I f any band ever stood a chance of living up to its hyperbole, then that band must be The Clash.

Dubbed in their heyday “The Only Band That Matters”, there were times during their storied career when that appellation didn’t seem so outlandish. Riding the vanguard of punk, their 1977 self-titled debut album defined the genre and the era, and they became trailblazers of a form of impassioned, politically charged rock that transcended musical boundaries. Over the course of six studio albums and a handful of non-album singles, The Clash continually demonstrated that they were capable of achieving just about anything they desired.

Exactly 40 years ago, on 14 December 1979, their third album London Calling, the unquestioned exemplar of their range, energy and ambition, was released. Unusually, it was a double album, normally the preserve of the live-album-as-contract-fulfilment or Seventies prog-rockers who took themselves and their music all too seriously – but it took all four sides of vinyl to harness the broad church of styles that the band were now exploring.

London Calling demonstrated that The Clash had evolved into a great rock band, one that also took rewarding excursions into reggae, rockabilly, ska and what can only be described as roots-based punk’n’roll. Their musical adventures would continue on subsequent albums, on which they would also embrace dub, rap, dance and good old classic rock.

London Calling remains a fixture on the greatest-ever-albums lists, so in celebration of its 40th birthday, here’s my pick of the 20 best Clash songs ever.

Click through the gallery below or scroll down to see the 20 best songs by The Clash:

