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The Clash — The Guns of Brixton
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cdysthe
(Round Rock, TX and Oslo, Norway)
Posted: May 12, 2013 - 13:13
 
Always loved this album. I remember the day I carried it home and spun it for the first time. Love at first listen. May be overated but so is my wife and I still love her? Happy Mother's Day?
cdysthe
(Round Rock, TX and Oslo, Norway)
Posted: May 12, 2013 - 07:44
 
Always loved this album. I remember the day I carried it home and spun it for the first time. Love at first listen. May be overated but so is my wife and I still love her? Happy Mother's Day?
carlos65
(Everton)
Posted: Feb 11, 2013 - 05:04
 
 I'm with you on the 'grossly over-rated' comment but you are clearly extracting the urine with the Jilted John ref. Mind you, I had recently been dumped by a girl called Julie when that was out.
Clash, some great rock tunes but just dont get the hero worship for the artist formerly known as 'Woody Mellor'. As for all that cod reggae and really bad (C)rapping, leave it out guvnor.

Thin_Air wrote:
Grossly overrated band - naff songs - more akin to light pop music (where's the anger?).

That said if you're voting for them on the basis of their social impact then ok give them a 5 but there were loads of other bans around at the time who said so much more and angrily at that.

Jilted John - now there was a musician with a statement to make.

 



carlos65
(Everton)
Posted: Feb 11, 2013 - 04:57
 
actually thought this was a cover version. me no likey but Jimmy Cliff is very good.

ScottFromWyoming
(Powell)
Posted: Nov 08, 2012 - 22:01
 
 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
 I love of the version sung by kids, where she says at the end,

"that's enough singing now"... hell, where was that?
 
Sandinista... it's tacked on at the end of "Broadway" where she says "that's enough now... I'm tired of singing." 

Hannio
(Austin, TX)
Posted: Nov 05, 2012 - 05:21
 
 oldsaxon wrote:

Your statistics are wrong. Check out gun crime related numbers from either Canada or the UK and then check out America.

In a society of civilized people, armed citizens seem a bit gratuitous. 
 

Well, see there, you just said why we need guns in the USA.  We don't live in a civilized society.  And what civilization there is is just a thin veneer masking a lawlessness held in check by the most tenuous restraint.

NoEnzLefttoSplit
Posted: Sep 06, 2012 - 23:43
 
 I love of the version sung by kids, where she says at the end,

"that's enough singing now"... hell, where was that?

Boy_Wonder
(Bath, back in the UK)
Posted: Sep 03, 2012 - 07:09
 
 oldsaxon wrote:

Your statistics are wrong. Check out gun crime related numbers from either Canada or the UK and then check out America.

In a society of civilized people, armed citizens seem a bit gratuitous. There are police, armies, you know...well trained, well equipped, and hopefully not drunk or angry, people who can carry the guns, don't you think? How often has a "meth making slimeball" entered your home? How often have you shot your weapon at a soda tin or a silhouette of a person? Why do you really want the gun?

I'd hate to live in America. It seems the place is swarming with violent, drug crazed animals that want nothing more than to destroy personal property. At least that's the message I get from those in the US waving their right to bear arms. 
 
The UK faction are all in agreement! .... except I'd say 'very gratuitous'!

flyboy
(Sarah Palin's Hometown)
Posted: Aug 06, 2012 - 11:59
 
 tonypf wrote:

Well said fb (if, of course, your bear has a large tongue in cheek)..
 

I hope the bear has a large tongue, so I can eat it.  Bears do walk into houses looking for food fairly often up here.  They usually don't use the door, and they never go out the same way they came in.

warderblu
Posted: Aug 06, 2012 - 11:42
 
Incredible, Amazing, Monstrous

tonypf
(Honolulu)
Posted: Aug 02, 2012 - 20:17
 
 flyboy wrote:

Not to mention the occasional bear that comes crashing through the door looking for food.

