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Tuesday, Feb 8 2022, 7AM
On Febuary 7th of 2013, John finished playing "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop and then declared it #InternationalClashDay for the first time, ever. Here's what those first sets looked like.
The Clash - Police on My Back (08:23 AM)
The Clash - Know Your Rights
The Clash (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais
-Break-
The Clash “Hateful”
The Clash “Guns of Brixton”
The Clash “Clash City Rockers”
The Clash “The Call Up”
The Clash “London Calling” (Live at Shea Stadium)
The Clash “This is Radio Clash”
-Break-
The Clash “The Clampdown”
The Clash “London’s Burning”
The Clash “Train in Vain”
The Clash “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
The Clash “Rudie Can’t Fail” 09:14 AM
Happy International Clash Day!
"Janie Jones" is the opening track to the band's 1977 debut album and was one of the first ever songs written by The Clash, written not long after singer Joe Strummer had joined to initially form the band in 1976. The tune and chorus apparently came to guitarist Mick Jones whilst riding on the 31 bus from Harrow Road to Chalk Farm in London, with Strummer subsequently helping out with the rest of the lyrics.
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PS. Happy birthday to Aaron!
"John,
I was born February 8th 1977. So it's cool that this show always falls near my birthday. But this year it landed right on, and somehow feels a little different. If you can squeeze in anything from that first album, I would love it. If the internet can be believed, they started recording the album two days after I was born. So I certainly feel connected to the birth of punk. The future is unwritten!!"
Thanks,
Aaron
Portland, OR
Like other songs on London Calling, “Rudie Can’t Fail” has a strong reggae influence.
The song revolves around Rudie, who is part of the rude boys, a 1960s Jamaican subculture that became popular in the United Kingdom. "Rudie Can't Fail" praises the rude boys who challenged their elders' status quo. The song is about a fun-loving young man who is criticised by his elders for not acting as a responsible adult, drinking beer at breakfast.
Mike Dirnt of Green Day owns a diner in California called Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, named after this Clash song!
This single was written following a reggae all-nighter attended by Strummer and Don Letts in June 1977, and was The Clash's first original song to directly combine rock with reggae.
www.theclash.com
This song was written after Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon were involved in the riots at the Notting Hill Carnival of 1976.
Strummer pointed out how inner-city Black youth were fighting back against poverty and heavy-handed policing. “White Riot” was a call to white youth to join the fight.
Read the story behind "White Riot": faroutmagazine.co.uk
Blondie's first single "X Offender" was originally titled "Sex Offender", but since radio stations would not play a song with such a provocative title, the band renamed the song.
Jigsaw Feeling is from "The Scream", the debut studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. Lyrically, the song describes a feeling of confusion and anguish.
What do you mean you just can't be happy today? It's International Clash Day!
While The Clash was working on their classic album, and quite possibly the ultimate punk record, London Calling, The Damned was also in the studio recording their new LP Machine Gun Etiquette. It was during these sessions that the two bands would connect and provide the wonderful footage below. In the clip, we see Captain Sensible on the ukulele, Rat Scabies playing spoons and Joe Strummer delivering an impassioned vocal performance for ‘New Rose’:
faroutmagazine.co.uk
This is the one writing credit that original guitarist Keith Levene got from The Clash on the first album. He claimed to "have a hand" in every song on the first album, but this is disputed by the rest of the band. Joe Strummer always claimed that Levene was too busy doing drugs (heroin and speed, allegedly) to rehearse and hence his subsequent sacking from the band.
Levene claims to have written most of the song with his fellow guitarist Mick Jones in May 1976, and showed it to Sex Pistols singer John Lydon (with whom he would later form the post-punk band Public Image Ltd.). Strummer however remembers that "the only parts the song had when it came was, 'What's my name?' That's all the song was. I put in a few verses to keep the choruses apart."
"Of all the songs that The Clash recorded together, 'Straight to Hell' represents perhaps the band’s finest hour. Opening with Mick Jones’ distinctive guitar signature and sustained by drummer Topper Headon’s queasily insistent bossa nova beat, the song offers a panorama of the wretched of the earth." www.rebelnews.ie
Joe Strummer once declared the song to be their “absolute masterpiece.”
