This Is Radio Clash
"This Is Radio Clash" is a song by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released as a single in November 1981 on various formats. The song was performed live before its release, beginning with the Impossible Mission Tour of April and May 1981. A live performance was also televised on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show on 5 June 1981.
"This Is Radio Clash"
"Radio Clash"
20 November 1981 (U.K.)
1981
4:10
The Clash
The song received mixed reviews from critics, who were hoping The Clash would return to its anarchic punk roots. Despite the mixed reviews, the song received some praise for its experimental nature and the Clash's signature anti-authoritarian political lyrics. As well as the previous Clash single (The Magnificent Seven), "This is Radio Clash" also continued the Clash's genre experiments with Rap rock and funk, which had broken through the American markets.
Release[edit]
7-inch single[edit]
The 7-inch single also contains a B-side titled simply "Radio Clash", which is a remix of the title track with additional lyrics. The Clash stated at the time that they intended the songs to be heard as a single entity. The two recordings have the same playing time.
"This Is Radio Clash" begins with the lyric:
Legacy[edit]
American critic Eric Schafer described the song as "a magnificent, daring, challenging record that was years ahead of its time; one of the great rock records of the 1980s, it has never been given its just credit. Twenty-eight years after its debut, were it released today it would still burn up the radio."[3]
The song is not featured on any of the Clash's original studio albums, but is included on their compilations The Story of the Clash, Volume 1 (1988), Clash on Broadway (1991), The Singles (1991), Sound System (2013), Singles Box (2006) and The Singles (2007). The song is included on the experimental compilation album called Disco Not Disco 2 (2002), as well as the radio soundtrack in the video game Battlefield Hardline (2015). The song was also briefly featured in season 2, episode 4 of Stranger Things.