 
Well said fb (if, of course, your bear has a large tongue in cheek)..

dyharenas
(Cerro Apoquindo)
Posted: Jun 11, 2012 - 23:15
 
 oldsaxon wrote:

Your statistics are wrong. Check out gun crime related numbers from either Canada or the UK and then check out America.

In a society of civilized people, armed citizens seem a bit gratuitous. There are police, armies, you know...well trained, well equipped, and hopefully not drunk or angry, people who can carry the guns, don't you think? How often has a "meth making slimeball" entered your home? How often have you shot your weapon at a soda tin or a silhouette of a person? Why do you really want the gun?

I'd hate to live in America. It seems the place is swarming with violent, drug crazed animals that want nothing more than to destroy personal property. At least that's the message I get from those in the US waving their right to bear arms. 
 
Agreed oldsaxon. Whenever I read this kind off stuff from US americans it reminds me of Obelix and his assertion "These Romans are crazy".

lemmoth
(NYC)
Posted: May 03, 2012 - 12:11
 
 Thin_Air wrote:
Grossly overrated band - naff songs - more akin to light pop music (where's the anger?).

That said if you're voting for them on the basis of their social impact then ok give them a 5 but there were loads of other bans around at the time who said so much more and angrily at that.

Jilted John - now there was a musician with a statement to make.

 

RU Freaking kidding me.  "more akin to light pop music" WTF

As Lester Bangs said at the time - the only band that matters.

You clearly don't own most of their catalog.

Thin_Air
Posted: Apr 09, 2012 - 10:46
 
Grossly overrated band - naff songs - more akin to light pop music (where's the anger?).

That said if you're voting for them on the basis of their social impact then ok give them a 5 but there were loads of other bans around at the time who said so much more and angrily at that.

Jilted John - now there was a musician with a statement to make.


bluecshells
(EARTH)
Posted: Apr 09, 2012 - 10:37
 
Jimmy Cliff's version is the BEST!

meuks
Posted: Apr 01, 2012 - 19:15
 
 jpfueler wrote:

Never ever trust a gov't that does not trust you to be armed. The UK has all but banned firearms of any sort and really has not reduced crime or even gun crime all that much. The law breakers care less about the law...hence their willingness to break it.

When seconds count the police are just minutes away (or for me at times near a half hour). I'll be happier explaining why the meth making slimeball who tried to get me is bled out on my front step instead of having the police explain to my parents why I was killed by some lowlife.

 
Amen

kcar
Posted: Mar 29, 2012 - 00:50
 
 neuticle wrote:

Maybe you have a short attention span..

 
No, neut. Try another thought instead of repeating it on different people. 

Sasha2001
(I can see Zabars from my window)
Posted: Mar 08, 2012 - 18:38
 
I mean, what the hell is going on in this song? Was it secretly produced by Spike Jones (not Jonze)? Do the cartoony sound effects add to or take away from it's brilliance?

sub-arctic
(63°50' N)
Posted: Feb 06, 2012 - 01:16
 
 hencini wrote:
I cannot handle how good this song is.  
 
Ditto that.


oldsaxon
(United Kingdom)
Posted: Jan 29, 2012 - 10:49
 
 jpfueler wrote:

Never ever trust a gov't that does not trust you to be armed. The UK has all but banned firearms of any sort and really has not reduced crime or even gun crime all that much. The law breakers care less about the law...hence their willingness to break it.

When seconds count the police are just minutes away (or for me at times near a half hour). I'll be happier explaining why the meth making slimeball who tried to get me is bled out on my front step instead of having the police explain to my parents why I was killed by some lowlife.
 
Your statistics are wrong. Check out gun crime related numbers from either Canada or the UK and then check out America.

In a society of civilized people, armed citizens seem a bit gratuitous. There are police, armies, you know...well trained, well equipped, and hopefully not drunk or angry, people who can carry the guns, don't you think? How often has a "meth making slimeball" entered your home? How often have you shot your weapon at a soda tin or a silhouette of a person? Why do you really want the gun?

