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The Clash: A Micro-Appreciation
Plus a Few Punk Song Recommendations
I listened to a lot of Clash in high school, but my listening was limited to two albums: Black Market Clash (its reggae album) and Combat Rock. When a friend recorded “Train in Vain” for me, I concluded, “I could listen to ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ and ‘Train in Vain’ exclusively for the rest of my life.”
That was my total Clash experience.
But then a few years ago I listened to Spotify’s excellent podcast series about the Clash (which is apparently no longer available . . . sorry). It turns out the band wasn’t like the lazy reprobates that their music celebrated. The band members worked. Like, really, really hard. Reprobates, sure, but not lazy.
I then dove into their other albums and picked out a handful of songs:
“Janie Jones” (recommended by a young Jack Black character in High Fidelity)
“London Calling” (a great song for screaming after a bad day at the office)
“Rudie Can’t Fail” (the second-best song on this list)
“Brand New Cadillac” (a cover, it turns out: the original by Vince Taylor and His Playboys isn’t bad)
“The Leader” (best song on this list; also, the best short song of all time: just 1:41)
