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Wednesday, Feb 7 2024, 7AM
Hey Wednesday, it's time for The Morning Show and International Clash Day!
International Clash Day was established on February 7th, 2013, when KEXP DJ John Richards decided he'd play The Clash through his entire show because he could.
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"White Riot" was released as the band's first single and also included on their self-titled debut album. - www.theclash.com
Happy International Clash Day!!!
The initial idea for "This Is Radio Clash" apparently came from a conversation between singer Joe Strummer, aide Kosmo Vinyl and manager Bernie Rhodes about the band setting up their own radio station. - www.songfacts.com
The opening track on The Clash's debut self-titled album! "Janie Jones" was one of the first ever songs by The Clash, written not long after singer Joe Strummer had joined to initially form the band in 1976. The song is named after Janie Jones, a cabaret singer who organised sex parties at her Kensington home.
From their the second studio album.
Clash guitarist Mick Jones wrote
“Stay Free” for Robin Crocker, a boyhood chum who fell in with the wrong crowd and wound up serving time for robbery.
- www.theclash.com
You'd think a big hit like "Rock the Casbah" or "Should I Stay or Should I Go" would be the most covered Clash song, but it's actually this track. Cover versions exist by Third Eye Blind, Ill Rapture, Dr. Haze/DJ X-Cel, The Sabrejets, Dwight Yoakam, Annie Lennox, The Manic Street Preachers, Jones Crusher and Kirsty MacColl. Probably some more as well!
Don't stop! Give it all you got!
Happy International Clash Day!!!
- www.kexp.org
This was The Clash's biggest United States hit.
Rock The Casbah featuring The English Beat's Ranking Roger came with the 40th Anniversary edition of The Clash's Combat Rock in 2022. The recording of Combat Rock commenced in late 1981, a few months after The Beat had supported The Clash in Europe, when Roger would often join The Clash onstage for their covers of Willie Williams’ Armagideon Time and Junior Murvin’s Police & Thieves. Roger's vocals for Rock The Casbah and Red Angel Dragnet were recorded during would would become known as the Rat Patrol sessions, and received a bootleg release in 2013. www.loudersound.com
The Clash's "Magnificent Seven" includes the refrain "Don't Stop, Give it All You Got" — and we want to know what keeps you going: What big OR small thing are you doing to make our world a little better, and how does music help? Send an email to stories@kexp.org to let us know.
www.kexp.org
This second track off of London Calling is a cover of the 1959 song by Vince Taylor, a British rockabilly singer. (It was also the first song The Clash recorded for London Calling).
"Margaret" is Margaret Thatcher, who was British Prime Minister from 1979-1990.
The song is about what the world could be.
www.jimmycliff.com
The Equals, led by Eddy Grant, were a ground-breaking, racially mixed bands in London when they started in 1965. This song was originally released on the The Equals' Baby, Come Back album in 1968. The song then enjoyed a revival when UK punk band The Clash recorded a cover of the song in 1980 for their Sandinista! album.
This song was cited by some critics in reviews of the Sandinista! album as the most Clash-sounding song on the album - with the irony being that it's a cover!
Happy International Clash Day!
This track is an exploration of reggae, dub and electronics. "Sandinista" was produced by reggae legend Mikey Dread!
The Afghan Whigs covering The Clash for the 1999 tribute album, benefitting the High Risk Youth Program of the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles
Originally sung by Mick Jones, the supermarket in question was the International, located at 471–473 Kings Road, beneath the World's End Estate. 31 Whistler Walk was where Joe Strummer lived at the time with his girlfriend Gaby Salter, her two younger brothers and her mother. The song's lyrics describe someone struggling to deal with an increasingly commercialised world and rampant consumerism.
Thanks for firing up my morning. If it fits, please play Dwight Yoakum’s unexpectedly super cool cover of Train in Vain.
With Inspiration
Troy
Performance from last Sunday's Grammys ceremony.
Tracy Chapman first performed “Fast Car” at the 1989 GRAMMYs where she won the award for Best Female Pop Vocalist.
Luke Combs frequently covered Chapman's “Fast Car” during live concerts, but only released his cover as part of his March album "Gettin' Old." At the 2024 GRAMMYs, Combs was nominated for his rendition of the track for Best Country Solo Performance.
The song attacks the political and economic situation in England at the time, citing the lack of jobs available, particularly to youth, and the dreariness and lack of appeal of those that were available. They specifically mention service in the military and police forces in addition to jobs that are often perceived as being 'menial' such as a bus driver or ticket inspector, as well as "making tea at the BBC".
The lyrics for this song, written by Joe Strummer, refer to the perceived failures of capitalist society.
The album recorded at Shea Stadium in New York City on 13 October 1982, the band's second night opening for The Who.
Bruce Springsteen cover The Clash's 'Clampdown'
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“Bruce is great. If you don't agree, you're a pretentious Martian from Venus.” — Joe Strummer
- estreetshuffle.com
Warm Greetings KEXP~
This year International Clash Day inspires me with it's theme “don’t stop give it all you got” from the Magnificent Seven.
I’ve been doing a big thing to make the world a better place for 15 years now. It’s called the Lake Union 10K Run/Walk & it serves Lake Union, Seattle & KEXP. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And since covid, it feels scary. Participants are way down & expenses are way up. Resources are scarce.
Finishers tell me they are grateful for the sense of community & the local Seattle feel of the event. So I persevere despite my experience of fear & scarcity.
