![[Full Album] THE CLASH | "London Calling"](https://img5.saketami.com/storage/4/nx/sb/9a2cd0-019e834c-b833-7ee0-8bb6-15bb033288b0.png)
[Full Album] THE CLASH | "London Calling"
Added 2025-03-01 15:07:41 +0000 UTCI finally heard the iconic London Calling album, and that means I can begin the rest of my life now. And, life is already looking a lot different because The Clash are no longer the "Should I Stay or Should I Go" band for me, but something far more intriguing.
This album transcends typical "storytelling", and feels more like an ideology; an urgent stream of consciousness that paints a bittersweet picture of today's reality interlaced with tomorrow's optimism.
Musically? I can't believe some of the unexpected sounds I heard on this album. A dartboard of genres—if you will—where I'm throwing darts blindfolded. If I had to sum up the bass performance with one word, it's easily the word wisdom. It doesn't miss. All of the right notes, at all of the right times. It never jumps out, because it never really leaves. It's what simplicity and complexity sound like in the very same sentence.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
2:14 - "London Calling"
8:50 - "Brand New Cadillac"
13:27 - "Jimmy Jazz"
21:05 - "Hateful"
26:39 - "Rudie Can't Fail"
32:53 - "Spanish Bombs"
39:35 - "The Right Profile"
46:32 - "Lost in the Supermarket"
54:09 - "Clampdown"
1:03:04 - "The Guns of Brixton"
1:09:49 - "Wrong 'Em Boyo"
1:14:26 - "Death or Glory"
1:22:09 - "Koka Kola"
1:25:42 - "The Card Cheat"
1:32:22 - "Lover's Rock"
1:38:20 - "Four Horsemen"
1:43:12 - "I'm Not Down"
1:47:25 - "Revolution Rock"
1:54:42 - "Train in Vain"
1:58:41 - Final Thoughts
Comments
I'm really confused by the I'm Not Down comment. I don't hear any similarities to Waterloo Sunset.
Steven White
2025-07-16 01:00:24 +0000 UTCNot specifically related to bass in any way, but I'm going to say it anyhow. I listen to this album nose-to-toes fairly regularly, and about a decade after my wife and I had been married is when she finally realized that track #5 isn't about a guy named Rudy Capell.
Alice Devilman
2025-07-04 14:12:53 +0000 UTCPaint It Black! Those 3 EP's they released from 2009 to 2013 are amazing and make one hell of an album together, each released on a different record label too, a truly free band, even went with Fat Wreck Chords for one of them, one of the 2 from 2009, I think that one is "Surrender". A band who goes from Bridge Nine Records and Fat in the same year doesn't happen often, likely because of how they can go from brooding bass driven anger spiels to short Lifetime-like bursts of melodic hardcore with touches of emo/skate punk. Only band formed in the 2000 I care about pretty much.
Floyd Hill
2025-07-04 12:40:15 +0000 UTCInstead of doing a single band full album how about 2 or 3 EP’s from multiple artists? That could be pretty cool 😉
McChud
2025-03-20 22:29:26 +0000 UTCI remembered that The Living End did a cover of The Cure's 10:15 , I recommend you check it Out Mark, it was bloody brilliant live!👍🏻
Will
2025-03-06 07:53:55 +0000 UTCHe did a reaction video for "Fascination Street", so I think "Disintegration" is eligible for a full-album reaction poll. I believe that would be a good choice. It seems to be one of their most popular releases.
Quote Unquote Sir
2025-03-05 17:55:13 +0000 UTCSo grateful for this video. There was a lot of times that it reminded me of The Cure and their own unique basslines, same period in the Uk, would you ever consider The Cure for your review?
Will
2025-03-05 10:25:48 +0000 UTCFinally finished this one. A few thoughts: 1- Is this really the first time Mark has heard Train in Vain? Someone didn’t play enough NCAA Football back in the day. 2- I’m Not Down is another in a long, long list of songs that rips off Waterloo Sunset. That’s not a bad thing. 3- I wish and hope Stiff Little Fingers get some love. Go For It owes so much to this record, and it gave us the first Roots Radicals!
Matthew Gladys
2025-03-04 23:21:13 +0000 UTCMy favourite too! Just a great rock album.
Cam
2025-03-04 03:29:15 +0000 UTC😂
Matt Gerken
2025-03-03 21:46:47 +0000 UTCMark, if you're interested in learning more about Joe Strummer and The Clash, there was a fantastic biography put out about him a number of years back. It really solidified how important Joe (and the rest of the band) was to developing the scene in England and what it means to be "punk." https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780865479821/redemptionsong/
Dustin Roberts
2025-03-03 21:25:16 +0000 UTCThere’s so much The Clash in Rancid it’s ridiculous. ☺️👍
Daniel Eriksson
2025-03-03 19:26:05 +0000 UTCWhile I like this album, my favorite Clash album has to be Give ‘em Enough Rope. Just a different vibe and tasty bass there too. I’ll be requesting a song from there soon :)
CJ LoBaido
2025-03-03 17:49:52 +0000 UTCListening to this in bits and pieces. Funny you say The Right Profile sounds like a movie. It’s about Montgomery Clift, a famous actor in the 50s who got in a car wreck and smashed up his face. He turned into a raging alcoholic, and they tried to shoot around his (kinda slight and not as horrific as advertised) disfigurement. Thus, using his right profile.
