Originally released in May 1982, ‘Combat Rock’ is the final album from The Clash of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon. Featuring two of the band’s most well-known songs, ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ and ‘Rock The Casbah’, plus favourites ‘Straight To Hell’ and ‘Know Your Rights’, it is both their biggest selling album and highest charting set in both the UK and US. ‘Combat Rock’ is indicative of The Clash’s constant evolution and was influenced in part by the relatively recent end of the Vietnam War, particularly on ‘Sean Flynn’, inspired by the disappearance of the photojournalist and film star’s son. The band’s curiosity and range is illustrated by the many styles and voices here, notably poet Allen Ginsberg’s apocalyptic spoken word on ‘Ghetto Defendant’ and graffiti artist Futura’s rap on ‘Overpowered By Funk’. The Clash’s influence on punk, post-punk and indie rock is well documented and ‘Combat Rock’ specifically continues to inspire waves of rediscovery from new audiences, most notably with the use of ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ as a prominent plot device in the first season of the Netflix smash ‘Stranger Things’. Meanwhile, ‘Straight To Hell’ remains instantly recognisable having been used in ‘Paper Planes’ by M.I.A.
