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Combat Rock

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For the Doctor Who novel, see Combat Rock (novel). For the song by Sleater-Kinney, see One Beat.

Untitled

Combat Rock is the fifth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 14 May 1982 through CBS Records.[2][3] It was the group's last album featuring Mick Jones and Topper Headon.

In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts and peaked at number 7 in the United States, spending 61 weeks on the chart. Combat Rock is the group's best-selling album, being certified 2x platinum in the United States.

Recording and production

Combat Rock was originally planned as a double album with the working title Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg, but the idea was scrapped after internal wrangling within the group. Mick Jones had mixed the first version, but the other members were dissatisfied and mixing/producing duties were handed to Glyn Johns, at which point the album became a single LP. The original mixes were later bootlegged. Out-takes included a Tymon Dogg song, "Once You Know", the recording featured all the band with Tymon Dogg on vocals and violin.

Artwork

Pennie Smith shot the cover photo for Combat Rock on a deserted railway line outside Bangkok while the band were on their Far East tour in 1982.

Following along the same note as Sandinista!, Combat Rock's catalogue number 'FMLN2' is the abbreviation for the El Salvador political party Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional or FMLN.

Release

In January 2000, the album, along with the rest of the Clash's catalogue, was remastered and re-released.

According to author Marcus Gray, the song "Red Angel Dragnet" was inspired by the January 1982 shooting death of Frank Melvin, a New York member of the Guardian Angels.[4][5] The song contains extensive quotes from the 1976 movie Taxi Driver's main character Travis Bickle, delivered by Kosmo Vinyl. Bickle sports a mohawk in the later part of the film and that hairstyle was adopted by Joe Strummer during the album promotion.

The song, "Ghetto Defendant", features beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who performed the song on stage with the band during the New York shows on their tour in support of the album. At the end of the song he can be heard reciting the Heart Sutra, a popular Buddhist mantra. Original U.S. pressings of the album had the full length track "Inoculated City" lasting 2:43. This version contained an unauthorized audio sample from a U.S. television commercial for a toilet bowl cleaner called "2000 Flushes". After the maker of the product complained of copyright infringement the audio sample was removed reducing the track length to 2:11. Approximately 100,000 copies of the first version were pressed with custom-designed record labels. The majority of copies sold had the edited track and were re-issued on the standard dark blue Epic Records label. The full length "Inoculated City" also appeared on the B-side of the US "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" single. Early US CD copies of the album had the edited track. When the album was released as a remastered CD in 2000 the full length track was restored, though no mention of this was included on the CD packaging.[citation needed]

Reception and influence

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Alternative Press[6]
Blender[7]
Punknews.org[8]
Q[9]
Robert ChristgauB+[10]
Rolling Stone[11]

The album received positive reviews from critics, and peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, number 7 on the Billboard Pop albums, and the top ten on many charts in other countries.[12][13][14][15] The United States Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Combat Rock as a Gold album on November 1982, Platinum in January 1983, and Multi-Platinum in June 1995.[16]

In 1999, Q magazine rated Combat Rock three stars out of five, and described the album as "...their biggest seller, but the beginning of the end."[9] In 2000, Alternative Press rated the album three stars out of five, and wrote that "The penultimate Clash album...employing lessons learned in the previous three years....their most commercially rewarded release....containing [their] most poignant song 'Straight To Hell'."[6] CMJ New Music Report ranked Combat Rock at number five on its 2004 list of the Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982.[17] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 80 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".[18] Kurt Cobain listed it in his top fifty albums of all time.[19][20]

Track listing

All tracks are written by The Clash, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Know Your Rights" (Strummer/Jones)Joe Strummer3:39
2."Car Jamming"Joe Strummer3:58
3."Should I Stay or Should I Go"Mick Jones3:06
4."Rock the Casbah"Joe Strummer3:44
5."Red Angel Dragnet"Paul Simonon/Kosmo Vinyl3:48
6."Straight to Hell"Joe Strummer5:30
Side two
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Overpowered by Funk"Joe Strummer/Futura 20004:55
2."Atom Tan"Mick Jones/Joe Strummer2:32
3."Sean Flynn"Joe Strummer4:30
4."Ghetto Defendant"Joe Strummer/Allen Ginsberg4:45
5."Inoculated City" (some copies of the album have an edited version lasting 2:11)Mick Jones2:43
6."Death Is a Star"Joe Strummer/Mick Jones3:13

Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg track list

  1. "The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too" – 3:45
  2. "Kill Time" – 4:58
  3. "Should I Stay or Should I Go" – 3:05
  4. "Rock the Casbah" – 3:47
  5. "Know Your Rights" (extended version) – 5:04
  6. "Red Angel Dragnet" – 6:12
  7. "Ghetto Defendant" – 6:17
  8. "Sean Flynn" – 7:30
  9. "Car Jamming" – 3:53
  10. "Inoculated City" – 4:32
  11. "Death Is a Star" – 2:39
  12. "Walk Evil Talk" – 7:37
  13. "Atom Tan" – 2:45
  14. "Overpowered by Funk" (demo) – 1:59
  15. "Inoculated City" (unedited version) – 2:30
  16. "First Night Back in London" – 2:56
  17. "Cool Confusion" – 3:10
  18. "Straight to Hell" (extended version) – 6:56

Personnel

Additional musicians
Production

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1982 Canadian RPM Albums Chart[21] 12
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[22] 29
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[23] 5
Norwegian Albums Chart.[14] 7
Swedish Albums Chart[15] 9
UK Albums Chart[12] 2
1983 US Billboard Pop albums[13] 7

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[24] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[25] Gold 500,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[26] Gold 50,000^
United States (RIAA)[25] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Sources

  • Gray, Marcus (2005) [1995]. The Clash: Return of the Last Gang in Town (5th revised ed.). London: Helter Skelter. ISBN 1-905139-10-1. OCLC 60668626.

References

  1. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Combat Rock The Clash". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  2. ^ {{cite video It was the last album to Feature Mick Jones and Topper Headon. | people = Letts Don; Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon, Terry Chimes, Rick Elgood, The Clash | date = 2001 | title = The Clash, Westway to the World | medium = Documentary | publisher = Sony Music Entertainment; Dorismo; Uptown Films | location = New York, NY | time = 71:00–75:00 | isbn = 0-7389-0082-6 | oclc = 49798077 }}
  3. ^ Cromelin, Richard (31 January 1988). "Strummer on Man, God, Law and the Clash". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  4. ^ Gray (2005) p. 380
  5. ^ Monday, 18 January 1982 (18 January 1982). "Time Magazine article 18 January 1982 ''Guardian Angels' Growing Pains''". Time.com. Retrieved 3 April 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ a b "10 Essential '80s Albums". Alternative Press: 112. August 2001.
  7. ^ Wolk, Douglas. "Combat Rock". Reviews. Blender. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  8. ^ "The Clash - Combat Rock". Reviews. Punknews.org. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  9. ^ a b "100 Greatest British Albums". Q magazine: 152–153. December 1999. {{cite journal}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |journal= (help)
  10. ^ Christgau, Robert. "The Clash". Consumer Guide. Robert Christgau. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  11. ^ Fricke, David (25 January 2000). "Combat Rock by The Clash". Music Reviews. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  12. ^ a b "UK Chart Archive". everyHit.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  13. ^ a b "The Clash > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  14. ^ a b "Discography The Clash". NorwegianCharts.com. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  15. ^ a b "Discography The Clash". SwedishCharts.com. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  16. ^ "Gold and Platinum: Searchable Database". RIAA. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  17. ^ "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982". CMJ New Music Report: 10. 5 January 2004.
  18. ^ "Best Albums of the 1980s | Music". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  19. ^ "Top 50 by Nirvana [MIXTAPE]". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  20. ^ Cross, Gaar, Gendron, Martens, Yarm (2013). Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-7603-4521-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 36, No. 23, July 17, 1982". RPM. Retrieved 17 February 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Clash – Combat Rock" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  23. ^ "Charts.nz – The Clash – Combat Rock". Hung Medien.
  24. ^ "British album certifications – The Clash – Combat Rock". British Phonographic Industry. 27 July 1982. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Combat Rock in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  25. ^ a b "American album certifications – The Clash – Combat Rock". Recording Industry Association of America. 8 November 1982. Cite error: The named reference "United StatesThe ClashCombat RockalbumCertRef" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  26. ^ "Canadian album certifications – The Clash – Combat Rock". Music Canada. 1 December 1982.

Further reading

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