The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time Show all 20 1 /20 The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 20. London’s Burning, 1977 The rough and ready production of The Clash’s self-titled debut album was a perfect reproduction of the band’s live act of the time, with the songs capturing the frustration and anger of what it was like to be a young person in Britain in the late 1970s. The anger and passion of “London’s Burning” sums up the album and indeed the country at the time: discontent and boredom reigned and groups like The Clash sought to smash through the complacency of a society content just to sit in front of the telly every night. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 19. The Call Up, 1980 Depending on your viewpoint, The Clash’s fourth album, Sandinista!, was either one of rock’s great triumphs or one of its most romantic follies. A wildly ambitious triple album, it sold for the price of a single album and encompassed almost every genre imaginable in popular music. With 36 tracks spread over six sides, Sandinista! makes other candidates for “It would have made a great single album” lists – such as the Beatles White album – look like models of restraint. This is one track that would escape any cull, a protest song based around the reintroduction of the draft by US president Jimmy Carter. “The Call Up” was released as a single and scraped into the UK top 40, and its somewhat apocalyptic vision didn’t stop it becoming popular on the US dance floor. Ian Dickson/Shutterstock The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 18. Career Opportunities, 1977 This celebrated track from their debut album points out that some unfortunates’ career opportunities involve opening letter bombs from the IRA – if, like Mick Jones, they work in government establishments. So, not a good career move, then. Far better to form a punk band and make some of the greatest music of the rock era. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 17. Bankrobber, 1980 A non-album single with an anti-capitalist stance that plugged the gap between London Calling and Sandinista!, originally only available on import. When officially released, “Bankrobber” reached No 12 in the UK and, with its pronounced dub influence, demonstrated that even after the acclaim for London Calling, The Clash still sought to broaden their musical horizons without losing their political fire. Getty Images The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 16. I Fought the Law, 1979 With its garage-band origins, the Bobby Fuller Four standard from 1965 was the perfect song for The Clash to cover as part of the Cost of Living EP. By adding their own particular brand of punk defiance to the mix, they came up with this tremendous version: if you didn’t know any better, you could be forgiven for mistaking the song for one of their own. AFP/Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 15. Stay Free, 1978 Sandy Pearlman’s high-gloss production on The Clash’s second album came in for much criticism, but they were already looking to broaden their range and had half an eye on cracking America. There are certainly a couple of songs on Give ’Em Enough Rope that when compared with the raw energy of their debut, are incredibly melodic in places. This is one of them, a semi-autobiographical Mick Jones song about old schoolfriend Robin Crocker, who got into trouble with the law before becoming part of the band’s entourage. Complete with winning pop hooks and a tender vocal from Jones, it’s a side of The Clash not often heard, and all the more effective for it. Getty Images The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 14. The Guns of Brixton, 1979 The Clash loved reggae and were keen to incorporate elements into their songs from the word go, covering Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves” on their first album. Written and sung by bassist and long-time reggae aficionado Paul Simonon, his first solo composition, the brooding and menacing “The Guns of Brixton” is an uncannily prescient depiction of police harassment and urban unrest, and demonstrated that by the time of London Calling the pupils had become the masters. The song refers to the 1972 cult Jamaican movie The Harder They Come and was given the ultimate compliment when the film’s star, Jimmy Cliff, covered it in 2011. The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 13. Safe European Home, 1978 Unnerved by the amount of violence they encountered during a holiday in Jamacia, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones composed this full-on rocker and, demonstrating how quickly they had progressed as musicians, it became the opening track to the band’s second album, Give ’Em Enough Rope. By now, Topper Headon was the Clash drummer and, with due respect to Terry Chimes, whose contribution should never be underestimated, the classic Clash line-up was now complete. Headon’s thumping fills are all over this, along with great harmonies and dual vocals from Strummer and Jones, but the real star of this track may well be the much-maligned production from Sandy Pearlman, with the fade-away and comeback at the song’s outro simply irresistible. Hulton Archive/Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 12. Spanish Bombs, 1979 Written in response to terrorist attacks on tourist hotels in Spain, London Calling’s “Spanish Bombs” contains a scathing message couched in a brilliant pop melody. Joe Strummer drew parallels with, and paid tribute to the heroes of the Spanish Civil War in their fight against Franco, while condemning the tourists oblivious to the country’s history. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 11. Rock the Casbah, 1982 One of the highlights of Combat Rock and probably as mainstream as the band got, this song combines Strummer’s lyrics, inspired by the ban on disco music in Iran, and Topper Headon’s music, which helped make it the most danceable of Clash songs. It wasn’t a big UK hit initially, only just cracking the top 30 on its first release before reaching No 15 on its re-release in 1991. Helped by a nifty video, however, “Rock the Casbah” finally provided their major top 10 breakthrough in the US in early 1983, by which time Headon had left the band, with Jones about to follow. The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 10. Should I Stay or Should I Go, 1982 Mick Jones’ bid for rock ’n’ roll immortality paid off handsomely with this riff-tastic classic rock staple from Combat Rock, which became a hit twice over. It stalled at No 17 in the UK on its original release but, with punk ideology well and truly consigned to the past, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” was used in a Levi’s jeans commercial in 1991 and re-released. It became a surprise UK No 1, which probably says it all about the power of advertising. