Walrus 11thish (Pauwl's) - Reveal Thread

In 6th place with 9 points

The Clash - Straight to Hell

"Description/explanation. I guess you could make an argument for putting a less known artist here, but for me at least it will be a sort of pandering by itself. The Clash are my favorite band of all time. Somehow, while obviously well-known, they are still somewhat underrated. In a period of 5 years they produced an insane variety of classics. Not gonna go full ‘behind the music’ here, but The Clash, to me, were half Joe Strummer and half Mick Jones. Strummer was my history teacher growing up. I didn’t need him to be an angry leftist, but I used him to be an informed one. He was my wikipedia in a time and place where information wasn’t as attainable as now. He was all heart too. This ain’t no Bob Dylan smart-assing politics.
But Clash were far more than the lyrics. and they were far more than Punk as well. So if Joe was my history teacher, Mick was my art instructor. Going from making the best Punk album of all time to releasing the best rock/post-punk/anything album with London Calling. To celebrate, they flew to NY and he casually drops a hip-hop song in 1980 that can rival anything out of NYC at the time (The Magnificent Seven). Just now I realize how much I copied his music journey without really noticing.

“Straight to Hell”, the song I’ve chosen, is also the end of The Clash. Mick was way more into reggae and hip-hop, Joe was ego tripping. It was over. The timing makes this song even greater imo, as it’s not so ironically symbols where the band was going.

The song probably became a whole lot famous thanks to MIA’s Paper Planes, which is fitting as they are both about immigration. To me it’s political poetry at it’s finest. It also taught me stuff I never knew (abandoned American kids in Vietnam after the war) and no one other than Joe seemed to care about. The haunting way Joe says ‘It’s not Coca-Cola, it’s rice’ stuck with me from the very first listen as a teenager.

As railhead towns feel the steel mills rust
Water froze in the generation
Clear as winter ice
This is your paradise"

Review

I hear a really faint melody that sounds like “kung fu fighting” in places. Did they sample that? The more I listened to this, the more I liked it. The lyrics are vicious. A wag of the finger x 100. This gets the bawling-out bump. Great write up too. Good stuff.

6 Likes

Somebody already claimed it but I did remember you saying you went with a smaller band after I speculated it might have been yours.

lol the write up seems even more out-of-place now. I thought you guys gonna write essays too :frowning:

It does not sample kung fu fighting.

The song has a distinctive drum beat. “You couldn’t play rock ‘n’ roll to it. Basically it’s a Bossa Nova.” said Topper Headon. Joe Strummer has said "Just before the take, Topper said to me “I want you to play this” and he handed me an R Whites lemonade bottle in a towel. He said “I want you to beat the bass drum”

5 Likes

I love that write up. And I love the Clash, too.

I like reading about why people like the things they like.

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In 5th place with 10 points

The Clash - White Man in Hammersmith Palais

"I love the Clash. They influenced my worldview in a way that is impossible to exaggerate. Everything about the Clash was political and because of them I became intensely political from an early age - they made me think about and want to learn about issues both personal, national and from around the world, .

Strummer especially, opened my eyes to the world of ideas and ears to the world of music.
They were labelled a punk band but their musical reach was extraordinary. Rockabilly Reggae Jazz Calypso Dub Hip Hop Gospel -There was nothing they didn’t use. My love of reggae and dub comes straight from them
It was hard to chose a song, but I settled on this one. Toppers drumming was never better -Simonon had his bass lines sorted and Strummer’s vocal performance is scorching.

oh and they always looked great…

and they were the best live band I ever saw"

Review

Holy shit! The lyrics to this are quite the tongue lashing. I’m mostly only familiar with their more well known tracks I guess. This is hot fire!

White youth, black youth

Better find another solution

Why not phone up Robin Hood

And ask him for some wealth distribution

Punk rockers in the UK

They won’t notice anyway

They’re all too busy fighting

For a good place under the lighting

If Adolf Hitler flew in today

They’d send a limousine anyway

As with the other Clash song, this gets the spit-venom bump.

7 Likes

Wow. Back-to-back from The Clash

1 Like

I love it.

(neither of these are mine, but I love the Clash!)

If the other 4 songs are also Clash songs I’ll be happy with my 6th place.

White Man in Hammersmith Palais is one of my favorites too. Great write-up, but I will still fight for Mick Jones recognition when it comes to the musical style of The Clash.

3 Likes

Heartfelt Clash write-ups’r’us

Should have been positions 1 & 2 obviously, unless there are any more Clash traks to drop

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I saw them at the Hammersmith Palais, and they played that great song, introduced with “huh, this is ironic”.

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In 4th place with 11 points

Echo & The Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses

"I was 10 when this came out, and I was just starting to break out from behind my parents’ tastes, musically. Luckily I grew up with access to one of the top modern/alt rock stations in the country (97X BAM! The Future of Rock n’ Roll) and I heard bands like this as much or more often than mainstream stuff like GNR or Bon Jovi. So while other 80’s kids were rocking the big hair and jamming to Def Leppard, I was listening to Joy Division/New Order, U2 when they were edgy and good, PIL, X, Ultravox, Roxy Music, Siousxie and the Banshees, Ministry, etc.

I don’t think there’s any way I could present something from any of my top bands that would be new to you, and I’m sure you’ve already guessed who is submitting this. I contemplating shuffling thru my playlist and finding a B-side or something less popular by EATB, but I realized all that effort would probably be as futile as taming Ian McCulloch’s ego. While as an adult I like some of their other stuff better, this is the song that got me hooked on EATB and thus holds a special place in my heart. The Will Sergeant signature guitar sound stands out, and the lyrics are just weird enough to give you an idea about their other work."

Review

Real Time Initial Review: I remember they played here. I found a video of them playing this song in my city in 2017 and I don’t remember if I was there or not. It’s possible the video I watched has the back of my head in it. Checked my phone for pics. No I didn’t go. I remember I had a bunch of concerts in a row and passed on that one. Such a fool.

I was born in the early 80’s. I think my first cassette was in kindergarten and it was Hysteria. Then I got every Def Leppard album from about grade 1 to grade 3 and later got huge into GNR around grade 3/4. Loved the Young Guns 2 soundtrack by Bon Jovi. I was a hair metal skid in elementary. Slaughter, Skid Row, Warrant then later Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax around grade 5/6. I didn’t get alternative radio until the early '90s. So I missed a ton of good music in the 80’s so that’s why I’m into it now.

2 Likes

oh, just missed podium.

Still, off to a good start. (Also, true confession time: I also liked Def Leppard, just not as much as a lot of my peers, lol)

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Kinda cool how similar the notions in our write ups are. Made me feel better about losing to what I assume is going to be Madonna.

Straight up hip-hop fire in 1981:

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Madonna will only stand on spot:

Le podium!

image

Après une pause…

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I was very close to choosing the Magnificent seven.

All my other choices in this Walrus suffered as I have been playing the clash non stop for the last week

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Nice choice! Very much in my wheelhouse. I’ve heard of this band but can’t say I’ve ever actually heard their music since they are a little before my time.

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You’ve probably heard their only radio “hit”

Or if you saw Donnie Darko (not the director’s cut) you’ve heard what their lead singer calls “The greatest song ever written”

Before I reveal this next one. I’ll humble brag that I used to be a hardcore electric blues guitarist and practiced 8+ hrs a day at one point in my life.

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The killing moon is a really well known song here at least.

1 Like