The Clash redefined the art of being a pretentious dick wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt who starts every conversation with “um, actually…” before launching into a prepared Marxist diatribe. The band also did some pretty rad stuff with music too, which kinda makes up for that first bit of bullshit I mentioned. Here’s our definitive ranking of every one of The Clash’s albums.
6. Cut the Crap (1985)
When I sat down to start these rankings I was going to say something about how “isn’t it a shame that the Clash had to ruin an otherwise phenomenal discography with this absolute bloated fart of an album,” but I’m going to revise my perspective here. Not of the record itself, which is entirely awful, but that I am glad they released one collection of work that proves they are fallible. Otherwise, The Clash may have proved to be entirely too powerful.
Play it again: “This Is England” has its moments
Skip it: Also “This Is England” because, kinda, fuck that song
5. Sandinista! (1980)
The Clash were never afraid to experiment with their sound, which is good – but judging by the length of this record, they also never employed a producer who said to them “hey, guys, maybe let’s trim the fat a bit here.” The inflated track list is the main detractor here as otherwise great songs simply get shuffled away and lost in the mix, and it’s likely why this album never achieved a much higher status than being a second favorite of super hardcore fans. “Sandinista!” is the vinyl embodiment of the old axiom “too much of a good thing.”
Play it again: “The Call Up”
Skip it: “Rebel Waltz”
4. Combat Rock (1982)
C’mon, you all know this one. Especially you, M.I.A and every step-dad who thinks they can make their new wife’s kids think they’re cool by playing “Should I Stay or Should I Go” mostly right on an acoustic guitar. Despite being, arguably, the band’s most commercial effort, “Combat Rock” doesn’t try too hard to sound grown up and follows up on the reggae and dub experimentation of previous albums effortlessly. I also just want to say that, as much as I love this album, “Rock the Casbah” is an exceedingly corny song when you read into it. Yeah, I know, fight me about it later, nothing matters.
Play it again: “Straight To Hell”
Skip it: “Atom Tan”
3. Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978)
Proof that The Clash has always been way the fuck ahead of the rest of their punk scene peers, the band’s second album sounds more like Bruce Springsteen wrote a ska album than pissed-off U.K. punks comically sneering for the British tabloids. Fortunately, the band figured out a way to develop that did not involve firing the only members of your band who could actually play like some other (*cough* Sex Pistols), and while “Give ‘Em Enough Rope” is often overlooked (being chronologically sandwiched between two of the greatest punk records ever made and all) it’s well worth going back to see how it all got built.
Play it again: “Tommy Gun”
Skip it: “English Civil War”
2. The Clash (1977)
Here it is – the classic – the start of it all. The most impressive part of this record is that it was able to become so completely influential for an entire musical movement despite not being able to understand one single fucking lyric off of the entire goddamn record. It sounds like they tried to transcribe Joe Strummer using semaphores. But, barrelling through one blistering track after another while still dropping in needling hints of the reggae influence the band would later flog beyond death like a heap of pale horses, “The Clash” will always remain an iconic landmark in U.K. punk.
Play it again: “Career Opportunities”
Skip it: “Protex Blue”
1. London Calling (1979)
If you meet a punk who claims they never had this poster taped up on their wall in middle school, immediately check to see if they’re wearing a wire because they’re probably a cop. It’s not exactly a rule, more just happenstance that if you grew up in the punk scene then this was your favorite album at one time or another. I used to listen to the copy I’d burned from the library every day after school, chain-smoking Salem cigarettes in my room until my parents got home from work. And I’m willing to bet a lot of people have some augmented version of that same story attached to this record. There aren’t a lot of universal truths in this world, but one of the few I can confidently affirm is that this album kicks ass.
Play it again: “Spanish Bombs”
Skip it: Yes, I said Salem cigarettes. I was a weird kid.
It’s always easy to take a shot at a band for their most recent album, and Interpol made it even easier for us with “The Other Side of Make-Believe.” The title is a good indicator of the group’s gradually loosening grip on wordplay, while the songs are just as tired as you’d expect 20 years after their debut. The album was initially written via email due to COVID, but all that makes us want to do is listen to the Postal Service instead.
When a band delivers a self-titled album deep into their recording career, it’s rarely a good sign. For Interpol, their fourth album “Interpol” marked both their last album with original bassist Carlos D (Dengler, if you’re nasty) and the band’s initial wave of consistently good albums. Guys, if you’re going to open with a song titled “Success,” maybe make sure it’s actually good.
At the very least, “El Pintor” proved that Interpol was still exactly the same band sans one weirdly named bassist. While the album doesn’t reach the ineffable heights Interpol could reach at their best and buzziest, there are some weird, interesting moments here. The looping guitar hook of “Same Town, New Story” previewed Paul Banks’s work with the RZA a few years later, and “Everything is Wrong” is a pretty good track for when you’re eight vodkas in and can’t quite explain why it’s a good idea to suddenly text an ex.
We don’t really love the phrase “comeback album” because it sounds too much like a stupid sex pun, but we have to admit it fits “Marauder.” According to Paul Banks, the title refers to his younger, stupider self, and it’s hard not to appreciate a group of songs that collectively call out the worse versions of all of us. Plus, Banks starts the album doing a weird falsetto thing, and that’s a nice change of pace.
