London Calling — The Clash
The Greatest Album Ever
In the punk days, double albums were as rare as hen’s teeth — and for very good reason. The only bands at that time who produced double albums were hoary old rockers like The Eagles or Genesis. They were generally considered the most rockist thing on the planet, and let’s be honest — being branded rockist was tantamount to being cast into the seventh level of hell. Unthinkable. Utterly beyond the pale. Never trust a rockist.
So, in 1979, in the wake of the firing of Bernie Rhodes — their manager of 3 years — the Clash were at an impasse. They had no new songs and no rehearsal rooms. Their last record had been a cover version (“I Fought The Law”) and a damn good one at that, but new material was, as they say, ‘contractually obliged’, and their main songwriters, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, were suffering burnout after an extended US tour and unable to write anything useful.
Two of their roadies found them a new rehearsal room in London, the Vanilla Studios. It was time to make a plan. The band got together and decided to ban fans from the rehearsal rooms so they could work without extra pressure.
This was an unusual move for a band as open and democratic as The Clash, but they felt that to work they needed a safe place to be creative in. So, fans were out. They also decided to stick…
