THE FINAL - Round 4

THE FINAL - Round 4

Poll ended at 07 May 2019, 8:37am

Safe European Home
13
50%
Rudie Can't Fail
2
8%
Straight To Hell
5
19%
Complete Control
6
23%
 
Total votes: 26

101Walterton
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The Best
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Location: Volcanic Rock In The Pacific

Re: THE FINAL - Round 4

Post by 101Walterton »

BitterTom wrote:
06 May 2019, 5:09pm
Heston wrote:
06 May 2019, 4:58pm
BitterTom wrote:
06 May 2019, 4:38pm
Anyone expect Rudie to get this far and beyond?
I did, and glad to see my three favourite Clash songs are still in with a shout.
Top 3 material for me, didn't realise it was that popular! Shame my other 2 are nowhere to be seen
I did a mega Clash poll years ago and we had 100 board members submit their top 3 in order and Rudie came out top 5 possibly even top 3. Capital Radio 2 was the surprise in that poll.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: THE FINAL - Round 4

Post by Dr. Medulla »

drowninghere wrote:
07 May 2019, 12:20am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 May 2019, 1:53pm
Flex wrote:
06 May 2019, 1:31pm
Very, very begrudgingly voted for Complete Control. SEH is better produced and the lyrics are maybe a bit better (CC is excellent in the mythos of the Clash, and its lyrics are more adaptable, but there's something a touch insular and esoteric about fights with your label about singles releases... maybe). Still, I love that song to death. These are the toughest of the tough votes.
That would be my next choice for that reason. You could stretch out the lyrics' value into something about the rights and autonomy of labour, and it's certainly a more mature take than the Pistols' "EMI," but based on the songs that are remaining, complaining about your record company does knock it down a bit.
This a little understated (Greil Marcus talking about The Story of the Clash), but I've always liked it nonetheless:

Given the shape of the package, the numbers from side three - all from 1977-78, when punk was still an idea seeking its field - send a nearly incomprehensible message of disruption, despair, and fear. Even less explainable, now, is that at the heart of this side is a performance that as pure sound stands as the greatest rock 'n' roll performance ever made. Oddly, it's about the Clash's career, at least on a literal, lyric-sheet level: their label-sanctioned protest single about the same label committing the atrocity of releasing an earlier single without the band's permission. So what. Yet from this flimsy soapbox they fly to a dramatization of autonomy, community, personal identity, and social contestation, and with a few scattered slogans ("THIS MEANS YOU!") make those usually abstract notions as real, as dangerous, as any moment governed by love or money, hate or war. Across more than 10 years of listening to "Complete Control", one reaction has always come first: disbelief. Disbelief that mere human beings could create such a sound, and disbelief that the world could remain the same when it's over.
Very Greil Marcus kind of stuff. Which is to say that underneath it all is a sensible, or at least defensible argument, but then he wraps it up in this hyperbolic stuff about changing the universe whenever he hears it. Marcus has a wonderfully provocative and perceptive mind, but he drives me nuts with his flourish. Worst of all, I keep coming back to read him because he is so damned engaging, even tho I know I'm going to be annoyed within 20 minutes.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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