Nice stormy night heading here and a double rainbow just before sunset, not sure what signifies but it looked pretty special to me. I noticed the delay between bouts of the Clash Cup was a bit longer than planned so lets get one of those in before the weekend arrives in earnest. Before the next pairing are pulled (these are all 100% random) we’ve got the results from the last match up to announce. Regular readers will know we are now in round 2 and the best runners up still might have a chance to make the final 64 Clash songs up for voting. That might be the case from this as it was really close:

Lightning Strikes defeated 48 Hours      27-24

This was a close run thing from the very beginning of the voting and the overall support for 48 hours should see it still perhaps remain though we won’t know until the end of Round 2 of course. Now for the next two, and if you’re new to this its just as easy as it sounds. No need to register just give both songs your serious consideration and cast one vote. This is the round that will sort out most of the legitimate contenders because when we’re done with this round we’ll be down to the some of the best Clash songs recorded. The two picked tonight aren’t too shabby either:

Round 2 Match 9

Radio Clash versus Ghetto Defendant

Not a bad pairing but like a horse at the starting line I can clearly spot an immediate favourite amongst these two. Both songs of course came late in the career of the band with Radio Clash filling in the time just post Sandinista! (and becoming a legitimate club hit) and Ghetto Defendant signaling the new twists the band would make on Combat Rock. Both feature a good amount of Joe while the former tacks on horns and a track that’s really showing Mick’s ability to take the sounds he’s hearing and mesh them into the sound of The Clash. I’ll never forget rushing out to get This is Radio Clash on 12″ single when it came out and thinking the future had just landed on my turntable.

Form book:

Round 1 – Radio Clash defeated Midnight to Stevens                  83% of the vote

Round 1 – Ghetto Defendant lost to Brand New Cadillac            (35% of the vote) but remained in the Cup due to high runner up vote total

Odds:

I don’t often feel a song is essentially a shoe-in for the next round but when I really line these two up against one another I can only see one winner. Radio Clash will make round 3 – it’s a stronger and more adventurous song and a key link between the last two Clash albums. Just my prediction mind you, it has no impact on the voting.

8 D batteries to power this beauty

Stuff:

I’m in the camp that says This is Radio Clash was a really important single, not just in terms of where The Clash were heading but also in the crossover between rap/funk and rock. I don’t know how it sounded if the first time you heard it was 1998 for example and not having the perspective of where music was in 1981/2 on your shoulders and in your ears. It’s a bit like when you now hear Run DMC or Schooly D and it might sound a bit boxed in by the production and sound but once again its looking at what was going on all around at that time. In the US Talking Heads were ahead of the curve in incorporating other styles of music and in England The Clash were picking up as much New York energy as anybody else. For historic benchmarking – 1981 was the year of Antmusic in the UK as Adam and The Ants dominated the charts, Radio Clash is far more lasting (to these ears). In addition the lyrics are a call to action rather than the banality that was order of the day in the charts of 1981. To refresh you, check out the clip on the Tom Snyder show in the States recorded in the summer of ’81 some 5 months before the single got released. Then there is Ghetto Defendant, not for the first time I’ve got more affection for the longer version on the Mick Jones Combat Rock sessions (Rat Patrol). Oh…and for those who say Gorillaz have no correlation to The Clash with the numerous guests on their albums, what do you think of The Clash recruiting radical poet Allen Ginsberg from the shadows in the 1980′s when his forte was poetry that shook society in the 50′s and 60′s. Another testament to the ability of The Clash to not follow the path of the expected. Before you vote here’s the longer version that I mentioned.

Please take time to consider your vote…and don’t give up on a song that’s trailing…that’s how Bush ‘won’ Florida….. Talk to you soon…..(if you get a chance to tweet or facebook the post I’ll be chuffed)

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Round 2, Match 7 – Two Seven(s)….this better be a good one. Hello again its time for you to get all democratic on me and vote for a Clash song. A simple task in theory but it carries great weight, songs that survive this round will be really strong and offer a decent chance to make the final top 20 Clash songs ever. So vote with your mind and not just your tapping toes, we are not looking for some lukewarm coalition approach to our final top ten tracks.

Before we turn the dusty spotlight on tonight’s contenders we do need to look back to the last match. The outcome was as I predicted but it was close enough to be interesting (think Spurs trying to break into the top 3).

Hitsville UK     defeats     Inoculated City     28-17

So one of the least ‘Clashlike’ songs in their arsenal is through to the next round. Cry your tears and shed your fears all you like but the election stands, we have another Sandinista! track marching on. Now back to the random number machine to pull the next two from the bobble hat of Terry Chimes…..and what do we have for you?

