Because we recently celebrated the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday in the US, it seems like a good time to highlight the Clash’s commitment to fight racism in the UK and around the world. But first, some thoughts on the current campaign in the US against teaching the truth about America’s history in our schools, my own recollections of Dr. King’s assassination, and the tendency of some white Americans to cherry pick and misquote Dr. King this time of year. I conclude this segment with these lines from Maya Angelou’s poem for Bill Clinton’s first inauguration, “On the Pulse of the Morning”:
History, despite its wrenching painCannot be unlived, but if facedWith courage, need not be lived again.
Moving on to the main discussion in this week’s episode, I talk about the Clash’s fight against racism from the very start of their career, inspired in large part by Joe’s and Paul’s experiences during the Notting Hill Carnival riot in August 1976. That led Joe to write the lyrics to “White Riot” and to the band’s brilliant cover of Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves,” both of which appeared on the band’s debut album, The Clash. This also led, in part, to the band’s historic performance at the Rock Against Racism concert in London’s Victoria Park in April 1978. (For more on Eric Clapton’s embrace of Enoch Powell and his racist meltdown in 1976, see When Eric Clapton’s Bigoted 1976 Rant Sparked Rock Against Racism.)
On a related note, I also discuss Chuck D’s essay in Antonino D’Ambrosio’s Let Fury Have the Hour, titled “Strange Bedfellows: How the Clash Inspired Public Enemy.” And since we’re on the topic of the MLK holiday, check out Public Enemy’s epic track,“By the Time I Get to Arizona”.
Finally, in this week’s Great Artists, Good People segment, I talk about one of the greatest hard rock bands of all time, Living Colour. Be sure to follow them on social media (@LivingColour on Twitter) and definitely follow guitarist extraordinaire Vernon Reid (@vurnt22), a living encyclopedia of art, music, and culture. (One correction: I mistakenly said Living Colour’s cover of “Should I Stay or Should I Go” is on Shade. In fact, it’s on the extended release of Vivid).
So please give it a listen and share your thoughts in the comments. And like Joe always said, “Without people, you’re nothing.”