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 9. Clampdown, 1979 Very few bands have given us as many inspirational call to arms anthems as The Clash and this is one of their finest, from London Calling. “Clampdown” rails against those intent on stealing the best years of your life. It’s a plea to fight against society’s expectations and parental pressure to conform, and it’s a foot-stomping Clash rocker of the highest order. Getty Images The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 8. The Magnificent Seven, 1980 While recording Sandinista! in New York, The Clash immersed themselves in the new hip-hop sounds emerging from the city’s music scene. One of the results was this, the opening track on Sandinista!. The title could, of course, refer to the famous movie, but it’s more likely a nod to the seven o’clock alarm call that kicks off the working day. Written and recorded in just two hours, with Strummer virtually adlibbing the lyrics as they came to him. With its hypnotic bass line, “The Magnificent Seven” went down a storm in the clubs of the Big Apple and is credited in many quarters as being the first UK rap record. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 7. Lost in the Supermarket, 1979 From London Calling, this witty critique from Strummer on all-pervading American influences and the feeling of being out of step with an increasingly commercial world also references his and Mick Jones’ contrasting childhoods. Strummer drew on the wealth of choice available in his local supermarket and his resultant disorientation as a metaphor for how he imagined Mick Jones would have felt when abandoned by his parents. Arguably Jones’ best Clash vocal – full of wonder and rather moving. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 6. White Riot, 1977 The classic debut single and the classic Clash call for action, just two minutes in length and written by Strummer after he and Paul Simonon had been caught up in the Notting Hill riots. “White Riot” was much misunderstood at the time of its release and didn’t get a lot of airplay, which may have contributed to its lowly chart position of 38. It was actually a plea for white people to riot against the system, not against black people who Strummer felt were much more pro-active in making their protests heard. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 5. Train in Vain, 1979 The so-called “hidden track” on the London Calling album was only added at the last minute after the album covers had been printed, and it was an instant classic destined to be covered by numerous disparate artists. The meaning of the title is thought to be a tribute to Topper Headon’s drumming, which Mick Jones compared to the rhythm of a train. Funky and rootsy, “Train in Vain” became the band’s first hit in the US, reaching No 23 in the Billboard charts. Annie Lennox, the Black Crowes and Dwight Yoakam are just some of the acts who have covered the song and it has also been extensively sampled by several artists. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 4. Complete Control, 1977 Rather peeved that CBS had released “Remote Control” as their second single without their permission, The Clash channelled their outrage into their next 45 produced by Jamaican music legend Lee “Scratch” Perry and featuring some ferocious soloing from Mick Jones. With its evisceration of their record label, “Complete Control” belongs in an exclusive club alongside the Sex Pistols’ “EMI” and Graham Parker’s “Mercury Poisoning”, but the song’s ire also hits other targets including punk ideology already under attack from corporate leeching and the band’s own management who wanted “complete control”. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 3. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais, 1978 After attending a reggae all-nighter at the Hammersmith Palais, Joe Strummer left feeling disappointed with the experience, considering the musical fare less rootsy than he expected and more like reggae-by-numbers. Coming after their seminal punk debut, this lyrically brilliant groundbreaking hybrid of pop, punk and reggae came as a real shock to many, but it pointed to one of the (many) paths the band would soon take. It’s a typical Strummer state-of-the-nation address that condemns the rise of the National Front and makes a plea for racial unity, while tossing in a few barbs about the state of the current music scene. Strummer was rightly proud of the song and it was played at his funeral in 2002. Getty The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 2. London Calling, 1979 “I wanted it to sound like it was coming through fog over the Thames,” said Joe Strummer of the anthemic title track from The Clash’s seminal third album. Fear of the Thames flooding London fuelled Strummer’s lyrics, detailing a world hurtling towards the apocalypse, but “London Calling” (the title references the BBC World Service wartime address) also reflects on the group’s internal struggles and the end of the punk rock era that The Clash embodied as they evolved into a great rock ’n’ roll band. A momentous record, once heard never forgotten, but not quite the greatest Clash song. The 20 greatest Clash songs of all time 1. Straight to Hell, 1982 A song written the best part of four decades ago, it sounds even more relevant now. From Combat Rock, it’s an homage to displaced people all around the world, which also touches on England’s abandoned steel mills before taking careful aim at American soldiers who abandoned the children they had fathered during their service in Vietnam. The stark, spectral beauty of the music, the intensely moving lyrics and Strummer’s desolate vocal combine for a haunting, unforgettable experience. Joe Strummer himself considered “Straight to Hell” a masterpiece, and for me, it’s The Clash’s greatest song, but such is their wonderful body of work, there are many more candidates. Getty Images