Matthew Gladys
2025-03-03 12:56:11 +0000 UTCThe blue and brown refers to how many cops align with fascism. We've seen it in most protests that's gone violent that cops tend to protect the far right (see 2020)
Anders Øfsti
2025-03-03 10:32:08 +0000 UTCNot entirely true, while he wasn't that good of a bassist, it was him and Mick that founded the band before Joe Strummer joined It was pretty the same story most of us had. We just wanted to play in a band so we started a band with a friend
Anders Øfsti
2025-03-03 10:28:32 +0000 UTCRudy means “rude boy” and is not referring to Nazi punks or skinheads
Rama
2025-03-03 08:35:13 +0000 UTCI didn’t realize I knew so many of their songs and may e never would have listened to this album and now I’m looking forward to playing it. Thanks everyone!
Cory Burgess
2025-03-03 07:05:20 +0000 UTCI once heard a story that Paul was hired for the band because he looked cool, didn't know how to play the bass at the time. Not sure if it's true though
kreviss jurjesss
2025-03-03 02:21:28 +0000 UTCYou’d be forgiven to not really know about Rudy. Punk rock inherently being an aggressive art form inevitably attracted Skinhead/Nazi fucks. That led to a lot of the early Punk bands having to talk about it. You can hear the sarcasm dripping when they are mentioned. Even into the 90’s these dickheads would show up to shows. Insane how relevant it still is.
Josh Ott
2025-03-03 01:27:17 +0000 UTCInteresting to note that Guns of Brixton was actually written and sung by Paul Simonon. I seem to recall reading that it made the Clash one of the few english bands where every band member wrote a n1 hit in Britain (the drummer wrote Rock the Casbah). The "Rudie" in Rudie Can't Fail is not a person, it references the term Rude Boy, which was what early ska fans in Jamaica were called. The pork pie hat referenced is from the basic Rude Boy uniform. The term is also used in "A message to you Rudy, popularized by the Specials in 79.
Drums McGee
2025-03-02 22:42:45 +0000 UTCMark, the bassline of Guns of Brixton is sampled quite a few times.
Jeroen Röhrman
2025-03-02 22:26:22 +0000 UTCFrom here to eternity! After Failed State now London Calling, if you happen to review Life Won't Wait next month damn it's like you're going through my "top 3 desert island" punk albums within a month ;) Thanks Mark !
Nicolas R.
2025-03-02 22:12:00 +0000 UTCI feel like this is the perfect place to share one of my favorite clash covers, with Hateful covered by Kid Dynamite https://youtu.be/1hM9SipaeUU?si=oVDxZgaIY9gCSvOg
Chris J
2025-03-02 20:07:35 +0000 UTCTruly just the most impressive album ever written. It's considered one of the greatest albums of all time and I STILL don't think it gets enough credit. This is 19 incredible songs that sound ENTIRELY different from each other. Written and recorded less than 1 year after their previous album too. We'll never see an album like this again.
Cam
2025-03-02 18:03:16 +0000 UTCMy first time hearing this album as well. Going to be heavily in the rotation for a while!
Mac Carlsen
2025-03-02 16:26:49 +0000 UTCmark is really wondering if the bassist is using a pick?! On the album cover you can clearly see he’s not using a pick.
ryan mcgrath
2025-03-02 14:25:32 +0000 UTCMark, I truly am starting to think you’re one of the smartest ppl I have heard of. Not only your bass prowess but your grammatical presence is top shelf. So I would like to suggest you a word to add to your lexicon. In this video you talked about quick/skimming research. I have always liked the phrase “cursory research” I also feel I need to defend myself since a DB on your YT comments asked me if English was my second language. Yeah, I’m still cursed about that. I’ll even show screen shots. Hehe. Love ya homie! Never mind. Patreon won’t let me show photos on this type of comment 🥹 Hehe
Paydrough
2025-03-02 10:21:37 +0000 UTCHemingway covered the Spanish civil war as a journalist but George Orwell actually fought in it (and was shot). Check out his book Homage to Cataluna.
