The Clash are the band that proved that too much money will destroy the heart and soul of an artist. Although Joe tried (at least publicly) to eschew material gain, there was simply too much riding on their success to keep him immune from the power of being a commodity. The Clash were and will always be the greatest rock and punk band ever in history. And the good bands know this. Dig the following second version of The Clash Covers, A to Z.
Before I get started: A Ben Folds cover of Lost in the Supermarket has been floating around, but I haven’t been able to get my hands on it. I’d love it if one of my readers could hook me up?
Okay: Z is for Zipfile, so anything not below as a single-song download will be in the folder. Enjoy.
A is for Armegiddeon Time. Joe doing his own song. But it’s still technically a cover because he did it on his own, on 9/28/02.
If that wasn’t okay for a cover, how about Anorak doing Somebody Got Murdered?
B is for Brand New Cadillac-Incognegro.
C is for Cracker doing White Riot.
D is for Death or Glory-Social Distortion. A particularly hot cover, I’d say.
E is for Ethan Lipton making “Corner Soul” a lot better than it was on the overindulgent Sandinista release. The sole misstep in the Clash’s career. And even that album was good enough to be better than most of the stuff released that year. This cover is from the 2007 release, “The Sandinista Project!”, which I highly recommend.
F is for the Bobby Fuller Four, who wrote I Fought The Law, which was covered by The Clash and, here, by Green Day.
G is for Guns of Brooklyn-Santogold and Diplo. One of the best blend/remixes of the year.
H is for Hateful-Tommy Stinson.
I is for I’m So Bored With The USA (Clash) / Intervention-The Arcade Fire
J is for Jesse Malin doing Death Or Glory. He also covered The Clash’s Gates of the West on his recent “On Your Sleeve” covers album. A really fun, solid release.
K is for Kirsty MacColl-Train in Vain (Live-6/26/92).
K is also for Know Your Rights-Pearl Jam (live).
L is for Lost in the Supermarket-McSleazy. An extraordinarily different use of the tune.
M is for mash up! Somebody Rock Me-The Clash Killers.
N is for Nouvelle Vague-Guns of Brixton.
O is for another mash up: The Whole World Romantically Clashed-OutKast vs. The Clash
P is for Petty Booka doing Lost in the Supermarket.
R is for Rock the Casbah by Richard Cheese.
S is for Something For Kate’s version of the Casbah tune.
T is for Train in Vain-Kealer.
U is for U2 doing Joe Strummer’s “Long Walk to Freedom.” Not technically a Clash cover, but whatever.
V is for Virginia Coalition’s take on Rock the Casbah!
W is for the Wallflowers-Brand New Cadillac (live) 7/15/94.
eXamine Your Zipfile!
