The Clash @visionscollage (PHOTO CREDIT: Ebet Roberts)

While my Spotify Wrapped said my Top Artist of 2020 was Rockabye Baby! (we have a 5-month-old son!) but I would beg to differ... it was The Clash. Since first discovering Punk/Classic Rock around age 15-16, The Clash have been one of my personal favorite bands and I've only become more of a fan the older I get. The Clash always just seemed to "get" it, they were unique enough, approachable enough, progressive enough, political enough, and without a doubt, cool enough! It seems like in uncertain times such as these, which we've all experienced again and again throughout 2020, The Clash have only grown more poignant and more essential to my own personal stability. Here at The Witzard, we've had a number of cohorts and close "online" friends of ours assembled Punk-minded playlists, a few of which, primarily focused on The Clash; these including, but not limited to, Spotify playlists curated by John Yates, Nate Patrin, Steve Haney, Dan LeRoy, Joe Strummer London Marathon photographer Steve Rapport, and Ben Merlis.


The Clash's classic line-up is often widely regarded as including Joe Strummer on vocals and guitar, Mick Jones, also, on vocals and guitar, Paul Simonon on bass, and Nicky "Topper" Headon on drums; said line-up recorded and released their five most successful and beloved albums The Clash—some versions, additionally, feature then-drummer "Tory "Terry Chimes" Crimes, as well—Give 'em Enough Rope, London Calling, SANDINISTA!, and Combat Rock. The Clash's sixth and final album, 1985's Cut The Crap, featured an alternate line-up of the band often regarded as The Clash, Round Two or The Clash Mark II prior to the untimely dissolution the following year. I think, I'd have to say my personal favorite Clash album is Combat Rock (1982) primarily because of "Rock The Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go," both of which I've loved and thoroughly enjoyed ever since first hearing them on the radio as an angsty young pre-teen.

However, as of late, the most talked about Clash album is likely their sprawling 36-track 3xLP magnum opus, SANDINISTA!, which celebrated its 40th anniversay last week, as it was originally released unto the terribly unsuspecting world on December 12, 1980. Coincidentally, its predecessor and, arguably, The Clash's most successful and highly revered album, London Calling, turned 41 just yesterday. SANDINISTA! boasts brazen attempts at a vast multitude of style The Clash had never previously dabbled in, including Punk, Reggae, Dub, R&B, Hip-Hop, Calypso, Gospel, Disco, and much, much more. However, one of the most commercially well-received moments from SANDINISTA! would easily have to be "The Magnificent Seven" and its companion B-side/Dance remix, "The Magnificent Dance."


It's one of two tracks across the expansive album wherein The Clash dip their toe in the then-extremely new genre of Hip-Hop/Rap. In fact, "The Magnificent Seven," actually, represents the first attempt by a Punk/Rock band to write and perform original Rap music, and one of the earliest examples of Hip-Hop records with political and social content. It's the first major White Rap record, predating the recording of Blondie's "Rapture" by some six months. The Clash stated they were largely inspired by Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five and The Sugar Hill Gang, who, Joe Strummer proclaimed, "were radically changing music and they changed everything for us." Around the same time, Mick "Whack Attack" Jones started carrying around a graffiti'ed boombox spray painted by artist Leonard Hilton McGurr, then known as Futura 2000, which, I believe, you can see within the image above.


So, in celebration of SANDINISTA!'s 40th anniversary, The Clash affiliate, esteemed videographer, and Big Audio Dynamite co-founder Don Letts was enlisted to help create an official music video for "The Magnificent Seven." It incorporates footage of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon & Topper Headon performing "The Magnificent Seven" live on late night talk show The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder interspliced amidst previously unseen footage of the group in and around New York and during their legendary 17-night residency at Bond's International Casino near Times Square. Director Don Letts explains, "They were always ahead of the game—SANDINISTA! signposted the multi-cultural way music was going and the elements that make The Clash great are still a currency that's recognized by youth in The 21st Century." Re-mastered versions of both The Clash's SANDINISTA! & London Calling are currently available on streaming services, as well as across vinyl formats at your favorite brick-and-mortar record store.