I'd hate to live in America. It seems the place is swarming with violent, drug crazed animals that want nothing more than to destroy personal property. At least that's the message I get from those in the US waving their right to bear arms. 

neuticle
(fog fog fog)
Posted: Jan 25, 2012 - 15:27
 
 sirdroseph wrote:
Mediocre, boring, yep it's The Clash.
 
Short attention span person #2


neuticle
(fog fog fog)
Posted: Jan 25, 2012 - 15:25
 
 kcar wrote:


Beg to differ. Exhibit A, this song.

Also, try listening to "Sandinista" in one go...

 
 
Maybe you have a short attention span..


Poacher
(Brighton, UK)
Posted: Jan 05, 2012 - 06:21
 
 jpfueler wrote:

Never ever trust a gov't that does not trust you to be armed. The UK has all but banned firearms of any sort and really has not reduced crime or even gun crime all that much. The law breakers care less about the law...hence their willingness to break it.

When seconds count the police are just minutes away (or for me at times near a half hour). I'll be happier explaining why the meth making slimeball who tried to get me is bled out on my front step instead of having the police explain to my parents why I was killed by some lowlife.
 
I think you need to compare and understand the amount of gun related violence in the UK against the USA before you start spouting off old chap. Very different places, very different attitudes. Anyway, have you ever been the UK? Europe even?


dpg16
Posted: Jan 05, 2012 - 06:18
 
Timeless song. Sadly still very relevant :(

flyboy
(Sarah Palin's Hometown)
Posted: Dec 28, 2011 - 16:31
 
 jpfueler wrote:

Never ever trust a gov't that does not trust you to be armed. The UK has all but banned firearms of any sort and really has not reduced crime or even gun crime all that much. The law breakers care less about the law...hence their willingness to break it.

When seconds count the police are just minutes away (or for me at times near a half hour). I'll be happier explaining why the meth making slimeball who tried to get me is bled out on my front step instead of having the police explain to my parents why I was killed by some lowlife.

 
Not to mention the occasional bear that comes crashing through the door looking for food.


jpfueler
(Burleson Texas, (South o' Ft Worth))
Posted: Dec 24, 2011 - 21:46
 
 Stropatus wrote:


Great song with loads of relevance today as it had when it was written.
I lived in Brixton in the early 80s so this song brings back some not so pleasant memories

Thanks to oldsaxon for reminding us that guns are not a solution to security


 
Never ever trust a gov't that does not trust you to be armed. The UK has all but banned firearms of any sort and really has not reduced crime or even gun crime all that much. The law breakers care less about the law...hence their willingness to break it.

When seconds count the police are just minutes away (or for me at times near a half hour). I'll be happier explaining why the meth making slimeball who tried to get me is bled out on my front step instead of having the police explain to my parents why I was killed by some lowlife.


hencini
Posted: Dec 08, 2011 - 18:02
 
I cannot handle how good this song is.  

Stropatus
(London, UK)
Posted: Nov 23, 2011 - 04:30
 
 oldsaxon wrote:

It's all about America, isn't it? Why would anyone think I was aiming that AT someone?  I was clear, I thought, that I was glad that *I* am not of the US ilk. Got nothin' against nobody....just hate the idea of guns = security. 
 

Great song with loads of relevance today as it had when it was written.
I lived in Brixton in the early 80s so this song brings back some not so pleasant memories

Thanks to oldsaxon for reminding us that guns are not a solution to security



fredriley
(Nottingham, UK)
Posted: Nov 23, 2011 - 04:11
 
This reminds me of left-wing arguments for gun ownership which I saw on Usenet a while back, a plank of which was that workers need to defend themselves from State and capitalist violence (such as the Pinkertons, back in the early 20th Century, who were paid by employers to physically break strikes). The example most frequently used was of the Black Panthers who, it was said, armed themselves in defence of themselves and their communities against violent racist police forces. I take no view on this as I know little about the BP and don't want to get into a tired (and irrelevant, this side of the Pond) old barney about gun control, but I thought it was interesting that occasionally you get opposition to gun control from the radical Left as well as the barking Right.

