Description
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time – Rated 8/500!
London Calling is the third studio album by English punk rock band The Clash. It was released in the United Kingdom in December 1979 through CBS Records, and in the United States in January 1980 through Epic Records. The album represented a change in The Clash's musical style, featuring elements of ska, funk, pop, soul, jazz, rockabilly, and reggae more prominently than in their previous two albums.
The album's subject matter included social displacement, unemployment, racial conflict, drug use, and the responsibilities of adulthood. The album received unanimously positive reviews and was ranked at number eight on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. London Calling was a Top 10 album in the UK, and its lead single "London Calling" was a Top 20 single. It has sold over five million copies worldwide, and was certified platinum in the United States.
"Recorded in 1979 in London, which was then wrenched by surging unemployment and drug addiction, and released in America in January 1980, the dawn of an uncertain decade, London Calling is… fueled by an unbending faith in rock 'n' roll to beat back the darkness." — Rolling Stone
