Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Clemenza
Despite their leftist politics, London Calling and The Clash are two albums that I never get tired of playing.

No argument there. But I'd point out that the Clash wasn't so much leftist as anti-authoritarian. Their lyrics also included the lines

"If you find an Afghan rebel that the Moscow bullets missed
Ask him what he thinks of voting communist:
Ask the Dalai Lama in the hills of Tibet
How many monks did the Chinese get?"

144 posted on 09/16/2004 10:28:20 AM PDT by Heyworth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies ]


To: Heyworth
There is a 32 page (I think) essay on the Clash in Lester Bangs' Psychotic Reaction and Carburator Dung.

Lester travelled with the Clash to write an extended article for NME I believe.

He tried to talk politics (Marxism/socialism) with the Clash and their fans but neither group seemed interested (and Lester even says that the fans are not attracted to the band because of any political content in the songs).

149 posted on 09/16/2004 11:37:17 AM PDT by weegee (What's the provenance, Kenneth? Where did the forged SeeBS memo come from?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 144 | View Replies ]

To: Heyworth

Good example, good song too ("Washington Bullets"). I read in "The Last Gang in Town" that Strummer wanted to provide a little balance to all the criticism of the US on "Sandanista!" so he came up with those lyrics. Their infatuation with the Sandys was based more on a liking for the fact that they toppled a horrible dictatorship than on love for Ortega, though I wonder if they ever regretted being such obvious supporters (FSLN bandanas and the like). Again, "The Last Gang in Town" (great Clash bio) points out that naming their album Sandanista and all the pro-FSLN stuff was more symbolic than explicit approval of the Sandys per se. Still, as PJ O'Rourke said about the Sandys and the fact that they did get rid of the awful Somoza, "It's one thing to burn down the shithouse and another to install plumbing." I also read on FR that Strummer made some comments saying that Islamic fundamentalism was a threat to freedom or something of the like.


159 posted on 09/16/2004 3:34:45 PM PDT by drew (fear of a liberal planet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 144 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson