The Clash Cup (noun) 1. An online vote by of some of the most knowledgeable fans of The Clash ever assembled in one place (that’s you) aimed ultimately to determine the best 32,16 and 8 Clash songs ever recorded.

The concept is as simple as the execution of course and may I remind you that all of the pairings that I need you to vote on are created entirely at random. The polls only have three rules, they are open for five days, every vote matters as the best runners up in terms of total percentage are eligible to remain the competition and you can only vote once so please make your decision carefully. We’ve been doing this for a long time and I know the intervals between voting have been too long, long enough to suggest I’d be better equipped to run the political system of a banana republic than any sort of online voting system but its been a year of resolutions for me and another is to get The Clash Cup back on track – starting tonight.

We’re currently in round two and before introducing the songs I’d appreciate you voting on it would be time to look back at the result of our last gathering which took place quite some time ago, it was a close vote and an all Sandinista! affair.

The Street Parade defeated Broadway 35-27

Two strong songs that both exhibited a style that The Clash had never really experimented with prior to the fourth album and both provide good evidence of the quality of songs ‘tucked away’ on that triple album. I’d suggest just with hindsight that if either song were on Combat Rock instead it would be considered amongst the best songs of the album. The setting of Sandinista! in it’s extravagant 36 song breadth sometimes makes you forget how many great Clash songs were on there. While it won’t quite (today, for me) make the category of ‘best Clash album’ I still think it has aged the best and holds excellent lasting appeal. The Street Parade winning shocked me a little as I thought Broadway would edge a very close vote. Tell me I’m wrong but I think Street Parade has taken on a more elegant or special place since the death of Joe Strummer. It has for me but there’s no reason to assume it did for you.

Let’s get straight down to business with the next pair and please forgive me for the shorter than usual pre-match festivities but I’m knackered tonight. The random number generator is buzzing away so let’s see what we have:

Clash Cup Round 2 Match 17

Living in Fame versus This is England

Quite an interesting pairing and if memory serves (or I could just double check) This is England is the only song from the last Clash album to make it into round two, which probably surprises only a small minority of you. I’ve a feeling that through the randomness of the draw that it will make it through to round three now as well. Both songs however will have their fans but there are many who say that famous line that ‘This is England” was the last great Clash song, whether enough people feel that way to see it make the final sixteen remains to be seen. I’m not one of them, in fact I think Living in Fame is a song I’ve returned to more frequently in the intervening years. I should profess though that I’m not in a position to be as objective as I should be about The Clash Mark II, without Mick Jones or Topper Headon I struggle still to hear them as the same band but I appreciate that’s only one opinion.

Form Book

Round 1 – Living in Fame squeaked past The Harder They Come with 51% of the vote

Round 1 – This is England beat Version City with 67% of the vote

So neither song had especially impressive wins in round one, particularly the former so it might be a vote of attrition. I’m never sure how these things turn out but the first round round results suggest Living in Fame may struggle to get 30% of the vote. I hope it is a lot closer than that.

Stuff

The cynic in me would probably include This is England in what I plan to do later – The (post) Clash Cup which would throw together B.A.D., Joe’s solo work, Carbon Silicon, Mescaleros and assorted bits although I’m not sure how confusing the prospect might be. Although it would be interesting I think. This is England to be fair does have some wonderful lyrics but I can’t get far beyond the production and drum machine. Living in Fame, what can I say? How many ‘rock’ bands have not just good but close to excellent dub versions of their songs appearing on albums? I actually like Living in Fame as much as If Music Could Talk and I hope it (along with other tracks) destroys any concept that The Clash just plugged into dub music and stole a few ideas. Clash sound sweeter. (RIP Mikey Dread)

Before you vote I usually link to a few versions to get you in the mood although I don’t think it’s needed with these two as much. Living in Fame with cool photos by Albert Watson then — here you go. This is England sounds better as a demo and without drums, here’s the proof. I do like that version. Thanks in advance for your voting and careful consideration, there will be no coalition governments on this blog.