Today is International Clash Day, a holiday invented right here on the Morning Show, 10 years ago! Learn more about the only band that matters, and what they mean to us, here: www.kexp.org
M.I.A. , the daughter of Sri Lankan Tamil immigrants, spoke about the inspirations behind her hit track “Paper Planes,” as a way to push back against anti-immigrant rhetoric. You can find an essay penned by KEXP’s Dusty Henry on our website, which dives deep into the history of the song, and the sample from The Clash’s “Straight To Hell.”: bit.ly
All I wanna do is /
And a /
And take your money!
Sampled MIA'S 'Paper Planes', who sampled The Clash's 'Straight to Hell'!
Reminder that today is International Clash Day, a holiday invented right here on the Morning Show, 10 years ago!
www.kexp.org
"Paper Lizards" by Scroobius Pip, sampled M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" (sampled The Clash's "Straight to Hell.") (Noticing a pattern here.)
The Junior Murvin song had been a favorite practice space jam of the band and originally wasn’t going to be on the album, but an impromptu version the Clash started playing during a break in a recording session spurred the decision to finalize their own arrangement, record it, and include the finished article on their album.
Treat yourself to watching them play the song live! youtu.be
This song was co-written by Junior Murvin with the legendary reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.
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"Police and Thieves" had already become a huge hit in the UK before The Clash made the song even more famous with their cover version on their debut album. Originally recorded simply to fill space, the band were incredibly nervous about being a white rock band covering a reggae song so deeply entrenched in Jamaican roots. Joe Strummer explained: "We had some brass neck to do that. By all rights they should've said 'ya heathen mon, ya ruined de works of Jah!' But they were hip enough to realize that we'd brought our own music to the party."
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Check out Junior Murvin performing the song in 1980: youtu.be
Unlike most Clash songs, which were written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, "The Guns Of Brixton" was written by bass player Paul Simonon, who decided to get in on the songwriting himself. Written as a protest about the economic situation for UK youth at the time, it became one of the band's best-known songs and a staple of their live set. Simonon takes lead vocal duties on the song, which is about gangsters in his hometown of Brixton in South London.: daily.redbullmusicacademy.com
Beats International were a British dance music band and hip-hop collective, formed in the late 1980s by Norman Cook (later in his career known as Fatboy Slim).
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Cook said of this song, "I used the bassline from The Clash song 'Guns Of Brixton', which was me tipping my hat to The Clash as I was such a big fan."
The Clash cover The Equals.
In the late ’60s, the London quintet The Equals were one of the first music groups to embody the idea that multiracial groups belonged together.
Learn more about the band and their legacy here:
pitchfork.com
The Equals, led by Eddy Grant, were a ground-breaking, racially mixed bands in London when they started in 1965.
Here's The Equals performing "Police On My Back" in 1967: www.youtube.com
This was the first Talking Heads song. It was written in 1973 at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where David Byrne and drummer Chris Frantz had a band called The Artistics. When Byrne presented the song, he explained that he wanted a Japanese section in the bridge, but when he asked a girl who spoke the language to come up with some murderous words, she understandably freaked out. Frantz' girlfriend, Tina Weymouth, spoke French, so they had her write a French part for the bridge instead. She drew inspiration from the Norman Bates character in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Psycho."
faroutmagazine.co.uk
In the City is the debut studio album by British band the Jam, released in May 1977. In addition to this title track, this album includes two cover versions, "Slow Down," and the theme to the 1960s television series, Batman (da na na na na na na).
Watch the Jam perform "In the City" live: www.youtube.com
This was the Sex Pistols' first single, and it caused quite a stir in England with its lyrics advocating violence against the government. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols was not released until a year later, partly because of distribution concerns: after hearing "Anarchy In The UK," some organizations refused to ship the album.
Joe Strummer of The Clash, loved to listen to music on the radio and had a dream to one day spin records for the BBC World Service, where he heard the latest UK hits over the shortwave band as a teenager in Africa. He finally got his wish in 1999, when BBC World Service premiered Joe Strummer's London Calling. Between then and 2002, Strummer hosted a series of programs with a simple format - one man and his eclectic record collection. His globe spanning playlists included many of the rock, reggae and folk artists that inspired the Clash, plus many surprises. You can still go to PRX.org to hear some of the episodes, including this, a portion of his last show, from July 15th, 2001.
Check them out: exchange.prx.org
Global a Go-Go is the second album by Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros, displaying trademark genre-melding folk-rock and Strummer's unique lyrical style. As the title suggests, there are world music influences on the album, a celebration of the "humble" but diverse and exciting ethnic and multi-cultural areas of London and other major cities.
When I Was Born for the 7th Time was recorded over a period of approximately two months. Singer and guitarist, Tjinder Singh, described the recording process as "very intense." There was a lot of smoking going on, it was a very relaxed time, and very enjoyable all the way through.
According to Joey Ramone, there was one specific brat that inspired this song. He grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in the Forest Hills section of Queens where some "rich snooty" women would raise obnoxious children. There was a playground with women sitting around and a kid screaming, a horrible kid just running around rampant with no discipline whatsoever," he said in Rolling Stone. "'Beat on the brat with a baseball bat' just came out."
By listener request!
Thanks for tuning into International Clash Day... where we celebrate the only band that matters, all day!
www.kexp.org
For International Clash Day in 2019, KEXP traveled to London for a 4-day live broadcast and online event featuring live performances, exclusive interviews, and a special focus on the music and message surrounding The Clash's landmark album, London Calling.
In December of 1979, the Clash released London Calling, a record that laments the destructive forces our world has set loose, seemingly out of our ability to control. It explores our search for fulfillment through addictions and bottomless appetites, and grapples with the eternal question of whether to stay true to yourself or slide down that well-worn path toward comfort, status, and ease. Through melody, rhythm, lyrics, and attitude, London Calling lays bare a modern world that seems empty and meaningless, and calls on us to wake up and take action. It’s a message that still rings very true 40 years after its initial release in December of 1979.
Read more about KEXP in London, here:
www.kexp.org
From the KEXP session 'International Clash Day, Live From London' on February 7, 2019.
Watch IDLES and Heavy Lungs Perform at Studio 9294 in Hackney Wick, London:
www.kexp.org
Thanks for celebrating International Clash Day with us!
Live at Studio 9294 in Hackney Wick, London, during KEXP's International Clash Day broadcast, recorded February 5, 2019:
www.kexp.org
KEXP: What does The Clash mean to you and have they inspired your music?
Ibibio Sound Machine: The Clash are a massive piece of UK music heritage, so in some way, they influence pretty much everything that's happening today in the independent music scene here. They were one of very few bands who literally changed the course of music history worldwide, which is probably the rarest achievement in a musical career – their sound has definitely been something we've listened to growing up, yeah.
Read more about Ibibio Sound Machine and International Clash Day Live in London here:
www.kexp.org
When Marvin Gaye addressed pollution in his 1971 single "Mercy Mercy Me," he became one of the first R&B singers to ever address environmental issues in a song.
In 2020, KEXP hosted "Clash for Climate" International Clash Day to raise awareness about Climate Change. Learn more about Clash for Climate and find resources here:
www.kexp.org
The song is an ode to self-motivation. It was originally going to close London Calling, but "Train in Vain" was added at the last minute. There was another reggae song of the same title released in 1973 by Big Youth and Prince Buster. According to Ray, "The lyrics come from going to the clubs and seeing what was going on, you know?"
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs is an Argentine ska band from Buenos Aires.
Watch an excited crowd rocking to a live performance of this Clash classic: www.youtube.com
Ranking Roger is one of the frontmen of The Beat, who toured with The Clash. He recorded an alternative version of the song in 1981 with Clash members Strummer and Mick Jones but it was never released.
La Furia was a cover band formed by Maniatica members in the early 90s to cover The Clash songs, translated into Spanish.
