March 01, 2004

Give 'Em Enough Rope by The Clash

On one of the music mailing lists I subscribe to, a British DJ reported that he's been spinning discs for people's 50th birthday parties. He writes: "They love their Punk Rock, the last one I did there was a bunch of BBC middle managers leaping around to the Pistols and the Clash. That's your Punk Rock demographic." I'm not 50 yet, but I'm definitely in the Punk Rock demogrqphic. I've been revisiting my punk rock collection, and one album that still sounds fresh is The Clash's Give 'Em Enough Rope. Following their raw and wonderful debut album, Give 'Em Enough Rope is more polished, yet more energetic than the their first. From the first drum bang of "Safe European Home," this album tells me more about the punk era than anything else, including the Sex Pistols (which were really a fake band like the Monkees, assembled by Malcom McLaren after he saw the first punk bands from New York like Richard Hell & the Voidoids and The Ramones). Give 'Em Enough Rope may not be as artistic as The Clash's follow-up album, London Calling, but to me, it's the zenith of punk.
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