The Clash: We miss you Joe...
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I'm So Bored
with Me: A Mix Tape Tribute to the Clash
By Heather McCormack
I first listened to an entire Clash album
while being taxied around Minneapolis in the summer of 1996,
and ever since then I've been planning my tribute. It's a natural
reaction for any writer with rock critic aspirations, a rite
of passage: hear legendary group, will commemorate. Unfortunately,
it's often an exercise in hubris as well. Unable to write about
music in a clear and meaningful way, said scribes write around
it, swerving into the dangerous terrain of memoir and autobiography:
"I'll never forget how me and my girlfriend had sex to 'Janie
Jones.' It was fast, yo."
But, alas, the tributes keep coming, and now I find myself in
the hot seat, and guess what? I have nothing to say about my
beloved band-nothing that hasn't already been said, anyways.
In the 25 years since the Clash's formation, most of the major
bases have been covered, and I don't see the point in repeating
what have become cringe-worthy clichés. Fans down the
ages, for instance, have claimed that Strummer and Co. A) changed
their lives and made them think more than twice about their relation
to the world, B) sold out big time, C) blew their minds with
their punk/reggae/rap/R&B cocktails, D) were half-baked Sex
Pistols, and on and on and on
While all of these sentiments are relevant
and fine (I experience some of them myself), I can't help but
boil them down to nostalgia-nostalgia for a great band that is
long defunct and a gifted front man two months dead (Joe Strummer
passed unexpectedly of congenital heart failure on Dec. 22, 2002),
and more important, perhaps, nostalgia for an era when rock 'n'
roll was still dangerous.
Nostalgia, however, is close to poison and has never been a part
of the Clash formula. Those looking for proof only have to spin
the delightfully psychotic Sandinista! Bassist Paul Simonon,
never the most eloquent member, may have best summed up the band's
forward thinking in the Don Letts documentary, Westway to
the World, "We did our bit, and now we're gone."
On March 10, the Clash, indisputably the most musically adventurous
graduates of the class of '77, will be inducted into the Rock
'n' Roll Hall of Fame, and in honor of their punk roots, they
are not going to reform. And in honor of them, I, for one, am
going to try like hell not to get all wistful and weepy and seek
new signs of musical life. Over the last decade, some good bands
have bent my ear, so it's not all quiet on the Western front.
I vow to make a mix tape of what I hope the future of popular
music will sound like, with bits of recent U2 (who picked up
where the Clash left off), No Doubt (big admirers of the Clash
and U2, coincidentally), Garbage (who sampled "Train in
Vain"), Radiohead, the Strokes, P.J. Harvey, Outkast, Eminem,
and maybe even those scrappy Distillers and Miss Courtney Love,
who will hopefully get her ass in the studio with her new band.
Yet, I am only human, a Clash fan the size of the Empire State
Building, and I've gotta have one last hurrah down Harrow Road.
Here, then, is my anti-tribute that turned into an earnest tribute
in the form of a mix tape, featuring my all-time favorite Clash
tracks.
Congratulations Joe, Paul, Mick, and Topper.
Love,
heather
Side A
 1) "I Fought
the Law" (The Clash)
A perfect tape opener, this proved early on that the Clash were
savvy song interpreters, featuring just enough of what would
later become classic flourishes. (See also "Police and Thieves,"
"Pressure Drop.")
2) "Complete Control"
(From Here to Eternity)
the live version, not the studio one. The latter is good until
you hear the former, a high-octane bruiser from the band's famed
ten-day stint at Bond's Casino in the summer of 1981. If ever
there was a fan's dream gig
3) "Charlie Don't Surf"
(Sandinista!)
Catch your breath with this rather obscure slow-burner, a haunting
protest song, equal parts lounge, surf, and '50s ballad. In Westway
to the World, you can catch the boys performing a few bars
of it at Bond's.
4) "Train in Vain" (London
Calling)
More famous as one half of an extraordinary songwriting duo,
Mick Jones was a deft scribe the handful of times he went it
alone. This soul/dance pastiche sounds sharply modern to this
day. Turn it on, turn off the lights, and let loose. 
5) "Rebel Waltz" (Sandinista!)
Since we're already cutting a rug, why not? Another diamond in
the rough of Sandinista!, this sees Strummer marrying
one of his favorite themes-war-to the timing of a traditional
dance. Truly strange, truly beautiful.
6) "Broadway" (Sandinista!)
Over the last few years, the Clash's infamous, and some would
say indulgent, triple album has become my favorite next to their
debut. Along with the previously mentioned tracks from that offering,
this one attests to the band's gift for genre-crossing as well
as reinforces their cinematic mystique. A tune that smolders
like a ciggie in a noir flick.
Side B
1) "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A." (The Clash)
I don't know how many times I've opened a mix tape with this
song only to record over it with something else. Here it stays
at last, and how yummy and angsty it sounds! Originally titled
"I'm So Bored with You" (a message from Jones to his
then-girlfriend), it was reinvented by Strummer, who changed
the lyrics to dis American cultural imperialism. The first time,
but certainly not the last.
2) "Pressure Drop" (Super
Black Market Clash)
Another stellar cover, this is just one of those tunes that pops
in my head when I'm zipping along in the E train.
 3)
"Gates of the West" (Super Black Market Clash)
A leftover from the Give 'Em Enough Rope sessions, this
was later included on The Cost of Living EP and reveals
the band's fascination with America, in stark contrast to "I'm
So Bored with the U.S.A." It endears itself to me for the
very reasons it may appall others: rock god guitar, Jones's wiener-dog
vocals, and a chorus of soaring ahhhs in the background.
4) "The Magnificent Seven"
(Sandinista!)
Rumor has it that this was a monster hit on black radio stations
during the Bond's residency. Whenever I hear it, I literally
have to bust a move and thank the musical gods for delivering
white men who could play like they knew how to dance. A desert
island pick.
5) "White Man in Hammersmith Palais"
(The Clash)
Strummer deserves a place in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame for
this song alone-a  dynamic
short story set to music, wherein our hero ventures into a hard-core
reggae revue only to get served up sides of fluffy R&B.
6) "The Call Up" (Sandinista!)
Clash tribute albums rarely sample from Sandinista!, and
listening to this song, a plea to the young men of the world
to avoid the draft, it's easy to understand why. Instead of relying
on guitar, it's built on a chime and synthesizer-generated honks
and bleeps, and tackles, of course, a very un-rock 'n' roll subject.
Timely listening.
7) "_________________"
My mystery track; insert the song of your choice here, and goodnight.
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