20. London’s Burning, 1977

The rough and ready production of The Clash’s self-titled debut album was a perfect reproduction of the band’s live act of the time, with the songs capturing the frustration and anger of what it was like to be a young person in Britain in the late 1970s. The anger and passion of “London’s Burning” sums up the album and indeed the country at the time: discontent and boredom reigned and groups like The Clash sought to smash through the complacency of a society content just to sit in front of the telly every night.

19. The Call Up, 1980

Depending on your viewpoint, The Clash’s fourth album, Sandinista!, was either one of rock’s great triumphs or one of its most romantic follies. A wildly ambitious triple album, it sold for the price of a single album and encompassed almost every genre imaginable in popular music. With 36 tracks spread over six sides, Sandinista! makes other candidates for “It would have made a great single album” lists – such as the Beatles White album – look like models of restraint. This is one track that would escape any cull, a protest song based around the reintroduction of the draft by US president Jimmy Carter. “The Call Up” was released as a single and scraped into the UK top 40, and its somewhat apocalyptic vision didn’t stop it becoming popular on the US dance floor.

18. Career Opportunities, 1977

This celebrated track from their debut album points out that some unfortunates’ career opportunities involve opening letter bombs from the IRA – if, like Mick Jones, they work in government establishments. So, not a good career move, then. Far better to form a punk band and make some of the greatest music of the rock era.

17. Bankrobber, 1980

A non-album single with an anti-capitalist stance that plugged the gap between London Calling and Sandinista!, originally only available on import. When officially released, “Bankrobber” reached No 12 in the UK and, with its pronounced dub influence, demonstrated that even after the acclaim for London Calling, The Clash still sought to broaden their musical horizons without losing their political fire.

16. I Fought the Law, 1979

With its garage-band origins, the Bobby Fuller Four standard from 1965 was the perfect song for The Clash to cover as part of the Cost of Living EP. By adding their own particular brand of punk defiance to the mix, they came up with this tremendous version: if you didn’t know any better, you could be forgiven for mistaking the song for one of their own.

15. Stay Free, 1978

Sandy Pearlman’s high-gloss production on The Clash’s second album came in for much criticism, but they were already looking to broaden their range and had half an eye on cracking America. There are certainly a couple of songs on Give ’Em Enough Rope that when compared with the raw energy of their debut, are incredibly melodic in places. This is one of them, a semi-autobiographical Mick Jones song about old schoolfriend Robin Crocker, who got into trouble with the law before becoming part of the band’s entourage. Complete with winning pop hooks and a tender vocal from Jones, it’s a side of The Clash not often heard, and all the more effective for it.

14. The Guns of Brixton, 1979

The Clash loved reggae and were keen to incorporate elements into their songs from the word go, covering Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves” on their first album. Written and sung by bassist and long-time reggae aficionado Paul Simonon, his first solo composition, the brooding and menacing “The Guns of Brixton” is an uncannily prescient depiction of police harassment and urban unrest, and demonstrated that by the time of London Calling the pupils had become the masters. The song refers to the 1972 cult Jamaican movie The Harder They Come and was given the ultimate compliment when the film’s star, Jimmy Cliff, covered it in 2011.