Paul
2025-03-01 22:33:31 +0000 UTCClampdown is about the rise of fascism. I'm pretty sure wearing blue & brown is a reference to cops & sheriffs (not to mention brownshirts). "Teach our twisted speech to the young believers" is reference to Hitler Youth. It's not really about the working class so much as how the fascists manipulate & extract labor from people, and the type of people to willingly sign up to enforce fascist laws that clampdown on people's freedom. Texas politician Beto O'Rourke invoked the song during a campaign speech a few years ago. Ironic since the political party he is a part of seems to have a policy of capitulating to fascists while posing a purely performative opposition & pretending their hands are tied (like the Weimar Republic's liberals who caved to Hitler). It's sad how relevant this song is politically. There's another Clash song that has the lyric "If Adolf Hitler flew in today / they'd send a limousine anyway." Spanish Bombs about the Spanish Civil War (which was another fight against fascism). The Clash are hyperpolitical -- London Calling itself is a reference of WWII British radio broadcasts that would start of with that phrase.
Jose Garza
2025-03-01 21:49:23 +0000 UTCI’m so glad you did this album, it’s incredible. I had a long drive to day, and this kept me company for a good part of it. Thank you for your insight. The Card Cheat is my favourite from this album.
David Hardy
2025-03-01 20:55:28 +0000 UTCA Life Won't Wait album review would be a very interesting contrast to And Out Come the Wolves.
Aukai Ligairi
2025-03-01 19:35:24 +0000 UTCI feel like, with "Bloodclot" on the list of YouTube videos being put out, Life Won't Wait would be a perfect sequal reaction to this next month. I just think that would be perfect if we could make that happen.
Ceej Luige
2025-03-01 18:53:42 +0000 UTCWhen I first got this cd in like 9th or 10th grade, I feel like this was the first time where I could start to appreciate the music that my parents listened to and also this was one of the few albums of mine that my parents could listen to. Anyway, this album helped me to broaden my horizons outside of the world of punk and start to appreciate other genres and styles of music. This album is also very nostalgic for me as my friend Tommy Oyarzun used to drive us all around in his old Aerostar to various skate spots in high school and the van only had a tape player. He recorded this cd onto tape and we used to just listen to it on repeat skating spots all over Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, etc... Really takes me back and will always be a favorite of mine. This album also reminds me of being 16 and waiting outside of liquor stores for homeless people to buy us beer if we slipped them a 20 or promised them beer from the pack they purchased for us. Probably the most eclectic and influential punk band of all time. So many bands of today you wouldn't have expected to be influenced by The Clash from Oasis, Blur, etc... Read many interviews by artists and musicians that I was surprised were huge fans of The Clash. Another great reaction to one of my all time favorite albums. Thanks again.
Matt Gerken
2025-03-01 18:18:06 +0000 UTCI think Desmond Decker and his ilk coined the rude boy phrase. See Rude Boy Train
Matthew Gladys
2025-03-01 16:59:38 +0000 UTCSo to give you a little more context on the term "rudie", people who are into ska are called "rude boys" or "rude girls". "Rudie" is slang for that. I'm unaware of the exact origin of the term, but this song is what made it popular. So it's possible (though I doubt it) that The Clash coined it.
Ceej Luige
2025-03-01 16:51:10 +0000 UTCLost in the Supermarket is about realizing you're living in a sheltered suburb, where everything is meaningless and indifferent to the rest of the world. The protagonist finds themselves "Lost in the Supermarket" because they realise all the promises of materialism has been empty
Anders Øfsti
2025-03-01 16:38:37 +0000 UTCI think Spanish Bombs are bittersweet, because it's a tribute to the freedom fighters in the Spanish Civil War, trying to fight off the fascists supported by Nazi Germany - and especially the intellectual leftists who volunteered. Artists, musicians and writers all went. Earnst Hemingway was probably the most famous of them all It's a bit sweet too - because at the same time as this song were written, artists had started to get political again. Music wasn't just pop and good feelings like disco was, but had substance, and they obviously was positive to that
Anders Øfsti
2025-03-01 16:15:30 +0000 UTCBefore I even watch the video can I just say that your summation is awesomely written and, in my humble opinion, completely spot on.
Ceej Luige
2025-03-01 16:04:28 +0000 UTCRudie is short for Rude Boy, a criminal subculture in Jamaica that started playing 2tone when they got to England (half of Jamaicans migrated from the country during the 60s, mainly to the UK) The criminal element faded away, but the name stuck for people who played 2tone and ska. They were multicultural and leaders in the anti-racism movement. Their fashion style was black coat, white shoes, black hat, (and they used to drive) Cadillac They're also referenced by The Specials in "A message to you rudie", and by Propagandhi in "Ska Sucks" where they sing "A message to you Rudie/Fuck you Rudie"
Anders Øfsti
2025-03-01 16:03:55 +0000 UTCRudi Can't Fail pretty much started ska punk. They were a _huge_ influence on Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman
Anders Øfsti
2025-03-01 15:52:55 +0000 UTCI'm at the intro now, and I look so much forward to it! I love it when you react to new styles of punk! There are so many different styles in the genre that needs some love
Anders Øfsti
2025-03-01 15:23:21 +0000 UTC
