3 posts tagged “the clash”
I am fundamentally opposed to seeing music performed in sports venues. The sound quality always sucks, the jerk-to-not-jerk ratio is unacceptable and the venues themselves are way, way too big. I've felt this way for a long time and I more or less swore off of arena/stadium shows in college.
I say more or less, because up until December 22, 2002, there was one circumstance in which I would not only go to a stadium show, but camp out to get front-row seats. But when Joe Strummer died, the possibility of a proper Clash reunion vanished, and so too did the likelihood that I'd ever again willingly see a jumbo-venue concert.
One thing I dislike almost as much as concerts in giant sports venues is live albums. Live albums provide all the downsides of live musical performance -- poor sound, mistakes, ragged vocals -- while offering none of the energy and sense of community that make concerts worth attending in the first place. This probably explains why it took me so long to pick up a copy of The Clash Live at Shea Stadium.
I finally righted this wrong on on Thursday, and I can say without exception that it is the best live album I've ever heard. The set list is spot on, they sound amazing and the album reminds me of why the Clash will likely always remain my favorite band. As always with Clash performances, the songs take on a greater urgency live. Sloppier, certainly, but also faster and more aggressive. The intensity and vigor of the show is particularly remarkable since this was a band not at its peak, but rather nearing its end.
I'm sure that my blind and incessant Clash boosterism is beyond tiresome to everyone but me, but I still highly recommend this album to anyone who likes the band and its music. It also wouldn't be a bad theraputic purchase for those tin-eared, deluded souls, who "don't understand what the big deal is" about the Clash. Though, I'm not so sure that those people are worth saving.
As I was riding the elevator up to my office the other day, one of my favorite songs -- Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes" -- started playing on my iPod. Before I got to my floor, I was smiling ear-to-ear and singing along way out of key. Now this is notable for a couple of reasons. First, is that I've been in a somewhat rotten mood of late, so smiling is a nice change, and second, because I somehow have managed to adore that song for years without really realizing what it was about.
Flush with glam-rock-induced happiness I logged right onto Allmusic.com and read the track review for "All the Young Dudes," which David Bowie wrote, and gave to Mott the Hoople as an incentive against calling it quits. As it turns out, the song is something of a gay anthem. A quick review of the lyrics makes this painfully obvious (sample line: "now Jimmy's looking sweet though he dresses like a queen/ he can kick like a mule/ It's a real mean team").
When I IMed Hotrod to discuss my revelation, this was his reaction:
"No, really? That's weird. Cause there's nothing gay about glam rock. And how could you know it was a song about gay guys? It's not like it has "Dudes" right in the title."
Okay. Point taken. I'm sometimes not the post perceptive person on the planet. But this isn't really a post about gay rock songs, so much as it is an excuse to list my:
Top Ten Songs that Will Put a Smile on My Face Under Any Circumstance: Volume One.
1. "I Want You Back" - The Jackson Five
No question about this one. It's number one with a bullet and number two isn't in the same room. I challenge you to sit through this song without smiling. And if you don't like it, you may want to consider the possibility that you don't have a soul.
2. "Country Roads" - Toots and the Maytals
This is Toots' cover of John Denver's classic. Don't hold the fact that it's featured in a commercial for Jamaica's tourist board against it. Toots changes the lyrics around to make it about "West Jamaica," rather than "West Virginia," a big improvement, if you ask me.
3. "Life's Been Good" -- Joe Walsh
This is the most emotionally honest song ever written by a wealthy rock star, and it's a hell of a lot of fun. Great hook. Great lyrics. Great song.
4. "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" -- The Clash
Here we have my favorite song by my favorite band. When Joe sings "I'm the all-night, drug-prowling wolf, who looks so sick in the sun/ I'm the white man in the Palais -- only looking for fun," it never fails to give me goose bumps (you didn't really think I'd make it through this list without a Clash song, did you?).
5. "Punk Rock Girl" -- The Dead Milkmen
I've liked these guys since middle school, when I first heard the two-minute skit that precedes the song "Bitchin' Camaro" -- the first track on the excellent "Big Lizard in my Backyard." This was their big radio hit and encapsulated everything that was great about this band.
6. "All the Young Dudes" -- Mott the Hoople
This is where we came in. I just can't resist a good anthem, gay or otherwise. "I'm a dude, dad."
7. "Little Red Corvette" -- Prince
This song and "I Want You Back" are numbers 1 and 2 on my list of all time great pop songs. It's so good that I'm not really willing to accept that there are people on earth who don't like it, Tipper Gore notwithstanding.
8. "Body of an American" -- The Pogues
If the Clash is my favorite band, the Pogues aren't far behind. This is their best song, which is weird, since it appears only on an out-of-print EP (Poguetry in Motion) and in singles collections. I got to see them perform this live earlier this year, and it was one of the highlights of my musical life.
9. "Bombs Over Baghdad (B.O.B)" -- Outkast
If you've never heard this song, do yourself a favor and check out this YouTube clip. If you can keep your ass from moving throughout the song, you've got more restraint than I. This is Outkast their most intense and musically inventive.
10. "Infested" -- Choking Victim
I'm fully expecting to lose some people with this one. As you can imagine with a name like "Choking Victim" this band is not for everyone. I don't own any of their albums. I do however have this song on a punk compilation called "Give 'em the Boot" and it's awesome. "Infested" probably my all time favorite workout song. Depending on your musical tastes it is probably 3-6 times faster than any song in your collection. If that appeals to you, give 'em a listen.
So I'm ripping off the immortal Emma Peel, but we're friends, and I'm hoping she won't mind. This video captures everything I love about the Clash, set to one of my all-time top five Clash songs. It is also more proof that YouTube is the best invention of all time. People probably should have quit writing rock songs after the Clash broke up, cause it's never going to be better.
And because I can't resist a list, here are my all time top five Clash songs:
1) White Man in Hammersmith Palais
2) The Prisoner
3) Complete Control
4) Spanish Bombs
5) Washington Bullets
