Combat Rock

For the Doctor Who novel, see Combat Rock (novel). For the song by Sleater-Kinney, see One Beat.

Combat Rock
File:The Clash - Combat Rock.jpg
Studio album by The Clash
Released	14 May 1982 (1982-05-14)
Recorded	1980; September 1981 at Ear Studios in London; November 1981–January 1982 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City; April 1982 at Wessex Studios in London
Genre	Post-punk
Length	46:21
Label	CBS, Epic
Producer	The Clash, Glyn Johns
The Clash chronology
Sandinista! (1980)Sandinista!1980 Combat Rock (1982) Cut the Crap (1985)Cut the Crap1985
Singles from Combat Rock
"Know Your Rights" Released: 23 April 1982 "Should I Stay or Should I Go" Released: 10 June 1982 "Rock the Casbah" Released: 11 June 1982 "Straight to Hell" Released: 17 September 1982

Combat Rock is the fifth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 14 May 1982 through CBS Records. In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts and peaked at number 7 in the United States, spending 61 weeks on the chart. Combat Rock is the group's best-selling album, being certified double platinum in the United States. It was the last album featuring Mick Jones and Topper Headon. Following along the same note as Sandinista!, Combat Rock's catalogue number "FMLN2" is the abbreviation for the El Salvador political party Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional or FMLN.

Recording and production

Combat Rock was originally planned as a double album with the working title Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg, but the idea was scrapped after internal wrangling within the group. Mick Jones had mixed the first version, but the other members were dissatisfied and mixing/producing duties were handed to Glyn Johns, at which point the album became a single LP. The original mixes were later bootlegged. Out-takes included a Tymon Dogg song, "Once You Know", the recording featured all the band with Tymon Dogg on vocals and violin.

Release

In January 2000, the album, along with the rest of the Clash's catalogue, was remastered and re-released.

According to author Marcus Gray, the song "Red Angel Dragnet" was inspired by the January 1982 shooting death of Frank Melvin, a New York member of the Guardian Angels. The song contains extensive quotes from the 1976 movie Taxi Driver's main character, Travis Bickle, delivered by Kosmo Vinyl. Bickle sports a mohawk in the later part of the film and that hairstyle was adopted by Joe Strummer during the album promotion.

The song, "Ghetto Defendant", features beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who performed the song on stage with the band during the New York shows on their tour in support of the album. At the end of the song he can be heard reciting the Heart Sutra, a popular Buddhist mantra.

Reception and influence

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Alternative Press
Blender
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
MusicHound	3.5/5
Q
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10
The Village Voice	B+

Combat Rock peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, number 7 on the Billboard Pop albums, and the top ten on many charts in other countries. The United States Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Combat Rock as a Gold album on November 1982, Platinum in January 1983, and Multi-Platinum in June 1995.

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau lamented the same attempts at funk and dub the Clash had tried on Sandinista! (1980). Nonetheless, he dismissed the notion the band were selling out and believed they were "evolving" on Combat Rock, writing songs at a "higher level of verbal, musical, and political density", albeit in less "terse and clear" fashion than on their early work. Douglas Wolk said in a retrospective review for Blender that while the record was originally seen as the Clash's "sellout move" because of its danceable sound and two hit singles, the other songs featured "audaciously bizarre arrangements and some of Strummer's smartest lyrics." Q magazine was less enthusiastic, deeming it "their biggest seller, but the beginning of the end." In 2000, Alternative Press called it "the penultimate Clash album...employing lessons learned in the previous three years...their most commercially rewarded release...containing [their] most poignant song 'Straight To Hell'." CMJ New Music Report ranked Combat Rock at number five on its 2004 list of the Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982. Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 80 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s". Kurt Cobain listed it in his top fifty albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by The Clash, except where noted. 

Side one
No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Know Your Rights" (Strummer/Jones)	Joe Strummer	3:39
2.	"Car Jamming"	Joe Strummer	3:58
3.	"Should I Stay or Should I Go"	Mick Jones	3:06
4.	"Rock the Casbah"	Joe Strummer	3:44
5.	"Red Angel Dragnet"	Paul Simonon/Kosmo Vinyl	3:48
6.	"Straight to Hell"	Joe Strummer	5:30

Side two
No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Overpowered by Funk"	Joe Strummer/Futura 2000	4:55
2.	"Atom Tan"	Mick Jones/Joe Strummer	2:32
3.	"Sean Flynn"	Joe Strummer	4:30
4.	"Ghetto Defendant"	Joe Strummer/Allen Ginsberg	4:45
5.	"Inoculated City" (some copies of the album have an edited version lasting 2:11)	Mick Jones	2:43
6.	"Death Is a Star"	Joe Strummer/Mick Jones	3:13

Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg track list

1. "The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too" – 3:45
2. "Kill Time" – 4:58
3. "Should I Stay or Should I Go" – 3:05
4. "Rock the Casbah" – 3:47
5. "Know Your Rights" (extended version) – 5:04
6. "Red Angel Dragnet" – 6:12
7. "Ghetto Defendant" – 6:17
8. "Sean Flynn" – 7:30
9. "Car Jamming" – 3:53
10. "Inoculated City" – 4:32
11. "Death Is a Star" – 2:39
12. "Walk Evil Talk" – 7:37
13. "Atom Tan" – 2:45
14. "Overpowered by Funk" (demo) – 1:59
15. "Inoculated City" (unedited version) – 2:30
16. "First Night Back in London" – 2:56
17. "Cool Confusion" – 3:10
18. "Straight to Hell" (extended version) – 6:56

Personnel

• Joe Strummer – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica, piano
• Mick Jones – guitars, vocals, keyboards, sound effects
• Paul Simonon – bass, vocals
• Topper Headon – drums, piano and bass on "Rock the Casbah"

Additional musicians

• Allen Ginsberg – guest vocals on "Ghetto Defendant"
• Futura 2000 – guest vocals on "Overpowered by Funk"
• Ellen Foley – backing vocals on "Car Jamming"
• Joe Ely – backing vocals on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"
• Tymon Dogg – piano on "Death Is a Star"
• Tommy Mandel (as Poly Mandell) – keyboards on "Overpowered by Funk"
• Gary Barnacle – saxophone on "Sean Flynn"
• Kosmo Vinyl - vocals on "Red Angel Dragnet"

Production

• The Clash – producers
• Glyn Johns – chief engineer, mixing
• Joe Blaney; Jerry Green; Eddie Garcia – assistant engineers
• Pennie Smith – photography

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1982	Canadian RPM Albums Chart	12
	Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)	29
	New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	5
	Norwegian Albums Chart.	7
	Swedish Albums Chart	9
	UK Albums Chart	2
1983	US Billboard Pop albums	7

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)	Gold	100,000
United States (RIAA)	Gold	500,000
Canada (Music Canada)	Gold	50,000
United States (RIAA)	2× Platinum	2,000,000
*sales figures based on certification alone