10 Albums That Defined Rock And Roll
7. London Calling - The Clash
Towards the end of the '70s, the Clash were looking like the one band that was going to bring punk rock to the masses. After the Sex Pistols quickly dissolved into their own self destruction and the Ramones nearly getting killed during their Phil Spector years, it looked like Joe Strummer's unique brand of power chord politics could be what sent them over the top. While they eventually made it to the top of the rock food chain, they did it by rewriting punk rock altogether.
Make no mistake, London Calling is still a punk record from skin to core, except for a few more genres sprinkled in for good measure. Though tracks like the title track and Koka Kola are the kind of short and sweet punk punchiness you'd expect, there are even more sonic detours like Jimmy Jazz and Wrong Em Boyo that take things into the worlds of reggae and world music.
Despite their habit of politics, these songs seem to speak more for the everyman rather than the punk burnout, with songs like Lost in the Supermarket taking on big budget consumerism and how everything seems to be artificial in the straight world. With just this one album, the Clash stopped being a band for the punks and became a band for everyone.