The Cost of Living EP Archives

Album: The Cost of Living EP.
Year: 1979.

Originally given away on an NME flexidisc, the original version of “Capital Radio” was an attack on the London radio stations that were playing hits instead of the early punk songs.

And as such, the original “Capital Radio” is slotted into the “Punk Band Rails at The Man Who Won’t Help More People Hear The Music That is Trying to Destroy Everything The Man Stands For” sub-genre with such songs as “Radio Radio” and “The Unheard Music.” But even The Clash knew it was kinda slight, so they never officially released it in 1977. It eventually surfaced on Black Market Clash in 1980.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #216: The Clash – “Capital Radio Two”

Album: The Cost of Living EP
Year: 1979.

So this is how it went: in late 1978, I bought Give ‘Em Enough Rope, and almost instantly I bought the U.K. version of The Clash and whichever import singles I could find at Tower Records. Which, as I recall, were “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais” and “Complete Control”.

So what that means is that The Cost of Living EP was the first piece of brand-new music The Clash released after I became a rabidly crazed Clash fan. And as such, it holds a special place in my heart, as it proved definitively that The Clash were going to continue to move their music forward at a dizzying pace.