The 20 best albums of 1979 Show all 20 1 /20 The 20 best albums of 1979 The 20 best albums of 1979 20 Joe Jackson – I’m the Man Lazily lumped in with punk’s “angry young man” brigade, classically trained Jackson swiftly proved there was much more to him on his auspicious debut album Look Sharp! The even better I’m the Man retained the breathless energy of the former and didn’t mess too much with the formula with a couple of striking ballads “Amateur Hour” and “It’s Different For Girls” which proved a natural follow up single to “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”, and striking observations of his new found fame (”On Your Radio”). On the title track he’s an Arthur Daley figure selling 1970s fads to the masses – “Kung fu, well that was one of my good ones”. However, two albums into his career, Jackson was already moving on, and he wouldn’t sound quite like this ever again. The 20 best albums of 1979 19 Ry Cooder – Bop Till You Drop The first digitally recorded album by a major label continued musicologist Cooder’s journey through the history of American roots music which began at the start of the decade with his self-titled debut album. Mostly concentrating on lesser known 1950s and 60s rhythm and blues and soul, Bop Til You Drop includes a fine Elvis cover (“Little Sister”) and an instrumental version of Ike and Tina Turner’s “I Think It’s Going to Work Out Fine”, and Chaka Khan guests on a couple of tracks, but stick around for the closing track “I Can’t Win” for the great but still unsung soul singer Bobby King’s beautiful vocal. The 20 best albums of 1979 18 Sister Sledge – We Are Family Typecast as serial underachievers, the four sisters from Philadelphia became one of many acts to benefit from the patronage of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards when the duo applied the Chic Midas touch to their third album. The result was a record full of disco classics, including four hit singles, “Lost in Music”, “He’s the Greatest Dancer”, “Thinking of You”, and the epic title track, all of which define the classic Chic sound. The 20 best albums of 1979 17 Marianne Faithfull – Broken English The album on which Faithfull, her once purest of crystalline voices ravaged by laryngitis and years of drug abuse, reinvented herself as a smokey-voiced chronicler of the dark side of life. A strong new wave influence permeates Broken English with Steve Winwood’s synthesizers adding a dreamy ambience to proceedings. Faithfull herself called Broken English her masterpiece and it’s hard to disagree. Many of the songs could be viewed as partly autobiographical, particularly her warm cover of “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” and the raging “Why’d Ya Do It” which even now shocks with her venomous delivery of the X-rated lyrics. Getty Images The 20 best albums of 1979 16 The Jam – Setting Sons The follow up to All Mod Cons found the Jam well on their way to becoming the biggest band in the country with Paul Weller establishing himself as the natural successor to Ray Davies as the foremost commentator on British society’s ills. Setting Sons provided the Jam with their first top ten single with “The Eton Rifles”, a scathing critique of Britain’s class divisions and there are several songs such as “Thick as Thieves” and “Little Boy Soldiers” that give a big clue to Setting Son’s original concept of three boyhood friends reuniting after serving in the British Army. Bruce Foxton contributed the excellent “Smithers Jones”, although we could certainly do without the cover of “Heatwave”. The 20 best albums of 1979 15 AC/DC – Highway to Hell The last AC/DC album to feature original frontman Bon Scott proved to be their breakthrough record and deserves its status as one of the key hard rock albums of the era. The album’s success owed much to Mutt Lange’s production which smoothed much of the rough edges that characterised previous albums without losing any of the group’s raw power. Monstrous riffs abound on essential AC/DC tracks such as “Beating Around the Bush” (the main riff of which bears more than a passing resemblance to Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well”), “Touch Too Much”, “Girls Got Rhythm” and the legendary title track, the definitive life on the road anthem. Getty The 20 best albums of 1979 14 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Damn the Torpedoes The dazzling 1-2-3 thrust of “Refugee”, “Here Comes My Girl” and “Even the Losers” gets this terrific album, arguably Petty’s best, off to a flyer, and the quality barely drops thereafter. Petty’s enduring influences – the Byrds, the Stones, Sixties British invasion bands – are all still much in evidence but this is the album where Petty really blossomed as a songwriter as he and his great band effortlessly straddle the gulf between new wave and classic rock. AFP/Getty Images The 20 best albums of 1979 13 Public Image Ltd – Metal Box If John Lydon’s new band’s debut album the previous year didn’t deviate too much from the punk rock template, then the follow up was a different kettle of fish altogether, an album which introduced the avant garde to the singles charts and mixed Swan Lake with a bass-heavy disco groove (”Swan Lake”). Metal Box’s modal mix of dub, reggae and noise rock garnered ecstatic reviews on release and forty years on remains an enduring example of Lydon’s unique vision. The 20 best albums of 1979 12 Van Morrison – Into the Music Van had taken a three year sabbatical after 1974’s superb Veedon Fleece and returned with a couple of middling albums A Period of Transition and Wavelength. Into the Music was a stunning return to form and presaged a decade of varied and interesting work before he settled for the autumnal slumber of the past two decades. There’s no Moaning Boy Blues here, rather a celebratory tone permeates the album on the likes of (”Troubadours” and “Steppin’ Out Queen”) and Van looks forward to the spiritual route he would take on his next albums Common One and Beautiful Vision on the uplifting “Bright Side of the Road“ and “Full Force Gale”, and the rollicking “Rolling Hills”. “And the Healing Has Begun” is the beginning of Morrison’s obsession with the healing power of music. The 20 best albums of 1979 11 The Specials – The Specials The Specials debut album followed hard on the heels of their revolutionary “Gangsters” single, and while it didn’t include that particular 45, the band’s two subsequent slices of social commentary that lit up the singles charts, “Message to You, Rudy” and “Too Much Too Young”, were. The rest of the album follows the same compelling formula: a fusion of punk energy and 60s ska and reggae, mostly group originals such as “Stupid Marriage” which covered the same territory as “Too Much Too Young” and the scathing “Doesn’t Make It Alright”, mixed with covers of key figures in Jamaican music – Toots and the Maytals’ “Monkey Man” and Prince Buster’s “Too Hot”. Elvis Costello produced, and as a state of the nation address documenting a time and a place, The Specials is hard to top. REUTERS The 20 best albums of 1979 10 Elvis Costello – Armed Forces Costello’s run of great albums showed no sign of abating with his third release which has been called his political album. “Green