The Hidden Excellence of The Clash’s ‘London Calling’

You may have in the course of your musical journey heard of The Clash being referenced as "The ONLY Band That Matters". Quite the bold claim considering the body of musicians already in existence in the rock and roll sphere. Just in England alone you where The Clash hailed had The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks and many more "The" bands. In order to earn that moniker you would certainly need to do something that "matters". On December 14th, 1979 they certainly did do that with the release of their third studio album. A double-LP laden with great punk hits and putting them at the forefront of that movement. It's also a record with some incredible niche details that Pierre Robert celebrates on vinyl with an original copy of London Calling. The Clash Honors The King If you find yourself in a record shop and find yourself looking for something from a band you're not quite familiar with you may grab something based on the album artwork alone. Even with bands you are familiar with the packaging the music comes in can be just as evoking as the music itself. In the case of London Calling the image of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his bass guitar is quite the symbol of the essence of punk rock. One little detail that's the essence of "Everything That Rock" is the actual words of this record. The pink and green lettering that form the border around Paul's on stage smashing is actually a tribute to rock and roll royalty: The King himself Elvis Presley and his debut record. The Hit of a "Hidden Track" If you took a look at the original copy of London Calling from The Clash and turn to the final side you would see there is only 4 songs listed (see above for proof from the MMR music library). However eagle-eyed individuals who held the record can clearly see there are enough grooves for 5 songs. That is because The Clash's first Top 40 hit in the U.S "Train In Vain" is actually that fifth song! It was never meant to be a hidden track however. According to legend, it was a late edition to the album. So late that production of the artwork was already completed! Pierre celebrated this great "hidden hit" and phenomenal record during the Vinyl Cut which you can catch all the crackle and pops every weekday around 2pm!