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Good evening and welcome back to the best blog that I write, although today that might not be entirely true as you might find my other post today on Word Service Bulletins about the Tufty Club to be critical reading also. I was in the supermarket earlier and just as I was deciding upon which cereal to purchase the collective trio of snap crackle and pop asked me “when was I going to do another edition of The Clash Cup“. Alright I made that last bit up but it was when I was in that aisle then I remembered it was really overdue and hence it’s making a long-awaited comeback this evening. For the newly initiated to the blog is our ongoing quest to determine the best songs that Clash ever recorded, we began with more than 180 different tracks and an are now in round two which will get us closer to the finish line or more specifically the final 64. I’m making a pledge tonight that The Clash Cup will feature far more regular updates I have been able to find time for (the last pairing was back in December to my disgust). Let’s revisit that specific contest first of all before reviewing the next two tracks.

White Riot defeated Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad 67-10

Well, as you and I probably expected it wasn’t really a close run thing was it? With a margin of victory in keeping with the South Sudanese quest for independence White Riot bounces on to the final 64 (even money on it making the final 16) with the GTER track losing by a hefty distance. I think that the vast majority of songs recorded by The Clash stand up well to the test of time but for some reason “Julie’s Been Working…” has long sounded to me as if it belonged to a different era entirely. Poor thing. With the help of the random number generator I have a fresh twosome for your perusal tonight:

Clash Cup Round 2 Match 15

Deny versus The Guns of Brixton

While there I was hoping for an edge of the seat thriller in terms of two songs that are perfectly matched and then the random number machine manages to squeak out the equivalent of Wigan versus Tottenham. I know you’re thinking that Wigan can beat Tottenham but they really shouldn’t and nor should Guns of Brixton have much trouble beating Deny. Having said that I know that there is a huge level of support for all tracks that date back to 1976/1977 so it might be closer than I think. However I don’t think I’ve ever met a Clash fan who doesn’t have a special spot for Guns of Brixton which not only offers that famous and brilliant bass line but also a rare vocal appearance by Paul matched up with lyrics that are timeless in their menace.

Form Book

Round 1 – Deny lost to Innoculated City but remained due to best runner up with 44% of the vote
Round 1 – Guns of Brixton lost to Train in Vain but remained due to best runner up with 44% of the vote

So it turns out that this is almost the *asterisk matchup that we’ve all been hoping for. I allowed certain songs in round one that lost in the general voting to remain in the cup so that we would have to equally divisible ratios to see out the tournament (just like the FA cup or the college basketball March madness in the US) – thus I needed 8/16/32/64/128 tracks to allow for a straight knockout competition. Only songs that received a certain percentage of the vote were allowed to continue and as chance would have it both of these scrape through with 44%. Also worth noting that Guns of Brixton lost out to a far more difficult opponent in round one, I’ve got a feeling that Deny won’t repeat its early luck so I’m guessing Guns of Brixton will tally at least 70 percent of the vote. Match fixing allegations will not even be listened to however. Also why does my computer not accept the word Brixton? pffff….

Stuff

Personal preference? When I was 12 years old I would have chosen Deny simply because my listening skills at the time didn’t have the patience for slower or reggae tinged Clash songs. When I first heard London Calling it was my first experience of actually hearing Paul’s vocals and after being exposed to just Mick and Joe up to that point it also took a bit of getting used to. Thirty years of hindsight though have taught me that Guns of Brixton is the richer song of the two. I think it holds a fairly unique place in the fact that it wasn’t released as a single at the time of the original release of London Calling but was eventually released as a single in 1990 in both its original format and extended dub versions which made use of that famous bass line. I could write a whole post about the history of the song and subsequent uses by other acts, chances are I’ll get to that at a later time. As for Deny it was one of the five tracks that CBS ingloriously elected to remove from the original album when eventually they decided to repackage The Clash with extra singles, b-sides and a re-record of White Riot. Rotters!

Before you click the button below to vote (which you can only do once just like in Florida) I think it’s always a good idea to have one last listen to both songs that are on the chopping block. For Deny why not try this ancient and slightly slower version recorded at the Roundhouse in London in late summer 1976. For Guns of Brixton why not the Return to Brixton version just to unsettle you a bit and remind you why remixes aren’t always the best idea. This isn’t technically election rigging.

