The Clash Songs Ranked

The Clash is the self-titled debut studio album by English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 8 April 1977 through CBS Records. Written and recorded over three weeks in February 1977 for £4,000, it would go on to reach No. 12 on the UK charts, and has been included on many retrospective rankings as one of the greatest punk albums of all time. Songs on the album were composed by guitarists Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, with the notable exception of the reggae cover “Police and Thieves”. Several songs from these sessions, including “Janie Jones”, “White Riot”, and “London’s Burning” became classics of the punk genre and were among the first punk songs to see significant presence on singles charts. The album featured Jones and Strummer sharing guitar and vocal duties, with Paul Simonon on bass and Terry Chimes on drums. The album was not released in the US until 1979, making it their second US release. The US version also included a significantly different track listing, changing the track order and swapping out several songs for non-album tracks recorded in the interim. Here are all of The Clash songs ranked.

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14. Garageland

“The riff at the start is The Rolling Stone’s “Brown sugar”. Chalk and cheese vocal pairing. Harmonica features. Nice thumping two beats on the drums, a la “Baby it’s you” by Promises. I like the rhythm guitar outro…the last 45 seconds or so…reminds me of another song, which I just can’t place. Good lyric in “The truth is only known by guttersnipes”.

13. What’s My Name

“Has a nice guitar and drum intro to this song. Song has an interesting tone to it. Nice and bassy. Vocals are rhythmic and backing vocals are effete…combination works well. Vocals and drums are catchy. Sounds sort of familiar at times.”

12. 48 Hours

“Not on the US version of this album. intro a bit different…not punk. Seems to me that this song references musically the classic 1960s Australian song “Friday on my mind” by The Easybeats. Has backing vocals, and the main vocal was catchier second time around. Nice and bassy track…featuring the double bass? Lead guitar has a 1950s rock’n’roll vibe to it. Lyrics are hard to understand. Joe strummer was apparently notorious on this front.”

11. Hate & War

“Hate & war has a mid-tempo song with effete pop vocals. Backing vocals are more manly sounding. Some unintentional distortion.”

10. Police & Thieves

A 6:03 minutes long song. Sort of familiar intro. Laid back track. A bit reggae. Bassy…double bass features? You do get two different bass sounds at times. Has repetitive lyrics. Effete backing vocals (i.e. the other guy who sings in the band). Studio effects are utilised.”

See more: The Clash Albums Ranked Worst to Best

9. White Riot

“Energetic, laddish punk song with guitar lead guitar work, including solo. Has backing vocals. I think that this song is about being afraid to exercise mob power…perhaps mob power is viewed as a good thing, sometimes?”

8. Protex Blue

“The other guy sings lead here. Intro is sort of thrashy sounding at times. Lead guitar has a 1950s rock’n’roll vibe to it. Guitar and drums have a different tone to them. Vocals have a rock’n’roll vibe to them as well.”

7. I’m So Bored With the U.S.A.

“I’m so bored with the USA’s guitar intro reminds me of The Sex Pistols…”Liar”? Nice and bassy track. Has backing vocals. Everything a punk classic should possess is contained within ‘The Clash’ and it pretty much set the blueprint for every young (and not so young) disaffected group that followed in its footsteps. “

See more: The Clash Songs Ranked

6. Cheat

“Not on the US version of this album. Perhaps this was left off the US release due to the “f” word being used? Bassy, with spacey effects at times. Lead guitar not bad near the end…has an interesting tone to it as well. Song has some drug references too, I think. There seems to be a glitch on one syllable 24 seconds in”

5. Remote Control

“Remote control has a nice and bassy tracky. Effete pop vocal style. Backing vocals. Frequent unintentional distortion. Vocal melody is sort of catchy.”

4. Career Opportunities

“Catchy chorus bit which has some thrashy elements to it (think Metallica’s “Battery” for a comparison). You get some “Oi!”s thrown in at times. Not sure if that qualifies this song as “Oi!” punk though! Bassy, with good emphatic drum parts.”

3. Janie Jones

“Janie Jones has an interesting drum intro. Some humour in the lyrics. A good strong bass line in the left channel. Grinding guitar on the right hand channel. Sort of catchy.”

2. Deny

“Not on the US version of this album. Lacks the classic guitar sound but has some nice ethereal lead guitar note picking (playing a nice-ish melody). Vocal stylings reminiscent of the Ramones at times.”

1. London’s Burning

“London’s burning has a catchy laddish/geezer vocals which are hard to understand at times. Emphatic, thumping drums. Backing vocals. Lead guitar work.”