The Magnificent Seven

The Clash

One summer afternoon in my late teens, I was killing free time in a record store and they had SANDINISTA! spinning on vinyl — blasting from a great sound system. Almost on cue, they seemed to be spinning side one, track one for me.

And this song — I’ll remember that moment forever — made me feel like I was hearing this band for the very first time. The only band that ever mattered.

I’m still confused why this three record opus gets lost in the shuffle. At the time I was pretty fixated on LONDON CALLING and COMBAT ROCK and it seems the rest of the world was too.

But SANDINISTA! are the Clash LP’s I turn to most often. It’s funky, poppy and ambitious in equal parts — sprawling is an understatement, because these songs touch so many genres and influences. And it actually feels more like The Clash than their s/t debut, because you finally feel Mick Jones spreading his wings. He had already written most of their music — but making all these styles work together was his gift in the studio. And it’s a gift he took with him to Big Audio Dynamite. His absence is the only reason why the final Clash record CUT THE CRAP flounders, because Jones would’ve made those dreaded drum machines work.

When we were in post on CALVIN MARSHALL, I wanted to use THE SOUND OF SINNERS in the final tryout montage. It turns out they wanted six figures minimum — one of the reasons you rarely hear the Clash in film and television. It’s a stance I hope they continue, actually because I don’t want to hear this all-time killer bass line and those beautiful Joe Strummer, rapper’s delight vocals in a bad TV commercial. And that chorus?

You lot!
What?
Don’t stop, give it all you got

Meaningful, fresh, cool. Perfection. The only time I want to hear this song is when I play side one. Another great time capsule video too — what a band.