This is Radio Clash

Of all the gangs that meet in the caffs The Clash is one of the biggest gangs around. They call themselves, ‘The Last Gang in Town’. I’m not sure about that but here in the nooks and crannies of London – like Bowie – they are omnipresent.
I love The Clash. From the moment I bought their first single to the thrill of picking up their eponymous debut album in Debenhams record department in Wigan. The wonderful cover and then the intro with the drums of ‘Janie Jones’ and wow! On the dancefloor at the Bier Keller – in King Street, Wigan – dancing to the sounds of ‘Police and Thieves’, the slow-burn magnificence of the ‘Give ’em Enough Rope’ album and mad gigs at Eric’s in Liverpool. Then of course there is the single ‘White Man in Hammersmith Palais’ that embodied the groove, the sounds, the smells and the feelings I had all those years ago listening to the sounds of Trojan Records. It’s a monster of a record and by the time their third album ‘London Calling’ was released I’d moved to the city in the title and – while of course it’s a magnificent album – it all began to make sense. Then as I got to know more and more people in London it clicked.
The city of London runs through the veins of The Clash and The Clash permeates the city. They have put down landmarks north and south of the Thames and you are never more than a few yards from a moment in The Clash’s history. But it is their music that showcases the city. All the influences are there from Strummer’s pub rock roots through to Jones’ Mott-fixation and Simonon’s love of reggae. They are a West London band that appeal to all and now they are mixing funk and hip-hop to the sound, the sound of the streets, the sounds of the city and not those of the suburbs: For it is on those streets where that loyal support comes from. The kids from the back streets of Camden Town, the tower blocks that stride the Westway and those that thronged to Victoria Park from their balconies in 1978 when they and The Clash kicked the Nazis out of town.
The lads from the estates along with the rockers and rockabillies, the punks and the proletariat all on Radio Clash… on pirate satellite!
#FLD2014