Shirt”, “Goon Squad and “Two Little Hitlers” all reinforce that assertion with “Accidents Will Happen” and “Oliver’s Army” once more demonstrating Costello’s gift for couching controversial subjects in catchy radio-friendly songs. Armed Forces found the incredibly prolific Costello at his artistic and commercial peak and he was already working on the 20 songs that would appear on his next gem, Get Happy! Rex The 20 best albums of 1979 9 Pink Floyd – The Wall A sprawling double album that still divides opinion, the concept’s bleak subject matter – the mental decline of a rock star, the vacuousness of the rock star lifestyle and society’s oppression of the individual as embodied on “Nobody Home” was based on Roger Waters own experiences. It’s a heavy listen it must be said, but “Comfortably Numb” and the surprise Christmas No 1 “Another Brick in the Wall” lighten the load. Getty The 20 best albums of 1979 8 Gang of Four – Entertainment! Uncompromising, politically charged post-punk with hints of reggae and dub from the radical and influential Leeds quartet whose funky rhythms along with Andy Gill’s slashing cut-and-run guitar technique made for an unlikely but compulsively danceable mix. Totally unique at the time, Entertainment! didn’t quite establish the “agit-pop” genre, but look for Gang of Four’s influence on the likes of Rage Against the Machine and the Red Hot Chili Peppers on tracks such as “I Found That Essence Rare” and “Damaged Goods”. The 20 best albums of 1979 7 Fleetwood Mac – Tusk Tasked with following up two huge-selling albums in a row, Fleetwood Mac resisted the temptation to follow the air-brushed soft rock template of Fleetwood Mac and Rumours. Guided by Lindsey Buckingham they moved into largely uncharted new-wave-influenced territory with the experimental Tusk. It was the first album to cost a million dollars to make and sold “only” four million copies, earning it a reputation as a commercial flop. This double album was no artistic flop however – Tusk is quite probably the group’s greatest achievement with “Sara”, “Sisters of the Moon”, “Save Me a Place”, “Think About Me” and the spectacular title track, marching band and all, just some of the many highlights. Getty The 20 best albums of 1979 6 Michael Jackson – Off the Wall Michael Jackson’s first album after leaving Motown and teaming up with Quincy Jones was a revelation at the time and marked his transition to sophisticated adult performer with an album full of dance-funk classics interspersed with heart-rending ballads.The title track, “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, “Rock With You” and “She’s Out of My Life” on which Jackson’s tears are real, were all huge hit singles and the cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Can’t Help It” is sublime. The 20 best albums of 1979 5 Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps Neil Young ended a decade in which he resolutely trod his own path by reuniting with his most trusted collaborators Crazy Horse and the result was one of his finest albums. The title and concept – an acoustic side followed by the electric side two and mostly recorded live, aptly summed up both Young’s refusal to stay still artistically and his career up to that point. “Powderfinger”, one of his greatest rockers, is counterbalanced by the delicate “Pocahontas”, and the album is bookended by two versions of the same song, “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)” and “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Black)” in which Young, concerned that with the coming of punk he had become redundant, namechecked Johnny Rotten. The former’s famous lyric “It’s better to burn out than to fade away” was included in Kurt Cobain’s suicide note, causing Young much anguish and soul-searching. (ALICE CHICHE/AFP/Getty Images) The 20 best albums of 1979 4 Graham Parker and the Rumour – Squeezing Out Sparks Parker came out of the pub/rock movement, but his biting lyrics and highly charged live performances had more than a hint of punk attitude and soon he was the critics’ darling. Parker’s performance and the fantastic songs on Squeezing Out Sparks vividly demonstrate why comparisons to Dylan, Springsteen and Van Morrison didn’t seem outlandish forty years ago and still don’t now. There are so many Parker classics here: the raw urgency of “Discovering Japan”, “Local Girls”, the smash hit single that eluded him, and the almost unbearable emotional intensity of “You Can’t Be Too Strong”and “Passion is No Ordinary Word”. “Love Gets You Twisted” is a typically caustic Parker observation of the follies of love and when he sneers that “Saturday Nite Is Dead”, you can’t help but believe him. The 20 best albums of 1979 3 Talking Heads – Fear of Music The cover of Al Green’s “Take Me To the River” on Talking Heads second album foreshadowed the dance beats and African rhythms that would dominate their subsequent albums as exemplified by Fear of Music’s opening track “I Zimbra”. Paranoia and fear stalk this record in the shape of “Life During Wartime” and “Cities” and there’s a tired, beautiful resignation about “Heaven”, with David Byrne’s phobia of the modern world prevalent throughout, even as the group moved further and further away from their CBGB beginnings to explore the unbounded possibilities of studio technology. Getty Images The 20 best albums of 1979 2 Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures The timeless debut album from the definitive post-punk band was released to widespread acclaim and its reputation has continued to grow over the past four decades. Owing much to Martin Hannett’s landmark production, Unknown Pleasures emits an austere beauty and pulses with energy. With bass and drums high in the mix, Bernard Sumner’s piercing guitar lines and Ian Curtis’s haunting delivery of lyrics that resonate with alienation and despair, the result is an album full of raw, visceral power, notably on the ominous “Day of the Lords”, the harrowing “Shadowplay” and the poignant “She’s Lost Control” which Curtis, who was an epileptic, wrote for a girl he knew who had the same condition when he learned she had died. Nothing like Unknown Pleasures had ever been heard before and it remains infinitely influential. The 20 best albums of 1979 1 The Clash – London Calling An inspired double album on which the Clash left (most of) their punk roots behind on an astonishingly diverse range of styles including reggae, ska, rockabilly, pop and rock. Released to universal acclaim, London Calling presents the Clash at their most assured – there’s absolute no filler here as they demonstrated that they were capable of effortlessly achieving anything that they fancied. The anthemic roar of the title track, the menacing “Guns of Brixton”, the cover of Vince Taylor’s “Brand New Candidate”, the witty critique of overbearing American influences (”Lost in the Supermarket”), the rootsy “Train in Vain”, the call to arms to fight society’s expectations (”Clampdown”) are all amongst the Clash’s greatest moments. Rolling Stone may well have declared London Calling the album of the 1980s (it had a delayed release in the States), but the Clash’s towering achievement, the greatest album of 1979, brought the decade to a fitting closure.

