Line #175 Music/LondonCalling


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/london_calling_6164.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"London calling, at the top of the dial\
3	And after all this, won't you give me a smile?"'']]
4
5	''London Calling'' is the third studio album by Music/TheClash, released in late 1979. It is arguably their most popular and most critically acclaimed album, and it established the band as one of the most diverse and talented PostPunk artists in the world. The songs drew from styles as diverse as {{Jazz}}, {{Ska}}, and {{Rockabilly}}, the latter of which led to the font of the album cover to be similar to Music/ElvisPresley's [[Music/ElvisPresleyTheAlbum debut]].
6
7	The band began to take the recording sessions pretty seriously, and would spend long hours in the studio working on each track. Motivated to remain true to a PunkRock aesthetic while branching out toward newer styles, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones drew from more personal accounts and dynamic musicality rather than the signature [[ProtestSong protest songs]] with which they had been associated. While maintaining solid political stances in songs such as "London Calling" and "Spanish Bombs", the band spoke out against consumerism and homogeneity in songs such as "Death or Glory" and "Clampdown". ''London Calling'' both [[TropeCodifier codified]] the trajectory of TheSeventies Punk movement and also [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece displayed the genre's mainstream accessibility]].
8
9	The result effectively demonstrated The Clash's ability to [[EvolvingMusic evolve rapidly and successfully]]. ''London Calling'' is the subject of the book ''[[http://www.marcusgray.co.uk/clash/ Route 19 Revisited: The Clash and the Making of London Calling]]'' by Marcus Gray, who exhaustively compiled interviews and information about the record in order to provide a new appreciation for The Clash and its work.
10
11	----
12	!! Tracklist:
13
14	[[foldercontrol]]
15	[[folder:The original 1979 double-LP]]
16	!!!LP One
17	[[AC:Side One]]
18	# "London Calling" (3:19)
19	# "Brand New Cadillac" (2:09)
20	# "Jimmy Jazz" (3:52)
21	# "Hateful" (2:45)
22	# "Rudie Can't Fail" (3:26)
23
24	[[AC:Side Two]]
25	# "Spanish Bombs" (3:19)
26	# "The Right Profile" (3:56)
27	# "Lost In The Supermarket" (3:47)
28	# "Clampdown" (3:49)
29	# "The Guns Of Brixton" (3:07)
30
31	!!!LP Two
32	[[AC:Side Three]]
33	# "Wrong 'Em Boyo" (3:10)
34	# "Death Or Glory" (3:55)
35	# "Koka Kola" (1:46)
36	# "The Card Cheat" (3:51)
37
38	[[AC:Side Four]]
39	# "Lover's Rock" (4:01)
40	# "Four Horsemen" (2:56)
41	# "I'm Not Down" (3:00)
42	# "Revolution Rock" (5:37)
43	# "Train In Vain" (3:09)
44
45	[-Note: CD releases are on a single disc.-]
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Bonus Tracks (The Vanilla Tapes):]]
49	# "Hateful"
50	# "Rudie Can't Fail"
51	# "Paul's Tune"
52	# "I'm Not Down"
53	# "Four Horsemen"
54	# "Koka Kola, Advertising And Cocaine"
55	# "Death Or Glory"
56	# "Lover's Rock"
57	# "Lonesome Me"
58	# "The Police Walked In 4 Jazz"
59	# "Lost In The Supermarket"
60	# "Up-Toon"
61	# "Walking The Slidewalk"
62	# "Where You Gonna Go (Soweto)"
63	# "The Man In Me"
64	# "Remote Control"
65	# "Working And Waiting"
66	# "Heart And Mind"
67	# "Brand New Cadillac"
68	# "London Calling"
69	# "Revolution Rock"
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	----
73	!!Principal Members:
74
75	* Topper Headon - drums, percussion
76	* Mick Jones - guitar, lead vocals, piano, harmonica
77	* Paul Simonon - bass, backing and lead vocals
78	* Joe Strummer - lead vocals, guitar, piano
79	* Guy Stevens - RecordProducer
80	----
81	!!London is troping and I, I live by the river!:
82	* AdvertOverloadedFuture: Consumerism is criticized in numerous tracks on this album, especially in "Lost in the Supermarket", which criticizes the proliferation of products into daily life.
83	* AlliterativeTitle: "'''J'''immy '''J'''azz", "'''K'''oka '''K'''ola".
84	* AntiLoveSong: "Train in Vain".
85	--> ''Did you stand by me?\
86	No, not at all\
87	Did you stand by me?\
88	No way''
89	* AntiPoliceSong: "Guns Of Brixton".
90	--> ''When the law breaks in\
91	How you gonna go?\
92	Shot down on the pavement\
93	Or waiting on death row?''
94	* ApocalypseHow: London floods in "London Calling" as a result of a nuclear error.
95	* AsTheGoodBookSays: "Four Horsemen" is about the Apocalypse, as referred to in Literature/TheBible.
96	* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis[=/=]GrowingUpSucks: Young people abandon their old passion and "Death Or Glory" becomes just another story -- a rebel who sleeps with nuns eventually joining the church or a pacifist growing up to become a child abuser. Coming from a PunkRock band branching into several styles at once, it could be read as a pre-emptive defence against accusations of selling out.
97	* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou: Or as the Clash put it, [[https://youtu.be/q6VFYLBGF8g "you're working for the clampdown!"]]
98	* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Subverted, since the album does make reference to the simple OopNorth folk and the lower-class, as well as consumerism.
99	* CoverVersion: "Brand New Cadillac", by '50s rockers Vince Taylor and His Playboys, "Wrong 'Em Boyo" by The Rulers, "Revolution Rock" by Danny Ray and the Revolutionaries. "Wrong 'Em Boyo" also opens with a couple of verses of the traditional "Stagger Lee".
100	* DoNotGoGentle: "The Guns Of Brixton"
101	--> ''When they kick down your front door, how you gonna come\
102	With your hands on your head or on the trigger of your gun?''
103	** One could consider the whole album an example of DoNotGoGentle, as the WorkingTitle was ''Last Dispatches''.
104	* DrunkWithPower: Mentioned in "Four Horsemen":
105	--> ''Well they gave us everything for bending the mind\
106	And we cleaned out their pockets and we drank 'em blind\
107	It's a long way to the finish so don't get left behind by those horsemen''
108	* EasterEgg: Alongside the usual [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_number matrix number]], the double LP had a message etched into the run-out grooves one word at a time: "TEAR... DOWN... THE... WALLS!"
109	* ElSpanishO: In his ad-lib at the end of "Revolution Rock" Strummer refers to the band as El Clash Combo.
110	* FakeOutOpening: "Wrong 'Em Boyo" starts off with a verse of the traditional song "Stagger Lee" before stopping and restarting with the real song (though the story of Stagger Lee and Billy gets a CallBack later in the song).
111	* GenreBusting: Whether or not ''London Calling'' should be considered a PunkRock record remains up for debate given the heavy jazz and reggae elements. It's even sometimes called the GenrePopularizer for PostPunk.
112	* GenreMashup: The album might be the most literal example, with all kinds of stylistic variations. The Neoclassical influences could be in "Lost in the Supermarket", the Zydeco (African) styles in "Revolution Rock" (which even features Strummer saying at the end, "''Bongo jams are our speciality!''"), the band is obviously {{Punk}}, and the {{Rockabilly}} styles from "Brand New Cadillac" (as well as the aforementioned ShoutOut to Music/ElvisPresley on the cover).
113	* GratuitousPanning: The horns on "Revolution Rock" start jumping stereo channels toward the end of the song.
114	* GratuitousSpanish: "''Yo te quiera infinito, yo te quiera, oh mi corazón''" (roughly translatable as "I love you forever, I love you, oh my heart"), from "Spanish Bombs".
115	* TheGreatFlood: London is flooding in "London Calling".
116	* HairOfTheDog: In "Rudie Can't Fail", the titular character has been "drinking brew for breakfast."
117	* HeavyMeta: "Four Horsemen" could be a reference to how the band is portrayed in the media as being prophetic about certain issues such as race, status, etc. In reality, the band is really taking all these people's money and laughing their way to the bank, though it's PlayedForLaughs.
118	* HiddenTrack: An accidental one with "Train in Vain", which was meant to be released as a promo for ''Magazine/{{NME}}'' magazine. When that fell through, they quickly added it to ''London Calling'' after the packaging had already been printed. As a result, "Train in Vain" wasn't listed on the album cover, instead being quietly namedropped in the runout groove on side four. This didn't stop it from becoming one of the band's best-known songs.
119	* HorribleHollywood: "The Right Profile" is about actor Creator/MontgomeryClift, who spiraled into addiction and alcoholism after being disfigured in a car crash.
120	* ImmediateSelfContradiction: The odd line in "London Calling":
121	--> ''A nuclear error, but I have no fear\
122	Cause London is drowning and I, I live by the river!''
123	** Could be interpreted as the narrator not being concerned with a faraway concern (the Three Mile Island disaster), and more concerned with what's closer by (London is drowning).
124	* IsntItIronic: The apocalyptic anthem "London Calling" by The Clash being used to hawk Jaguars.
