So Right Punk: London Calling

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I just saw a great post from my musical partner in crime @JohnRoberts about Nina Hagen doing Paul Anka's composition "My Way," famously by Sinatra or Elvis. He called it "So Wrong Punk." To me, here's some punk that's "so right. "London Calling" by the Clash. Billed as "the only band that matters" by a publicist, they were, to me, the best punk band. They weren't just angry young men (although there was plenty of that in their songs). They combined many musical styles (listen to the downright pop sound of "Hitsville UK," which, of course, drives home the lyrics more with the deceptive music), including reggae and hip-hop years before it became popular (listen to "The Magnificent Seven," the song that opens Sandinista!). London Calling is one of my all-time favorite albums, by any act, in any genre. I think it was #10 or #9 on the Rolling Stone list of 500 greatest albums (not that that matters, given how they praised Warren Zevon to high heaven then didn't put a single album of his on the list, yet put a number of albums that they trashed when they originally were released...but that's for another time, because Rolling Stone really hasn't been musically relevant for a good 30 years, maybe longer). The opening song is a great way to start the journey that storms through a number of topics, from war ("Spanish Bombs") to the economy ("Lost in the Supermarket"). Here's "London Calling" by the Clash: