10 Rock Songs You Didn't Realize Were Protest Tracks

Most people in tune with the punk crowd knew just how political the Clash could be at the best of times. Even if you couldn’t make out just what Joe Strummer was saying some of the time, you knew that rock was never going to sound the same after you heard a song like White Riot. They did have the chance to get off the soapbox when they wanted to though, but Complete Control still had that fire under its belly.

During the recording of their first album, one of the main complaints that they got was that there were no standout singles, something that didn’t seem to fit with the Clash ethos at the time. Almost as a slight jab back at the higher ups, Complete Control is the kind of poppy song that’s almost too peppy for its own good, as Joe tries on his best impression of a pop rocker with the “oh-oh” chorus. If you look at the rest of the lyrics, this whole song could practically be considered a troll unto itself, describing all of the events that led them to recording this song, calling out the higher ups for bringing them in to make another song and Joe talking about how he feels like he’s practically being controlled to make the kind of radio friendly schlock like this.

That flew over most of the heads of the suits though, becoming one of the biggest standalone singles from the band and eventually being included on the re-released US version of their debut record. Looking back on it now, there’s a certain irony hitting the big time by trash talking the people in control of the big bucks.