Round 2 – Match 7

Last Gang in Town vs.       Career Opportunities

I don’t like that pairing whatsoever, really great songs both which represent each of the first two albums with equal importance. How many times have I sung along with each of them over the last 30 years? Should I base my vote on that? I’d really hate to see either one knocked out, there is a slim chance that enough second place votes will keep the runner up alive so yeah this is a vote that does matter. Nothing like your local MP but much more important.

Form:

Round 1 – Last Gang in Town defeated Sound of the Sinners        61% of the vote

Round 1 – Career Opportunities defeated I’m so Bored with the USA      74% of the vote

Odds:

I’d forgotten how well Career Opps did in the 1st round as it hammered strong competition. Some Clash songs are firmly rooted in the late 70′s but I thing Career is a song that holds as much value lyrically in 2010 as it did back in the black and white days of 1977. I think many (most) Clash fans felt at one time or another that working was little more than an obligation and what we really wanted to do played no part in the jobs on offer after school. Though I also still like Last Gang in Town I can’t see it going much further than Joe Cole in the league next season. Career to win with at least 60% of the vote….

Stuff:

Surely no introduction is needed for either song? Career Opportunities might rank as one of the 5 most autobiographical songs Strummer ever wrote, for anyone who ever stood in a dole queue this is your anthem. With great significance its also the place where Jones and Simonon first met Joe Strummer. Last Gang is a song for all of us too however. Please listen before you vote - I’ve got Career Opportunities recorded in awesome live fashion in Amsterdam in 1981, tight drumming, dual barking and a song that got bigger the more The Clash played it. Last Gang in Town is the original LP version, Paul’s bass pumping all over the song. If I ever learned bass I’d have to learn this song! Also, are they any other Clash songs where the vocals start the very moment the song begins as is the case here with Joe? Surely there must be….please vote – I welcome your thoughts as to why you chose the wrong track.

Well…I’ve got no choice ! Also…wanna help the blog? Hit the WIKIO vote button at the bottom of this (and any) post, if you don’t see it just click the title of the post so it refreshes on your screen.

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I can’t think of a more qualified group of people than you lot to help determine the best ever Clash songs. It’s all self explanatory but you can find out more about it on this recent post from a short while back. Songs selected at random and you vote in a knock out tournament. Before we look at tonight’s picks we need to review a result from the last pairing. It wasn’t as close as I had expected:

Police On My Back    defeats   Jail Guitar Doors    37-19

Thanks for all of your votes on that one – so the Sandinista! tracks zips along to round three, so let’s look at the next round as selected by the random number generator *just returned from a trip to help out the recent election in the UK.

Round 2 – Match 6

Hitsville UK versus Inoculated City

If this was a football cup both managers would have exhaled when they saw this pairing. Not to say either song is bad but I doubt either would creep into someone’s Clash top 20 under normal circumstances. I’ll confess now that for a spell of my life at 13 I thought Hitsville UK was the most fun song to bop around to ever recorded. I never could dance, more just sort of move around and avoid hurting more delicate feet but any moves I learned were learned stomping around to Madness and Hitsville UK. Both songs will get support I’m sure and that’s why there are in the second round – interestingly both fall a long way from being ‘typical’ Clash songs (is there such a thing?). No need to provide much trivia about either song but feel free to send in yours.

Form:

Round 1 – Hitsville UK defeated Long Time Jerk -         67% of the vote

Round 1 – Inoculated City edged past Deny –        56% of the vote

Odds:

I’ve a feeling most people will come to a quick decision on this vote but that isn’t to say one song will win easily. In fact if turnout is high enough and the runner up gets plenty of support both songs could be imitating Ghana and Paraguay by staying around much later than I would have guessed. If I had to wager my next pair of socks on it, I think a current Mick Jones buzz will see Hitsville UK sneak through.

Stuff:

If you’re my age or older and bought Sandinista! when it first came out I’m sure different songs left you scratching your head at least a bit. Hitsville UK was a song that could never on been on London Calling or Combat Rock. It was something that seemed more likely to appear on the Motown label than a new Clash single on CBS but that’s exactly what it became. It failed in the charts and some critics saw it as evidence than the band were over-ambitious. As for me…I loved it…always a soft touch for some good pop and backing girl vocals I also instantly loved Mick’s soft barely singing approach to it, so take a listen before you vote. Meanwhile Inoculated City was one of the very last Clash songs that had Mick trademarked all over it. It’s also another example of Jones/Strummer vocals overlaid on top of each other something the Clash did so well. The recording I like most is the Rat Patrol (kazoo) version which I’ll link to.

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The rest is up to you – polls open til Wednesday! Thanks for stopping in.