Good morning and how is it then? I’m wondering just what life would be like (and what was it like before) coffee? I don’t know if it’s the smell, the taste or the caffeine but I’m not getting out of bed until it kicks in today. Better yet I don’t need to, as this post writes itself which is how a Saturday morning post should be. Just turn up your speakers, sit back and click and I can promise you nothing but goodness.

Best cover versions of all time? That’s a list I would have a lot of fun with but I know for certain that The Clash would have half a dozen songs that would make my own top fifty. Rarely has there been a band who would take a song, fill it with a thousand volts of power and make it sound like the original artist was just chaperoning it until The Clash could rip it up and create the definitive version. That’s no exaggeration either. There are Clash songs that people are surprised to learn were written by others, not learned readers such as yourselves of course but your more casual listener. Our goal – to convert those casual listeners to the more dedicated variety.

Topper Headon - image the exclusive rights of Bob Gruen http://www.bobgruen.com/

You’ll hopefully remember from the past on the blog that those rock band games do actually serve one purpose beyond the obvious one of you not needing to personally spend time with your children. Some clever wag has been taking The Clash songs on the game and stripping them down to their composite parts of vocals, guitar, bass and drums. So far we’ve seen the method applied to Complete Control and London Calling to brilliant effect and now a third (are there more?) song has had ‘the treatment’. It just happens to be a cover version and features some of the greatest drumming ever committed to a recording studio which is why I’ll make the kickoff video be Topper’s treatment of the 1959 classic. To save space on the blog I’ve decided to just give you the direct links to the vocals, guitar (brilliant) and bass here. Green Day’s version? Come on…it’s not even close. I hope this chap continues to strip the songs down as it provides simple but effective pleasure and really lets you deeper inside songs that we’re already familiar with. After about a decade I’m still a hopeless guitarist so perhaps it’s time go get that drum kit….or not. That’s all for now, I hope your weekend is full of fire and commitment. Remember that you can keep current via Facebook, Twitter get the RSS feed for the blog or email me and as ever I appreciate you sharing the blog wherever you can.

I Fought The Law – Drums (isolated)

Yes, yes, I’m here. What did you manage today? I hope something worthwhile? Thanks for dropping in to the blog, I’ve just got time for a quick update as I’m distracted by the wonderful noise of the the pouring rain outside, it doesn’t happen often round here so when it does you tend to open the doors and windows and simply listen to it. (written last night, normal solar service resumed)

In England we called them badges, in the States they seem to be called buttons (why?) or pins. I’d love to know what the correct term is in French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Italian and the myriad of other tongues you readers consider your first language. I’m also curious as to whether music badges or your favourite slogan (I wore ‘Fuck Art Let’s Dance’ quite proudly for ages) were quite such a big deal when you were growing up?

I wish someone had tapped me on the shoulder when I was about 14 or 15 and told me to hold onto every badge, concert ticket stub, magazine and t-shirt that I owned as a young music nut (as if I need more crap), but I’d love to still have all the ticket stubs and badges at the very least. I’ve got perhaps a third of my earliest concert tickets but for some reason I’ve not got one single badge to my name. I think I had about a dozen Clash badges plus The Jam, XTC, The Specials, Madness, UB40 (they were good at first), Buzzcocks, and so many more. What happened to them all? At what juncture in my life did I leave them all in a drawer with the promise I’d come and pick them up at a later date? I don’t need them now although I’d still wear one from time to time but I wish I had them to look at still. It seems that if you did hold on to your band badges from the 70′s and 80′s that you might want to ask yourself if selling them on ebay is worth your time? Not The Clash ones of course but as you can see from this link (Guns on The Roof – original $29) and this one too (a pretty naff London Calling one which I did own) you can make a fair amount of cash out of them. I even wished I kept my dodgier badges (Ultravox anyone?) as I’d surely sell them to someone who wanted them as badly as I’d like to have my original Clash ones. There’s also a fairly vibrant reissue market for some of these badges which makes them quite affordable, again just have a look on ebay as most of the sellers seem to be in the UK. Better still if you have your own 14 year old lazing around the house right now, go and order a few badges so that the next time they go off to see Arcade Fire or Bon Iver they can cause a distraction with a Clash badge or two.

Did you keep yours? Did you collect them too? Stories below I hope.

Well hello again, cheers for finding your way back to the blog or indeed coming by for the first time. I’ll try and make it worthwhile but you’ve caught me on a Monday so expect some tension. Modest apologies for yesterday’s post which I realise wasn’t very related to The Clash but I also know from interviews how much affection the band and especially Joe held for New York so writing about the city on such a sombre anniversary seemed to be a reasonable idea. One of these days I’ll get back to New York myself but I don’t think I’m ready just yet. Come to think of it Joe, Mick and Topper (Paul was off in British Columbia filming) for much of 1980, taking into account touring they spent more time in Manhattan than London that year.

Anyway, I’ve got time for a few updates and then must get back to work I suppose so let’s get cracking. My final reference to 9/11 comes from this interesting piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer from an interview they conducted with Joe Strummer after the mental events in New York a decade ago. I’d never read it before but I found Strummer’s comments about hoping something good must come from this very optimistic. It really resonated with me as I remember having (and recently wrote about that memory on my other blog) the exact same hopes after the chaos of that day. From such shit you’d hope there must be a silver lining, although I’m still waiting. Here’s the link to the piece from the paper – definitely worth a look.

“There’s got to be some good that comes out of it. “Maybe people are just going to be nicer to each other. Because it’s just too horrible”  Joe Strummer (speaking about 9/11)

I know I meant to share this with you over a week ago but I’m sure I forgot (or if I did and I’m now doing it a second time you can complain to the next person who smiles at you). Just before B.A.D. made their Irish appearance at the Electric Picnic last week  did an interview with The Independent in Eire. Did anyone go to the festival? I heard it rained and rained and then rained a bit more. I’ve looked for video clips but had no luck as of yet. It was a great festival lineup this year so if you made it through the mud and want to share your version on the blog please do so. Right then, the interview with Mick is linked here and includes some good stuff about the latter days of The Clash, touring with Gorillaz and the B.A.D. reunion. Speaking of that I think we’ll find out more in the next few weeks if that was a one summer only decision or could be ongoing. I’ve got some inside scoop on that which I’ll share this week.

Also worth a quick look is a piece on the history of protest music in The Washington (Bullets) Post with some great photos and all to short accompanying verbiage. The first few slides do get you fired up with Woody Guthrie, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and then The Clash (nice lineup) but you’ll see that from the early 1980′s on things have been less inspiring with the exception of some rap music (properly noted). All of which illustrates that we’re severely lacking in protest music with some heart, which still befuddles me as things seem just as backwards globally now as ever. I’m still hopeful that in some block of flats somewhere there is a new partnership set to rival Strummer/Jones. We certainly could do with it and if I sound like a broken record on that topic then send in an mp3 or link to a video to the best protest music (recent!) that we might all be missing, or add it in the comments.

Right then, a big and nasty storm is barreling in so I best go and secure the loose stuff around the pool. Cheers – Tim