13. Safe European Home, 1978

Unnerved by the amount of violence they encountered during a holiday in Jamacia, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones composed this full-on rocker and, demonstrating how quickly they had progressed as musicians, it became the opening track to the band’s second album, Give ’Em Enough Rope. By now, Topper Headon was the Clash drummer and, with due respect to Terry Chimes, whose contribution should never be underestimated, the classic Clash line-up was now complete. Headon’s thumping fills are all over this, along with great harmonies and dual vocals from Strummer and Jones, but the real star of this track may well be the much-maligned production from Sandy Pearlman, with the fade-away and comeback at the song’s outro simply irresistible.

12. Spanish Bombs, 1979

Written in response to terrorist attacks on tourist hotels in Spain, London Calling’s “Spanish Bombs” contains a scathing message couched in a brilliant pop melody. Joe Strummer drew parallels with, and paid tribute to the heroes of the Spanish Civil War in their fight against Franco, while condemning the tourists oblivious to the country’s history.

This single only reached No 30 in the UK, but broke the top 10 in the US

11. Rock the Casbah, 1982

One of the highlights of Combat Rock and probably as mainstream as the band got, this song combines Strummer’s lyrics, inspired by the ban on disco music in Iran, and Topper Headon’s music, which helped make it the most danceable of Clash songs. It wasn’t a big UK hit initially, only just cracking the top 30 on its first release before reaching No 15 on its re-release in 1991. Helped by a nifty video, however, “Rock the Casbah” finally provided their major top 10 breakthrough in the US in early 1983, by which time Headon had left the band, with Jones about to follow.

10. Should I Stay or Should I Go, 1982

Mick Jones’ bid for rock ’n’ roll immortality paid off handsomely with this riff-tastic classic rock staple from Combat Rock, which became a hit twice over. It stalled at No 17 in the UK on its original release but, with punk ideology well and truly consigned to the past, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” was used in a Levi’s jeans commercial in 1991 and re-released. It became a surprise UK No 1, which probably says it all about the power of advertising.