Music reminds me to stay focused on the event mission~ to support Lake Union & the health of the Seattle community. Lately I’ve been leaning on the song “Hopeful” by Curtis Harding, and many others.
2024 is the 15th year of the race & “don’t stop give it all you got” resonates.
Music matters & KEXP reminds me I’m not alone. Here’s to making the world a better place & building community!
Cheers~
Laura
8:35 AM
189th spin
Janelle Monáe's song “Turntables" appears in All In: The Fight for Democracy, a documentary on voter suppression that features Stacey Abrams. On the song, Monáe raps, “Got a new agenda, with a new dream/I’m kickin’ out the old regime/Liberation, elevation, education.” - bit.ly
www.jmonae.com
Often referred to as "The Black National Anthem," Lift Every Voice and Sing was a hymn written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900. His brother, John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954), composed the music for the lyrics. A choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School, where James Weldon Johnson was principal, first performed the song in public in Jacksonville, Florida to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. -- Here are the lyrics: naacp.org
Homecoming is the live album (and concert film) from Beyonce's historic 2018 Coachella performance.
Here's the historic live performance: www.youtube.com
Swift’s eighth album, "folklore," was produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, who also co-wrote 11 of the 16 songs.
taylorswift.com
“This is a public service announcement…with guitars!”
International Clash Day 2024: Don't Stop, Give It All You Got! - www.kexp.org
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Read the story of the band's complicated and powerful fifth album: pitchfork.com
Montreal band TEKE::TEKE Cover "Bankrobber" by the Clash - teketekeband.bandcamp.com
Seattle's Smokey Brights cover The Clash!
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Here's Smokey Brights performing live in the KEXP studio last year - www.youtube.com
KEXP & Cloudbreak Music Festival Present: Smokey Brights 10 year Anniversary 2024
Friday, Nov 22, 2024
Event Info
Portland band The Dandy Warhols cover The Clash for the tribute album Songs of The Clash – Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats, “A vinyl compilation featuring artists the world over, covering songs of The Clash and celebrating their music and human rights message.” Vinyl and digital sales benefitting humanitarian aid organization International Rescue Committee.
- clash.sharedmedium.org
Happy Intl CLASH Day!
I've been a human rights advocate and defender now for over 15 years. This all started for me in high school, obsessed with U2 and the like. Bands had liner notes referencing human rights organizations like Amnesty International -- empowering every fan and listener to think about the difference we can make in the world. From there, I joined and ran my high school's Amnesty International letter writing club. Flash forward many decades, I read in Bono's biography that they were heavily influenced by The Clash to take their activism to their fans and I am eternally grateful for the purpose-driven career I have now.
Grateful for this life and my opportunity to make a difference in people's lives.
All my best,
Jen in Lake Stevens
Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer cover Bob Marleys 'Redemption Song'
The final track on Bob Marley and the Wailers' twelfth album, Uprising
Need some more Michael Franti & Spearhead? Check out these live on KEXP performances! Here's one in 2016: www.youtube.com
Here's 2014: www.youtube.com
michaelfranti.com
The "Hammersmith Palais de Danse" was a famous music venue in Hammersmith, London, that hosted, among numerous others, The Sex Pistols, David Bowie, The Cure or The Rolling Stones. It was shut down on April 1 2007; the final gig was played by post-punk band The Fall.
This was one of Joe Strummer's favorites - in the post-Clash era he continued to play it with his new band The Mescaleros, and it was also played at his funeral.
- www.songfacts.com
London Calling was a double album, but it wasn't supposed to be. The band were angry that CBS had priced their previous EP, The Cost of Living at £1.49, and so in the interests of their fans they insisted that London Calling be a double LP. CBS refused, so the band tried a different tactic: how about a free single on a one-disc LP? CBS agreed, but didn't notice that this free single disc would play at 33rpm and contain eight songs - therefore making it up to a double album!
At the end of the song, a series of beeps spells out "SOS" in morse code. Mick Jones created these sounds on one of his guitar pickups.
- www.songfacts.com
Debut studio album by the English band Big Audio Dynamite, led by Mick Jones, the former lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Clash.
In 1999, Joe Strummer of The Clash achieved a childhood dream of hosting his own radio show on the BBC World Service. Between then and 2002, Strummer hosted a series of programs called JOE STRUMMER'S LONDON CALLING 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. Here's a portion of episode number 5 featuring many of his favorites.
“Johnny loved The Clash. He thought they were the second-best punk band of all-time, behind the Ramones.” - Linda Ramone.
Bunny & Ricky was a Reggae duo consisting of "Bunny Rugs" Clark and Ricky Grant.
The Upsetters was the name given to the house band for Jamaican reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. The name of the band comes from Perry's nickname of Upsetter, after his song "I Am the Upsetter", a musical dismissal of his former boss Coxsone Dodd.
Françoise Hardy is a pop and fashion icon celebrated as a French national treasure. Her first single, "Tous Les Garçons et les Filles," sold over two million copies and made her a European star overnight. Outside music, Hardy also established herself as a fashion model, actress, astrologer, and author. Though she has recorded songs in several languages, it was her early French tunes -- that ranged across pop, jazz, blues, and more -- that helped to establish her as a legend. - www.allmusic.com
Jimmy Reed received the sole credit for the song, although blues historian Gerard Herzhaft points out "like almost all of Reed's pieces and whatever the official credits are, it is an original composition by his wife, Mama Reed."
