Medialoper

We're Not Who You Think We Are

Give Em Enough Rope

Certain Songs #213: The Clash – “Stay Free”

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Give 'Em Enough Rope Album: Give ‘Em Enough Rope.
Year: 1978.

This is probably some kind of sacrilege or something, but when The Clash first took over my life, my favorite member wasn’t St. Joe Strummer, but rather Mick Jones. Even at the time, my working theory about punk rock wasn’t that it was the utter destruction of rock ‘n’ roll, but rather the next phase of rock ‘n’ roll.

And Mick Jones — the Keef-haired guitar hero who wrote and sang the the poppier songs — was the human face of that theory. He was the guy who was able to point the way forward while respecting the past. Or something: I was 16 when I came up with this particular theory.
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Certain Songs #212: The Clash – “Guns on the Roof”

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Give 'Em Enough Rope Album: Give ‘Em Enough Rope.
Year: 1978.

The familiar chords rang out of the first track of side two of Give ‘Em Enough Rope, a bit more staccato than I might have been used to, but utterly recognizable as “I Can’t Explain” to any kid who was discovering The Who at the same time he was discovering The Clash.

Except it wasn’t. The Clash were rewriting Pete Townshend’s rewrite of “You Really Got Me” and going into a completely different direction.
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Certain Songs #211: The Clash – “Safe European Home”

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Give 'Em Enough Rope Album: Give ‘Em Enough Rope.
Year: 1978.

I’ve had the concept for “Certain Songs” since at least 2008, but I didn’t have the framework upon which to hang it until last year, so I did write a couple of “Certain Songs” pieces for Medialoper back then. The first I ever did was for “Safe European Home,” which is still one of my all-time favorite things I’ve ever written.

That piece is also something I’ve shared at least a dozen times on various pieces of social media, so I didn’t really feel the need to re-write or re-post it here. If you want to read how “Safe European Home” changed my life, here’s the link.
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