The short Wikipedia article on this song is interesting. According to it, the song lyrics "discuss an individual's paranoid outlook on life" and aren't a literal call to arms.


oldsaxon
Posted: Oct 22, 2011 - 13:32
 
 flyboy wrote:


I could be wrong, but I think OldSaxon was being thankful that he/she is not an American.  Sorry that you have to be disappointed with your association with Alaska.  If its any consolation, the feeling is mutual for the most part.
 
It's all about America, isn't it? Why would anyone think I was aiming that AT someone?  I was clear, I thought, that I was glad that *I* am not of the US ilk. Got nothin' against nobody....just hate the idea of guns = security. 

lazylemming
(City of the Angels)
Posted: Oct 22, 2011 - 13:29
 
I really like the (new) Jimmy Cliff cover of this track too!  

Give it a listen here:
http://www.covermesongs.com/2011/08/jimmy-cliff-reclaims-the-clashs-guns-of-brixton.html 



flyboy
(Sarah Palin's Hometown)
Posted: Oct 06, 2011 - 15:09
 
 Cynaera wrote:

Sorry, but Alaska is part of the U.S. - however much we try to pretend otherwise... {#Silenced}
 

I could be wrong, but I think OldSaxon was being thankful that he/she is not an American.  Sorry that you have to be disappointed with your association with Alaska.  If its any consolation, the feeling is mutual for the most part.

flyboy
(Sarah Palin's Hometown)
Posted: Oct 06, 2011 - 14:13
 
 oldsaxon wrote:

*just thanks any deity handy that he is not an american....

the whole point...oh, never mind.... 
 
No, please, continue...

kcar
Posted: Oct 06, 2011 - 13:34
 
 fredriley wrote:

"boring"?? Mediocre I can understand as a criticism, but not "boring". Irritating or infuriating or enraging to their critics and enemies, maybe, but for sure The Clash never bored.
 

Beg to differ. Exhibit A, this song.

Also, try listening to "Sandinista" in one go...

 

Cynaera
(In a hammock under my own vine and fig tree.)
Posted: Sep 24, 2011 - 15:49
 
 oldsaxon wrote:

*just thanks any deity handy that he is not an american....

the whole point...oh, never mind.... 
 
Sorry, but Alaska is part of the U.S. - however much we try to pretend otherwise... {#Silenced}

Stingray
(JULIAN'S NWO)
Posted: Sep 24, 2011 - 15:48
 
CLASH ROCKS = 8 at least!

fredriley
(Nottingham, UK)
Posted: Aug 24, 2011 - 06:48
 
With the recent riots in London and other English cities, this is pretty timely. Oppressive policing, in particular the shooting of a seemingly unarmed guy in Tottenham, was a major spark for the riots. Nothing much has changed since the Clash wrote this one, sadly.

sirdroseph
(Yes)
Posted: Aug 24, 2011 - 06:48
 
 fredriley wrote:

"boring"?? Mediocre I can understand as a criticism, but not "boring". Irritating or infuriating or enraging to their critics and enemies, maybe, but for sure The Clash never bored.