Polls will be open until Sunday and I hope you can take part and perhaps explain your vote in the comments section. Back with more soon – have a splendid day/night etc. Please share this one as voting is our right!!  Tim

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Good evening everyone and cheers for the visit as always. As much as the Europa Cup final in Dublin sounds a better night out than Wembley I’m still chuffed that Arsenal didn’t self destruct tonight and won 3-1 in a must win match in London. Speaking of must win events that phrase will also surely apply to The Clash Cup of which we have another installment this evening. You can’t really win The Clash Cup but hopefully we will end up with the best 16 songs ever recorded by the band so you can make the ultimate mix tape, or mix CD or whatever it is we now do when we compile music. We’re deep into round two now at the end of which we will have 64 songs left standing and each one seeking your votes for the final 32 where I can imagine decisions be nearly impossible. Few decisions were harder than the last pairing which saw the lead changed hands numerous times before the eventual winner was revealed.

Charlie Don’t Surf beat  I Fought the Law 43-40

Excellent turnout on the voting for which I must thank you and the best news is that with a final vote tally so close “I Fought the Law” pulled in enough support to make the next round (unofficially at this point) which is probably as it should be. As you know all the pairings are completely at random so let’s pull the next two songs from the remaining list.

Clash Cup Round 2 Match 14

Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad versus   White Riot

While we have had quite a string of unpredictable results in recent votes this one looks like it should probably be a lot more one-sided unless I’m completely misjudging how you are likely to vote. A proper matchup of the first and second albums although probably not the best songs on either (again, feel free to disagree) I recall being really surprised that White Riot wasn’t originally seeded we began this policy. Everyone voted for songs that shouldn’t face elimination in the early rounds and White Riot didn’t get enough support to protect it from the early voting variances. Even with that said if it gets paired up with the right songs I would still say it’s got a very good chance of making the final 16 or even the final eight. That being with the assumption that it will be able to defeat Julie’s Been Working…

Form Book

Round 1 – Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad defeated Are You Ready 95% of the vote
Round 1 – White Riot defeated Silicon on Sapphire 91% of the vote

Both songs have robust wins under their belt in round one against a fairly simple pair of opposing songs. Round 2 brings a lot of extra pressure and I would say with pretty good confidence that White Riot will win with at least 70% of the vote. Julie’s Been Working will need at least 40% of the vote with a high turnout to have any chance of progressing.

Stuff

Do I have a personal preference? Yes it would certainly be for the earlier song which although I didn’t find the most appealing song on the debut album back when I first heard it as a kid, it’s certainly grown in stature and relevance to me over the years with a better appreciation of how it was written and why it was written. The fabled inspiration from the Notting Hill Riots in late summer 1976 has taken on the place of proper Clash folklore when it comes to why some songs were written in the first place. Strummer’s combination of exhilaration and fear, frustration and confusion all resulted in a song that said where’s our riot and why are we doing just what we are told. The ‘we’ that he referred to was essentially any disaffected youth that weren’t of Jamaican origin and thus controlled by the inhibitions that might stop a riot from starting in the first place. A furious bundle of energy that sounds as coiled today as it was when first recorded.

Everything that White Riot was (short, focused, angry) Julie’s Been Working really isn’t. On an evolutionary scale you can say it speaks much to the constantly evolving style and song structure of The Clash between the debut album and 1978′s follow-up. While I think lyrically “Julie’s” shows Joe trying to pull together a lot of ideas somewhat successfully the song but essentially focused on current events (a police drug raid in Wales) of itself it now seems overly long and a bit too much R&B or piano based to my untrained ears. While Sandy Pearlman promised ‘GTER’ would have ‘more guitars per inch’ than any album ever recorded – this wasn’t the song that demonstrated it, more romp than stomp and while it would be a good song for most bands it’s not at the top standard for The Clash.

As always before you vote I suggest you clear your head of other distractions such as wikileaks or the lack of a Christmas bonus and devote six or seven minutes tearing both tracks one last time. For White Riot I had to include the Rock against Racism clip from 1978  – whereas for Julie’s Been Working… I would try this demo version which is pretty raw and some squealing sax. Still one of my favourite lyrics ‘they arrested every drug that had ever been made’ which sounded both sing-song and cynical at the same time.

Thanks in advance for all your votes and if you feel inclined please add comments as to why or spread the news around so that more votes get tallied. I’ll have the polls open through until Sunday. Cheers – Tim

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