Interpol’s second album had to live up to not only the band’s era-defining debut album, but also compete with contenders like Franz Ferdinand and the Futureheads in the marketplace of bands who looked like they had been born with tight black suits and wet hair. Fortunately, it lived up to the hype, with tracks like “Evil” and “Narc” having some of the strongest hooks they have ever produced. “Antics” even managed to not have a completely embarrassing track title on it, which is a big deal for Interpol.
It’s rare that a move to a major label produces some of a group’s best work, but that’s what happened with “Our Love to Admire.” The band had leaped to fame with their particular version of an icy cold post-punk bad dream, but their third album is where their sound truly became epic and able to handle the ferocity under the melancholy. The addition of keyboards helped a lot with that, but more than anything, the stress of delivering a commercially viable product to Capitol Records seems to have unlocked something for them.
What can one say about “Turn On the Bright Lights?” That it is the album that soundtracked a thousand dark nights of the soul when you already felt too old to enjoy your youth? That the shimmering ring of the guitars sounds best when everyone has left the party and you’re surrounded by nothing but empty bottles and shadows? That it fucking rocks as hard as any album of the early 2000s? That sounds about right, we guess.
This was the second year of Warped Tour and the first one we remember. Since we were blacked out during the entirety of the first one, we did not prepare ourselves for the harsh conditions of a punk show in the Summer. Like last year, we did the mini shots we snuck in by the port-a-potties first. Next, we checked out Dance Hall Crashers and Blink 182. The rest is a blur but we do know that we’re the reason that the following year’s festival had a medical tent.
By 2017, we had learned how to adequately prepare for Warped Tour. At this point in time, musically, the festival had entered its third and final phase. The lineup was mostly a few legacy acts plus whatever is trendy in alternative music. This year had the best overall lineup of this era. Come on, metalcore isn’t that bad when it’s live. At least until the clean vocals kick in.
As punk and emo took over the mainstream in the early 2000s, Warped Tour expanded its reach as well. 2006 brought together a solid lineup of classic and new bands, including some who got their break on the Warped Tour and are now returning as marquee names. We had a solid plan to stay hydrated and sober, which we followed, but we got our nose broken in the pit so we spent the day in the medical tent anyway. Reggie and the Full Effect fans go hard for some reason, must be some of the people that only got into them because of Coalesce.
Another classic lineup of punk, ska, and hardcore. At this point, we figured out how to handle our booze. Unfortunately, this was the year we learned about heat stroke during Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. It’s hard to believe swing dancing in 100-degree heat could end poorly. We missed Save Ferris because we passed out. We missed Snapcase because we didn’t know who they were. Still kicking ourselves for that one.
This is pound for pound the best Warped Tour lineup after 2004. Maybe it’s because punk and other styles of alternative rock music had been supported by the mainstream for the better part of a decade and this year’s tour reflects that. Maybe it’s because the tour hadn’t sold its soul just yet. Getting to mosh to The Bouncing Souls with a bunch of 40-year-olds and then walking over to scream along to Pierce the Veil while knocking over preteens was the perfect blend of classic and current music and culture that this festival cultivates.
Do you see this lineup?! Forget the fact that you’re seeing all these bands in one place, just imagine seeing them in 1997. It was the summer of ska, baby! Everyone was checkered out and I’m pretty sure Face to Face had a trumpet player. Sadly, it was also the last time the members of Buck-O-Nine and Hepcat could look down and scoff at Limp Bizkit. Talk about an end of an era.
This was likely the most musically diverse lineup in the history of Warped Tour. We got to rock out to H2O before walking over to the Rollins Band merch table for a quick lecture. We even brought an extra shoe to throw at Michael Graves only to realize he had recently been kicked out of the Misfits. We even saw Kool Keith, Esham, and 311 rapping at punks and hardcore kids. The only letdown was when Me First and the Gimme Gimmes decided to play an entire set of covers for some reason.
This was just a straight-up fun lineup. There was a great mix of classic and current punk bands. This was a real sweet spot for Warped Tour where the bands were popular but not yet commercial. Plus, Andrew W.K. was there. We didn’t get a chance to catch his set, but everyone could feel his energy radiating throughout the entire festival. Although that could have been the sun beating down on us. We knew to bring enough water this year but we left our sunscreen at home because we’re not dorks.
Just look at that lineup. Name one band you wouldn’t mosh to in 1999. Push pits galore! Board shorts too! This year we brought our skateboard but apparently, only professional skaters get to perform. Sorry, we thought this was a punk show. Anyway, it was sick seeing Ice-T play with Body Count live. It was wild when Blink-182 streaked during Cop Killer.
Ah, the perfect Warped Tour lineup. There are classic punk, ska, and hardcore bands from across Warped Tour’s history. There are currently popular bands, many of whom got their break by performing on the Warped Tour. Finally, there was a healthy dose of up-and-coming bands that people would regret not seeing when they had the chance. People like me. I missed this one because I had to choose between going to Warped or the Projekt Revolution tour and I wasn’t gonna miss a potential Snoop Dogg x Linkin Park collab.
