Hello again – what a day that was…..hope yours was decent, mine started with watching my Arsenal lose (again) and then a cold chilly spot of football myself and I felt like heaping revenge on the ball for this morning. Let’s just say the day continued as it started. So back to something a bit more fun. The Clash Cup Round Two – before I explain the format we have one result to share from round one -

Protex Blue defeated The Magnificent Dance 34 – 20

Credit: Photo by Ray Stevenson / Rex Features ( 565076C )

So we are all set with the contenders for round two. (You might want to skip this paragraph) Don’t forget we have 25 songs ’seeded’ due to the initial voting which will be introduced in round three – let’s call them the heavyweights, the final 25 you all selected would make for the ultimate Clash CD but those votes were cast months ago so nothing is written in stone. From round one 64 songs make it through, 54 outright winners plus the 10 runners up that compiled the most most votes. From these 64 we’ll carry forward 32 winners + the 7 best runners up (percentage of all votes cast) = 39 songs + the 25 seeded songs for our final 64! It’s not as complex as it sounds but we’ll end up with 64 brilliant songs to match up head to head.

Voting I’ll leave open for a week – and the sincere goal is to run at least two matches per week. In a perfect world round two will run over the next 16 weeks (at the most) and will try and get through it a bit quicker as round three will be something else. You don’t need to register – just click to vote – one vote per match up.

I’ll mention how the song did in the prior round, you can click on the song to hear it before you vote and I’ll share an opinion if it might help the propaganda of getting the songs I want to see through (I’m kidding). Songs are selected via a random number generator which has the approval of Bernard Rhodes.

Round Two Match One

Cheapskates versus Kingston Advice

Blimey that’s a tough one to start things off I am going to hold off on voting til tomorrow but probably leaning towards one of them. Cheapskates strangely enough also featured in our first week of match ups back on August 16! Kingston Advice came out of the hat the next week.

Form -

Cheapskates won round one 27-4 over Idle in The Kangaroo Court  87.1%

Kingston Advice won in round one 27-10 over Look Here 73.0%

Odds (pure supposition) I’d say Cheapskates is a slim favourite but you may see the Sandinista! track go through as a best runner up. So every vote matters even if your preference is trailing.

Best Lyrics?

Don’t give me the benefit
Of your doubt
‘Cos I’ll bite it off and spit it out

In these days the beat is militant
Must be a clash there’s no alternative
In these days nations are militant
We have slavery under government

Listen here – Cheapskates or Kingston Advice

Thanks for voting !!!

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As promised…the Clash Cup is back, sadly I can’t same for Arsenal as we were dismantled by a Manchester United team who were far more efficient with their attacks and aided by some extremely naive defending by my club. It cast a shadow over the entire day and was only remedied when I dragged my 42 year old legs down to the park this afternoon to play some football myself. Ah well…you’re not here to learn of my malaise but to get back into The Clash Cup – our own unofficial quest to determine the best 16,8 and finally top 4 Clash songs of all time. I dusted off my spreadsheet this afternoon and learned we have one final Round One match to make our votes heard on and then this week we’ll dive into round two. The songs that remain in round two are for the most part all exceptionally good so the voting will be frantic and important.

A brief explanation if you’re new to the blog – we originally listed all know Clash songs and then took a few weeks to ’seed’ 16 of the best Clash songs. The remaining songs (142 of them) all went into the bucket and a random number generator selected songs to be paired off and voted for. The online poll allows one vote per user and we closed the polls typically 72 hours after the posting went live. The response was great and not everyone could be happy with every result (myself included) but with one vote remaining we are now just about ready to move onto Round 2. First though that final battle -

Protex Blue versus The Magnificent Dance

Two well known tracks on the final slate so please give careful consideration. I’ll close the polls on Wednesday and plan to start Round 2 on Weds or Thursday of this week.

Protex Blue - I believe this is one of the very oldest existing songs that The Clash recorded, the original version dating back to 1975 when Mick Jones wrote it during his brief spell as London SS. Musically its one of the most raw of Clash recordings and a basic chord progression and bridge it has a real garage sound feel. Even the subject matter is a bit fifth form (condoms) but it remains a fun song. Who would have guessed that 35 years later Mick and Tony James would be a band once more writing and recording as Carbon Silicon.

The Magnificent Dance – 12″ records were as much a part of the early 1980’s as being impacted by the cold hand of Margaret Thatcher. The 12″ single evolved for the disco scene initially and became a place for bonus B sides, alternate versions, instrumental versions and the ‘remix’. I’ve always loved this remix of The Mag 7 – probably because my early excellent efforts to make mix tapes always ended with a version of this track faded out at the perfect length to finish side one of my TDK AD 90. If you’re less than 30 years old you probably wonder just what I’m on about.

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Get voting and thanks!

Hello Clash mad people….quick explanation of the Clash Cup which I should offer as around 50% of visitors each day are first timers. If so – keep coming back as I update the blog every 8-12 hours 7 days a week. So onto some results from earlier bouts:

Koka Kola defeated Drug Stabbing Time 20-13

Hate & War defeated Where you Gonna Go (soweto) 29-4

I was interested to see how that first match up went and Koka Kola took a lead and held it – so another track from GTER is finished. Hate & War is ready for the next round. So that said I need your votes – well 2 of these 4 songs do and you have until Sunday at dawn:

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4 New songs and I’m not in the predicting game tonight, I’ve seen some shocks lately so it’s in your trusted hands. As always a chance to hear or see the songs is beneath and my initial thoughts about the new contenders.

The Street Parade - I’ve only got two thoughts to share on this – the first moment I heard about the death of Joe Strummer I played this song first and then Nitcomb. Don’t know why, but I’ll never forget doing it and I didn’t start crying til it faded out…and that lasted days. I also consider it the most beautiful song they wrote.

Stop The World - I hadn’t heard this for years and what a great song it is. I don’t have the CD only the vinyl. It was the B-Side of The Call Up and I think it should have been on the album. Like so many Clash songs it sounds like nothing else they ever recorded.

Shepherds Delight - Just the other day when discussing Sandinista! and the fact I feel it’s got a few songs too many, this would be one of them. Now watch the votes prove me wrong. I actually struggle to find anything to say about this song….Red sky at night?

All The Young Punks…- I can’t ever tire of this, the chords, Joe’s voice, Micks guitar licks, the lyrics, that chorus, the harmonies. Pull it apart and Paul’s bass (or did Mick actually play on this one) and Topper just smacking out a beat. Another track that made you wonder like mad just what it was like to be in a band, a song that convinced me I could never work in a factory. Half a pint of Brown…

Vote early to avoid confusion. Thanks for all your time and visits!

Tim