125	* LocationSong: "London Calling", where the band imagines London flooding. "The Guns Of Brixton" takes place in Brixton, an outskirt of London, where the band imagines a revolution taking place.
126	* LongestSongGoesLast: "Revolution Rock" was intended to be this. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted,]] however, because of the last-minute inclusion of "Train in Vain."
127	* LyricalDissonance: The album has several examples.
128	** "Death Or Glory" is an upbeat little number about, uh, how even the toughest rebels [[TheManIsStickingItToTheMan eventually sell out]].
129	** Is there a jollier-sounding song about hardcore drug addiction than "Hateful"?
130	** "Lost in the Supermarket" stands out in particular -- a very poppy and catchy disco melody that goes with arguably the most introspective and depressingly direct lyrics within the band's catalogue.
131	** Almost any time "London Calling" is used on TV -- especially in advertising -- it's likely to be this.
132	* ManChild: The titular character in "Rudie Can't Fail" is chided for his immature behavior by his neighbors.
133	* MinisculeRocking: "Koka Kola" is under two minutes.
134	* MoralityBallad: "The Card Cheat" and "Wrong 'Em Boyo" returns to the oft-mentioned idea of cheating for no point.
135	--> ''(Don't you know it is wrong?)\
136	To cheat the trying man\
137	(Don't you know it is wrong?)\
138	To cheat the trying man\
139	So you better stop\
140	It is the wrong 'em boyo''
141	* MusicIsPolitics: The band pokes fun at this concept in tracks such as "Revolution Rock" and "Spanish Bombs"; both songs draw attention to the respective issues while [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructing]] the band's actual role in the politics of the time.
142	* ANuclearError: The TropeNamer, due to its occurrence in "London Calling".
143	* OneWordTitle: "Hateful".
144	* PepTalkSong: "I'm Not Down":
145	--> ''Well, I've been beat up\
146	I've been thrown out\
147	But I'm not down, no, I'm not down''
148	* PrecisionFStrike: In the second verse of "Death or Glory".
149	* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: The band's embrace of reggae on this album can come across this way, though of course they were just continuing a thread dating all the way back to the CoverVersion of Junior Murvin's Jamaican hit "Police & Thieves" on their [[Music/TheClashAlbum debut album]].
150	* ProductPlacement: "Brand New Cadillac" and "Koka Kola", both of which were meant to be ironic, even though [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint Cadillac didn't feel that way and even used the song in a commercial later]].
151	* RatedGForGangsta: "Death or Glory" says that "He who fucks nuns will later join the church."
152	* RockersSmashGuitars: Paul Simonon smashes his bass on the album cover. He revealed in 2011 that he had done so after bouncers refused to let audience members out of their seats at a concert.
153	* ShoutOut:
154	** The typographic design on the album cover is a shout-out to Music/ElvisPresley's self-titled [[Music/ElvisPresleyTheAlbum debut album]] from 1956.
155	** "The Right Profile" is about the life of actor Creator/MontgomeryClift.
156	** "Train In Vain" shouts out Music/RobertJohnson in the title and Ben E. King in the chorus.
157	** "The Guns of Brixton" makes reference to ''Film/TheHarderTheyCome'' which stars reggae singer and Clash influence Jimmy Cliff. Cliff later did a CoverVersion.
158	---> ''You see, he feels like Ivan\
159	Born under the Brixton sun\
160	His game is called survivin'\
161	At the end of "The Harder They Come"''
162	** The first verse of "Death or Glory" references Harry Powell's "love" and "hate" KnuckleTattoos from ''Film/TheNightOfTheHunter''.
163	* UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar: The song "Spanish Bombs" was dedicated to the Republican side of the conflict.
164	* StepfordConsumer: "Lost in the Supermarket", where the consumer feels depressed about buying items which don't reflect his personality:
165	--> ''The kids in halls and the pipes in the walls\
166	Making noises for company\
167	Long distance callers make long distance calls\
168	And the silence makes me lonely''
169	* AStormIsComing: "London Calling".
170	-->''London calling to the faraway towns\
171	Now war is declared, and battle come down\
172	London calling to the underworld\
173	Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls''
174	* TakeThat: "London Calling" has the line "Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust", which has been taken as referring to either the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatlemania_(musical) Beatlemania]]'' musical, whose Broadway run ended around the same time the album was recorded, or to Music/{{Wings}}, implying that it was Music/PaulMcCartney's failed attempt to remain as popular as he was with Music/TheBeatles. However, this later became a bit awkward after Music/JohnLennon was shot and killed the following year.
175	* {{Yuppie}}: An UnbuiltTrope at the time, but "Koka Kola", about cocaine-addicted corporate hotshots, shows that the archetype was starting to recognizably emerge by 1979.

Context Music / LondonCalling