankrobber are not meant to be autobiographical.  Joe Strummer’s father was a foreign office diplomat and apparently never robbed a bank.  As Mick Jones would later describe it, Bankrobber is meant to be a modern folk song.  Like many The Clash’s best songs, Bankrobber dealt with a working class hero getting back at the establishment.  In this case, he does it through robbing banks.

This video was considered to be controversial enough that it was banned by Top of the Pops.  The two masked robbers were played by two Clash roadies named Johnny Green and Barry Glare.  The bank that they’re robbing was located in Lewisham, South London.

Enjoy!

 

Music Video of the Day: Rock the Casbah by The Clash (1982, dir. Don Letts)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

If I can find an excuse to spotlight a particular music video, then I try to take advantage of it. This is one of those days. Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Gulf War. This song happened to be the first one played on Armed Forces Radio when that war began. Apparently since then all sorts of nonsense has been piled onto the shoulders of this song. I really didn’t need to know that this is apparently considered to be one of the most “Conservative Rock Songs”. Sure, that makes perfect sense. The music video shows both a Muslim and a Rabbi running around, having a good time, and then going to a concert by The Clash. They also throw in capitalism, consumerism, oil, and immigration. Yes, it’s very political. It’s a song by The Clash, but it turns my stomach to think that it has been co-opted like it has for such a purpose. Can we perfect that green goo from Re-Animator (1985), bring back Joe Strummer, and let him tell people what he thinks about it?

The thing I love about this video is its’ interesting tie to Texans. I remember many years ago when I saw a Pop-Up Video on Rock the Casbah. According to it, the shoot for this music video was rather popular with Texans at the time who showed up to watch. Not necessarily because they were fans of the band, but because despite being native to Texas, few Texans had actually seen an armadillo alive instead of roadkill. I like to remember this music video for that rather than what has been done to the song since then. I really didn’t need to know that had happened, but came across it while doing a little research for this post.

That said, I’m not sure what’s worse. That this song is considered conservative, or that Men At Work were successfully sued over the flute portion of Down Under. That’s for another day. Enjoy!