Combat Rock

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Sample Album
ALBUM INFORMATION

Total Tracks: 12   Total Length: 45:48

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Ira Robbins

eMusic Contributor

Ira Robbins co-founded Trouser Press magazine in 1974. (Think of it as a pre-Internet music blog). He was later pop music editor at Newsday and has written for ...more »

06.30.09
The Clash, Combat Rock
2000 | Label: Epic

Cutting away Sandinista!'s relaxed sprawl for a single disc of arty urban grit on Combat Rock was a smart move — “Rock the Casbah,” “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” the haunting “Straight to Hell” and “Overpowered by Funk” broke free of the new wave marketing ghetto, making the Clash chart stars. (A terminal condition, as it happened.) Setting up shop in New York City recharged the group, upping the rhythmic ante and returning purpose to their lyrics and playing. But it also encouraged such dubious ingredients as Allen Ginsberg, a toilet bowl cleaner commercial and dialogue from Taxi Driver. In many ways a blueprint for Jones'subsequent adventures with Big Audio Dynamite, Combat Rock will forever be the Clash's Big Album, but it is adamantly not their best.

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I grew up on this

EMUSIC-027AF55B

There are some real roots to this - a punk sound with afro-beats and ska showing up. All politically based in the time of the 70's. London had it's problems too.....

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I grew up on this

EMUSIC-027AF55B

There are some real roots to this - a punk sound with afro-beats and ska showing up. All politically based in the time of the 70's. London had it's problems too.....

user avatar

Get beyond the hits- serious stuff here

outoftheclosetmusicsnob

Sure the hits are great- still are, but I feel the best songs are stuck inbetween..."Straight to hell" is a classic1!

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must have

dbitter

definately a favorite, maybe my most favorite, depending on the day. but I think something is up with the first track. this thing only gave my about 20 seconds of it. i hope it's fixed.

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All Music Guide review is nonsense

morganporter

Dear Mr. Erlewine- Arena rock? Are you a moron? Not to debate genres here, but "Should I Stay..." is more like an amped up 60's garage rock number. Sure, it became a huge hit and the band played large venues, but "arena rock" implies some sort of power ballad or written-to-order slick rock crap, neither of which the Clash ever attempted. "...Casbah" is not 'new wave dance pop' either, you're very misleading in your descriptions. Furthermore, you state that Mick Jones wanted to keep with the big traditional heavy rock sound? Have you ever heard his subsequent work? Know anything at all about the Clash? MJ is where the rap and funk influences came in to the band, doh! The only accurate point you made is that if this was their "sell-out", it's a pretty odd way to do it. Please don't write about something if you know nothing about it.

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under-rated

EMUSIC-00CE9F06

Forget Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay..., their final album together has some truly great songs beside the radio hits. Straight to Hell is one of their best, and Overpowered by Funk is a blast.

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Hey, I was only 10!

TehDude

My favorite Clash album. It was the first one I knowingly heard and enjoyed. I know folks will tell me I should have checked them out earlier or that London Calling or Sandanistas are better, but it came out in '82 and (see review title). I remember watching the "Rock the Casbah" video on MTV (remember when they only showed videos?). And at my first "battle of the bands" in junior high and one of the bands played "Should I Stay Or Should I Go." I had just started playing guitar myself and it was so cool watching people that were only a bit older than I was playing within feet of me. For years this was only Clash I really knew. It's only been the past half decade that I've been completing my Clash collection...better late than never. Joe was awesome, not really just a punk musician, but he had the punk attitude in spades, as did the band. Too bad we won't get to hear them again. All Music's review says it's not their best, but it's still my favorite. Ah, you never forget your first.

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About as mainstream as they ever got

LeeRocker

This record will forever be remembered as The Clash's big commercial success as a result of the two mega-hits "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" and "Rocking The Casbah", the latter as political and incendiary as much of their earlier stuff, but due to the great, dance-y beat, more radio-friendly, and thus, a hit. Clash fans often deride this record, but that's unfair -- they move in a new direction here and there, but stay true to themselves; they clearly did not set out to make a purely commercial album, otherwise the whole thing would be anthemic rock like the two hits. Still a great record that holds up after all these years.

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Solid Outing for the Clash

pistolpete

Combat Rock can't match the consistent brilliance of London Calling or the band's self-titled debut. But it's still a solid listen. Of course, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" and "Rock the Casbah" are here, as well as underrated tunes like "Inoculated City" and "Overpowered By Funk." A worthy swan song for one of rock's most important bands.

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Not the Best, But Still the Clash

Deutschehund

And since it is the Clash you can be assured that the album is much better than the best album by many other bands that came before and after. Yeah, Should I Stay and Casbah are great tunes. But check out the other ones as well. You're in for a dub influenced joy ride. Thank you to bands like the Clash and PiL for getting reggae music into the sound of Brits and Americans. Straight to Hell is the song sampled for MIA's Paper Planes, by the by.

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They Say All Media Guide

On the surface of things, Combat Rock appears to be a retreat from the sprawling stylistic explorations of London Calling and Sandinista! The pounding arena rock of “Should I Stay or Should I Go” makes the Clash sound like an arena rock band, and much of the album boasts a muscular, heavy sound courtesy of producer Glyn Johns. But things aren’t quite that simple. Combat Rock contains heavy flirtations with rap, funk, and reggae, and it even has a cameo by poet Allen Ginsberg — if this album is, as it has often been claimed, the Clash’s sellout effort, it’s a very strange way to sell out. Even with the infectious, dance-inflected new wave pop of “Rock the Casbah” leading the way, there aren’t many overt attempts at crossover success, mainly because the group is tearing in two separate directions. Mick Jones wants the Clash to inherit the Who’s righteous arena rock stance, and Joe Strummer wants to forge ahead into black music. The result is an album that is nearly as inconsistent as Sandinista!, even though its finest moments — “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” “Rock the Casbah,” “Straight to Hell” — illustrate why the Clash were able to reach a larger audience than ever before with the record. [In 2000 Columbia/Legacy reissued and remastered Combat Rock.] – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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