Combat Rock

Combat Rock is a 1982 album released by The Clash. It was the last album to feature the classic line-up before Mick Jones was sacked and Topper Headon was kicked out for his heroin addiction.¹

Although the album includes different styles of music, it is considerably more straight-forward and less experimental then their previous album Sandinista!. In the United Kingdom the album charted at #2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts. The album reached #7 in the United States, spending 61 weeks on the chart, and was certified platinum.

Recording and production

Combat Rock was originally planned as a double album with the working title Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg, but the idea was scrapped after internal wrangling within the group. Mick Jones had mixed the first version, but the other members were dissatisfied and mixing/producing duties were handed to Glyn Johns, at which point the album became a single LP. The original mixes have since been obtained and subsequently bootlegged.

Artwork

Pennie Smith shot the cover photo for Combat Rock on a deserted railway line outside Bangkok while the band was on their "Far East" tour in 1982.

Release

In January 2000 this album along with the rest of the Clash's catalog was remastered and re-released.

According to author Marcus Gray, the song Red Angel Dragnet was inspired by the January 1982 shooting death of Frank Melvin, a New York member of the Guardian Angels.²³ The song contains extensive quotes from the 1976 movie Taxi Driver's main character Travis Bickle, delivered by Kosmo Vinyl. Bickle sports a mohawk in the later part of the film and that hairstyle was adopted by Joe Strummer during the album promotion.

The song, Ghetto Defendant, features Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who performed the song on stage with the band during the New York shows on their tour in support of the album.

Original U.S. pressings of the album had the full length track "Inoculated City" lasting 2:43. This version contained the audio from a television commercial for a toilet bowl cleaner called "2000 Flushes." After the maker of the product complained of copyright infringement the track was edited to 2:11. Approximately 100,000 copies of the first version were pressed with custom designed record labels. However the majority of copies sold had the edited track and were re-issued on the standard dark blue Epic Records label. The full length "Inoculated City" also appeared on the B-side of the US "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" single. Early US CD copies of the album had the edited track. But when the album was released as a remastered CD in 2000 the full length track was restored, though no mention of this was made anywhere on the CD package.

Reception

The album received positive reviews from critics, and reached the number two on the UK Albums Chart, the number twenty-four on the Billboard Pop albums, and the top ten on many charts in other countries.⁴⁵⁶⁷ The United States Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Combat Rock Gold album on November 1982, Platinum album on January 1983, and Multi-Platinum album on June 1995⁸

In 1999, Q magazine rated Combat Rock three stars out of five, and described the album as "...their biggest seller, but the beginning of the end."⁹ In 2000, Alternative Press rated the album three stars out of five, and wrote that "The penultimate Clash album...employing lessons learned in the previous three years....their most commercially rewarded release....containing [their] most poignant song 'Straight To Hell'."¹⁰ The College Music Journal ranked Combat Rock at number five on its 2004 list of the Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982.¹¹

Track listing

Side one

Side two

Tracks 1, 2, 4 and 6 from side one and tracks 1, 2, 4 and 6 from side two are sung by Joe Strummer. Track 3 from side one is sung by Mick Jones. Track 5 from side one is sung by Paul Simonon. Tracks 3 and 5 from side two are sung by Mick Jones and Joe Strummer.

Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg track listing

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Notes

^ Letts Don; Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon, Terry Chimes, Rick Elgood, The Clash. (2001). The Clash, Westway to the World [Documentary]. New York, NY: Sony Music Entertainment; Dorismo; Uptown Films. Retrieved on 2008-02-06. Event occurs at 71:00–75:00. ISBN 0738900826. OCLC 49798077.
^ Gray (2004) p. 380
^ Time Magazine article 18 January 1982 Guardian Angels' Growing Pains
^ ^a ^b "UK Chart Archive". everyHit.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
^ ^a ^b "The Clash > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Discography The Clash". NorwegianCharts.com. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Discography The Clash". SwedishCharts.com. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Gold and Platinum: Searchable Database". RIAA. Retrieved on 2008-10-26.
^ "100 Greatest British Albums". Q magazine: pp. 152–153. December 1999.
^ "10 Essential '80s Albums". Alternative Press: p. 112. August 2001.
^ "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982". College Music Journal: p. 10. January, 5, 2004.
^ Clash, The. (14 May 1982). Combat Rock (Album liner notes). Epic Records.

References

Gilbert, Pat (2005) [2004]. Passion Is a Fashion: The Real Story of The Clash (4th edition ed.). London: Aurum Press. ISBN 1845131134. OCLC 61177239.
Gray, Marcus (2005) [1995]. The Clash: Return of the Last Gang in Town (5th revised edition ed.). London: Helter Skelter. ISBN 1905139101. OCLC 60668626.
Green, Johnny; Garry Barker (2003) [1997]. A Riot of Our Own: Night and Day with The Clash (3rd edition ed.). London: Orion. ISBN 0752858432. OCLC 52990890.
Gruen, Bob; Chris Salewicz (2004) [2001]. The Clash (3rd edition ed.). London: Omnibus. ISBN 1903399343. OCLC 69241279.
Needs, Kris (2005-01-25). Joe Strummer and the Legend of the Clash. London: Plexus. ISBN 085965348X. OCLC 53155325.
Topping, Keith (2004) [2003]. The Complete Clash (2nd edition ed.). Richmond: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 1903111706. OCLC 63129186.

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