"Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" by The Clash

The title of The Clash's single Should I Stay or Should I Go - which first appeared on their 1982 album Combat Rock - remained strictly rhetorical until this day in 2002 when the man who wasn't best known for singing it*, their former lead singer Joe Strummer, died suddenly of a congenital heart defect; he was 50.

The following March Strummer was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside his surviving bandmates; in January 2007 Julien Temple released a documentary on the life and work of Joe Strummer - entitled, appropriately enough, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten - at that year's Sundance Film Festival.

*That honour typically went to Mick Jones before his 1983 dismissal from the band, although it was Strummer's idea to do the song's backing vocals in Spanish, which were translated by the mother of Eddie Garcia (who was the band's tape operator) although they were performed by Strummer and Joe Ely.  Got that?
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"London Calling" by The Clash

London Calling, the title track of a double album released on this day in 1979 by The Clash, is a howling, wholly epic punk aria, a screeching screed, a bellowing from the belly of the beast - in this case, the early days of the Thatcher government. If the times demanded bitches who knew how to set things straight in both politics and the arts, this is the sound of their battle...

Naturally, the powers-that-be won't let me post the song's excellent early video, so I had to settle for this live performance, which is still pretty good. If you prefer the original, you know what to do.
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Pop History Moment: Rock Song Proves Prophetic

London's Brixton neighbourhood erupted in violence on this day in 1981, in an eerie echo of the song The Guns of Brixton, by The Clash. Although the song was written and released in December 1979 for their third album, London Calling, it spoke of discontent then brewing between Metropolitan Police and the largely black population there.

The 1981 riot began when police arrested a black youth on Railton Road under the aegis of Operation Swamp 81, which was aimed at reducing street crime in the area; needless to say, given the outcome, it failed miserably. More than 300 police and 65 civilian injuries were reported following the fracas, while 100 vehicles - including 56 belonging to police - were burned, along with 30 buildings. Another 150 buildings were damaged, mainly by looters. Of the 5,000 people involved, the 1,000 police present made just 82 arrests.

A public inquiry into the riot was made by Lord Scarman; his findings were published in November 1981.
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