9. Clampdown, 1979

Very few bands have given us as many inspirational call to arms anthems as The Clash and this is one of their finest, from London Calling. “Clampdown” rails against those intent on stealing the best years of your life. It’s a plea to fight against society’s expectations and parental pressure to conform, and it’s a foot-stomping Clash rocker of the highest order.

8. The Magnificent Seven, 1980

While recording Sandinista! in New York, The Clash immersed themselves in the new hip-hop sounds emerging from the city’s music scene. One of the results was this, the opening track on Sandinista!. The title could, of course, refer to the famous movie, but it’s more likely a nod to the seven o’clock alarm call that kicks off the working day. Written and recorded in just two hours, with Strummer virtually adlibbing the lyrics as they came to him. With its hypnotic bass line, “The Magnificent Seven” went down a storm in the clubs of the Big Apple and is credited in many quarters as being the first UK rap record.

7. Lost in the Supermarket, 1979

From London Calling, this witty critique from Strummer on all-pervading American influences and the feeling of being out of step with an increasingly commercial world also references his and Mick Jones’ contrasting childhoods. Strummer drew on the wealth of choice available in his local supermarket and his resultant disorientation as a metaphor for how he imagined Mick Jones would have felt when abandoned by his parents. Arguably Jones’ best Clash vocal – full of wonder and rather moving.

On stage in 1980 (Fraser Gray/Rex)

6. White Riot, 1977

The classic debut single and the classic Clash call for action, just two minutes in length and written by Strummer after he and Paul Simonon had been caught up in the Notting Hill riots. “White Riot” was much misunderstood at the time of its release and didn’t get a lot of airplay, which may have contributed to its lowly chart position of 38. It was actually a plea for white people to riot against the system, not against black people who Strummer felt were much more pro-active in making their protests heard.

5. Train in Vain, 1979

The so-called “hidden track” on the London Calling album was only added at the last minute after the album covers had been printed, and it was an instant classic destined to be covered by numerous disparate artists. The meaning of the title is thought to be a tribute to Topper Headon’s drumming, which Mick Jones compared to the rhythm of a train. Funky and rootsy, “Train in Vain” became the band’s first hit in the US, reaching No 23 in the Billboard charts. Annie Lennox, the Black Crowes and Dwight Yoakam are just some of the acts who have covered the song and it has also been extensively sampled by several artists.

4. Complete Control, 1977

Rather peeved that CBS had released “Remote Control” as their second single without their permission, The Clash channelled their outrage into their next 45 produced by Jamaican music legend Lee “Scratch” Perry and featuring some ferocious soloing from Mick Jones. With its evisceration of their record label, “Complete Control” belongs in an exclusive club alongside the Sex Pistols’ “EMI” and Graham Parker’s “Mercury Poisoning”, but the song’s ire also hits other targets including punk ideology already under attack from corporate leeching and the band’s own management who wanted “complete control”.

3. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais, 1978

After attending a reggae all-nighter at the Hammersmith Palais, Joe Strummer left feeling disappointed with the experience, considering the musical fare less rootsy than he expected and more like reggae-by-numbers. Coming after their seminal punk debut, this lyrically brilliant groundbreaking hybrid of pop, punk and reggae came as a real shock to many, but it pointed to one of the (many) paths the band would soon take. It’s a typical Strummer state-of-the-nation address that condemns the rise of the National Front and makes a plea for racial unity, while tossing in a few barbs about the state of the current music scene. Strummer was rightly proud of the song and it was played at his funeral in 2002.

2. London Calling, 1979

“I wanted it to sound like it was coming through fog over the Thames,” said Joe Strummer of the anthemic title track from The Clash’s seminal third album. Fear of the Thames flooding London fuelled Strummer’s lyrics, detailing a world hurtling towards the apocalypse, but “London Calling” (the title references the BBC World Service wartime address) also reflects on the group’s internal struggles and the end of the punk rock era that The Clash embodied as they evolved into a great rock ’n’ roll band. A momentous record, once heard never forgotten, but not quite the greatest Clash song.

1. Straight to Hell, 1982