 

Actually that is what The Clash means to me. I don't really think they are all that bad, they do not enrage me and I am not a hater except in context to their worshipers. I see them kind of like Elvis, a great singer and entertainer who released some really good songs. He is not the King of rock and roll, a deity or the greatest icon that ever existed so they both irritate me only in the context of how others see them, not who they are themselves.

oldsaxon
Posted: Aug 20, 2011 - 13:21
 
 flyboy wrote:

This song always reminds me that I need to go do some target practice down at the range.  Now I know what I'm doing Saturday.{#Smile}

 
*just thanks any deity handy that he is not an american....

the whole point...oh, never mind.... 

flyboy
(Sarah Palin's Hometown)
Posted: Aug 04, 2011 - 17:25
 

This song always reminds me that I need to go do some target practice down at the range.  Now I know what I'm doing Saturday.{#Smile}



hencini
Posted: Jul 23, 2011 - 22:04
 
If you like this album, see if you can find the London Booted remix project that came out in 2004.  19 London DJs remixed/bootlegged/etc. the tracks of the album.  So.  Good.  Nothing beats the original, but some of the interpretations of these songs are just fascinating and almost all are *really* well done.  Not nearly so contrived as a lot of mashup projects.  

Hearing "Guns of Brixton" mixed with bits of "The Message"............brilliant.  "The Card Cheat" instrumental track with Christina Aguilera's "What a Girl Wants" vocals.................surprisingly enjoyable... : )

hencini
Posted: Jul 23, 2011 - 21:58
 
1970s British punk gangster rap.  Brilliant.  

fredriley
(Nottingham, UK)
Posted: Jul 04, 2011 - 08:16
 
 sirdroseph wrote:
Mediocre, boring, yep it's The Clash.
 
"boring"?? Mediocre I can understand as a criticism, but not "boring". Irritating or infuriating or enraging to their critics and enemies, maybe, but for sure The Clash never bored.


sirdroseph
(Yes)
Posted: Jun 18, 2011 - 12:18
 
Mediocre, boring, yep it's The Clash.

calypsus_1
Posted: Jun 11, 2011 - 19:57
 

Calexico - The Guns of Brixton

"I love both bands. Musically it's sound but the Spanish vocals seem unnecessary. And yes i know the Clash used Spanish backing vocals on should i stay or should i go."    leveller661

"this should be listend to in Calexico poit of view! Not Clash's. It's not even a cover, it''s more a remix."  PiazzaAlimonda

 "Really brilliant in its way. An echo of Strummer's voice coming back from the Third World and with Joe's love of most things Spanish, he would've loved this."      hugosalarm



fredriley
(Nottingham, UK)
Posted: Apr 20, 2011 - 02:58
 
 tphord wrote:
The beginning of self-absorbed rage rock and also the overall general decline in music through the present
 
Self-absorbed? I don't think so. I think you need to read up on the context and times in which this song was written. In the 80s there was a very sharp class war in the UK, actively pursued and inflamed by the Thatcher regime, and places like Brixton (a culturally mixed working-class area of South London) really got the rough end of the pineapple. In areas like that, the cops were seen as, and indeed acted as, occupying troops, as was admitted by a senior ex-copper recently on a recent UK radio show. Like 'em or loathe 'em, you can never accuse the Clash of being "self-absorbed". "Committed" for sure.

There's a whole Wikipedia page on this song, which is instructive:

""The Guns of Brixton" pre-dates the race riots that took place in the 1980s in Brixton but the lyrics depict the feelings of discontent that were building due to heavy-handedness of the police that led to the riots, the recession and other problems at that time."



Huey
(Netherlands)
Posted: Mar 31, 2011 - 12:09
 
How you gonna go?
Shot down on the pavement
Or waiting in death row.

Brilliant 9.

kittyharker
(Arkham)
Posted: Mar 19, 2011 - 14:50
 
 tphord wrote:
The beginning of self-absorbed rage rock and also the overall general decline in music through the present

Thought this was crap in '79 and still do...

Light the torches !
 
I actually really love this song myself, but to each his own.


gjones
Posted: Feb 16, 2011 - 06:00
 
So BAD... drugged out ignorance... brain damage

tphord
(Up 'ere)
Posted: Feb 12, 2011 - 13:20
 
The beginning of self-absorbed rage rock and also the overall general decline in music through the present

Thought this was crap in '79 and still do...

Light the torches !