It’s the tremendous story of the 1979 song London Calling by the Clash. In the late 70s, the world’s most influential punk band was convinced the world was falling apart, and they needed to do something about it. Fueled by concerns over widespread famine, the environment, drug addiction, police brutality, tidal waves, and nuclear war, the band’s charismatic leader composed the prophetic manifesto London Calling that seems more relevant today than it was when he wrote it in 1979. London is calling to the zombies of death. NEXT…on Professor of Rock.
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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you skated to your favorite songs at the roller rink back in the day, you’ll love this daily dose of nostalgia. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss out on the stories of the songs from the legends. We also have a Patreon take a look at our content there while helping our mission of curating music history.
“This is London Calling”… the identification introducing shortwave radio broadcasts transmitted by the BBC during World War 2 with post-war programming advancing well into the 80s.
When John Graham Mellor, better known as Joe Strummer, was a 14-year-old lad he spent some time in Africa, with his father, who was a British foreign service diplomat, and his mother who was a nurse. In the middle of one hot African night, young Joe was turning the dial of his father’s shortwave radio, frantically trying to find sounds of his British homeland.
When to his amazement he tuned into the staticky reception of a UK Singles Chart Countdown show. It was the first time that Joe recalled listening to a broadcast from the BBC World Service, and hearing the official identification that kicked off every BBC program… ”This is London Calling.” The ID rang resoundingly in Joe’s childhood memory, and it would prove to be a major influence in his emergence as a punk oracle, and a BBC radio personality. Before the world was introduced to the name Joe Strummer, the future icon played rhythm guitar in a pub rock act that came together in ‘74 called The 101ers.
During his 2 year stint with The 101’s, Joe went by his original stage name “Woody” Mellor. By the time The Clash was formed in 76, Joe ditched Woody in favor of his new stage moniker… Joe Strummer- which was a reference to his days of “strumming” a ukulele in the London Underground-- metro London's rapid transit system nicknamed ’The Tube.’ The Clash immersed into London’s “inner circle” of punk, along with acts like the Sex Pistols, The Damned The Jam, and 9-9-9. Strummer recalled how he & his bandmates put in endless hours of what he termed “Stalinist dedication" to become a tight-performing unit & to establish a distinct identity that would separate them from the pack.
Joe Strummer was a news junkie. He had a ravenous interest in learning about topical events in every newspaper & magazine he could find. In fact, the impetus for many of the songs Joe wrote were from news articles he had read. The most prolific example of Strummer’s obsession for current events reporting can be found in the lyrics he penned for “London Calling,” the apocalyptic anthem for the disillusioned, and the title track for The Clash’s epic 3rd studio double album.