Songoftheday 9/17/12 - Now the king told the boogie men you got to let the raga drop...

The Clash - "Rock The Casbah"
from the album Combat Rock (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (four weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 15

Today's Song of the Day was the big hit by British punk giants the Clash, came together in the mid-seventies, as the Sex Pistols shoved the punk scene into the forefront of British music at the time. Led by Mick Jones and Joe Strummer, the band released their self-titled first album in 1977, and their first single from it, "White Riot", became their first top-40 hit in the UK. The following year, with their sophomore record, Give 'Em Enough Rope, they did even better, making the UK top-20 with "Tommy Gun", without compromising their political slant.

From there, the band's vision expanded, both in scope and in size, as their next full-length release, London Calling, was a double-album affair, with the title track becoming their biggest hit in the UK while they were still together (and first big hit down in Australia and New Zealand), and the hidden final track, "Train In Vain", finally broke them in America, with a classic pop structure and funky beat, and in return they got a top-30 hit on the US pop and dance charts. The following record, Sandinista!, went even bigger, with three LPs of songs that may not have had the impact like those on London Calling, but endeared them again to their fanbase and even gave the band their first rock radio hit in the States with "Police On My Back".

After a stalled start to make another double album, the Clash's record company hired veteran producer Glyn John to help clean up the sessions. The resulting album, Combat Rock, was more of a scattershot affair (even with Johns' aid), and was mostly more of a exercise in soundscapes with two mainstream nuggets within. The first, "Should I Stay Or Should I Go", missed the top-40, but the second, the political party-record "Rock The Casbah", blew up in the US (no pun intended). The classic piano riffs were played by drummer Topper Headon, with the band overdubbing the rest. The video has a Hasidic Jew and an Arab man (both actors) cavorting all over the streets of Austin...

"Rock The Casbah" made it all the way to the top ten on the American pop, rock, and dance charts, and the instrumental remix, called the "Mustapha Dance", was played in the clubs and listed on the dance chart as well...

The strife between Jones and Strummer and the rest of the band was too much, and after an even more disjointed record, Cut The Crap, they disintegrated to go on to side projects (like Jones' BIg Audio Dynamite I and II).

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In 1989, mixologist the Def Rock Crew scratched up the song on their "Let's Party" record...

in 1999, Will Smith sampled the record as the backdrop of his top-40 hit "Will 2K"...

That same year, Australian dance duo Solar Twins covered "Rock The Casbah" for the Brokedown Palace movie...

Filtered house music act Pussy 2000 sampled the track for "It's Gonna Be Alright" in 2001..

Bringing it full circle, Algerian singer Rachid Taha covered the song in 2004 with Arabic lyrics, inspiring Mick Jones to join him on stage a couple times...

Finally, Italian EDM artist Tradelove took on the song in 2011....

Up tomorrow: Miss Wing returns to her Haight-Ashbury group when they ask.