RIFF RANT
Love Songs for the Masses
Why I Hate That “Should I Stay or Should I Go” is the Clash’s Most Famous Song
“Too many songs have been written about love already, you know? Subject’s covered.” ~Joe Strummer on Tomorrow with Tom Snyder on 5 June 1981
This will be a short rant, but perhaps the most important one that you’ll ever read.
The Clash — The Only Band That Matters.
At one time, that was true. To myself and perhaps some others, it still is true. The Clash’s politicisation of music, when music was descending into the mundanity of a Hotel California, allowed those of us not hooked on cocaine and mirror balls to still have a voice. To survive.
To look into the mirror and know there could be a future. It may be unwritten, but that means it’s for us to write.
I was driving along today to do some errands, and I had my music on random. The next song in the random playlist turned out to be The Clash. Not unusual. I play The Clash a fair bit, right up there with Jason Isbell, Lucero, and The Stooges.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good Clash song. It was Should I Stay or Should I Go. Now, I know many of you will go, “Whooooo, that’s a great tune, dude. Crank it! Let the tunes rawk!” Not me. It breaks my heart that the only Clash song most people know is Should I Stay or Should I Go. It’s a trite love song, especially compared to their greatest songs.
Trite love songs have their place, but usually by trite bands.
Unimportant bands.
Bands that didn’t matter.
Bands that weren’t the voice of a generation.
That helped remake music into a social force for change. For good. For people. And to those of you saying, “They weren’t the voice of my generation,” I say, “I know. Sucks to be you.”
Now, almost 45 years after the release of their first single, I’m old, bald, and fat and The Clash are no more. Many would say they are no longer relevant. Well, they are to me. And they should be to you. No modern music that is easily accessible captures their defiance or their strength or their commitment. Perhaps it exists, but I haven’t seen it. I’ve seen pale imitations, but nothing of equal or higher standing.
To do my part in rectifying this injustice, I’ve created a playlist of some of my favourite Clash songs, beginning with my favourite track — London’s Burning.
Listen. Don’t listen. It’s all up to you. Without you, we’re nothing.
“It’s time to take the humanity back into the centre of the ring and follow that for a time. Greed, it ain’t going anywhere. They should have that in a big billboard across Times Square. Without people, you’re nothing. That’s my spiel.” ~Joe Strummer
And here’s my challenge to Paul Combs, Terry Barr, Patrick Metzger, et al. — give us a short #RiffRant to tell rant about something that pisses you off in music. Perhaps Paul Combs will pick why Born in the U.S.A. isn’t Springsteen’s magnus opus.
Paul Mansfield is a writer, a photographer, a guitar player, a philosopher — some he does well, some not so well, but he still tries them all. You can follow him on Twitter @pmansfield.
Here is another of his stories on music.
