On April 13, Straight to Hell and Rockaway Bitch will be celebrating 40 years of The Clash’s London Calling here at Garcia’s. As a result, we are reminiscing on all the praise this legendary album received. To this day, it is still considered one of the greatest rock albums of all time. The Clash incorporate a range of musical styles, including punk, reggae, rockabilly, ska, New Orleans R&B, pop, lounge jazz, and hard rock creating a timeless sound of rock punkalicious music. Here we have 10 times The Clash’s London Calling was recognized as one of the greatest albums of all times.

Don't miss Celebrating 40 Years of The Clash's London Calling with Straight To Hell and Rockaway Bitch on Saturday, April 13! Get your tickets now!

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1. The opening and title track of London Calling landed #3 in NME’s 100 Best Songs from 1970’s

In a list that features revolutionary songs such as Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way,” "London Calling" placed #3 among #100. The album's title track and opener, was partially influenced by the March 1979 accident at a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. It also discusses the problems of rising unemployment, racial conflict and drug use in Great Britain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfK-WX2pa8c

2. In 2007, London Calling was inducted into the Grammy’s Hall of Fame

The Grammy Hall of Fame has been in order since 1973. It honors musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are annually selected by a special committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of the recording arts. In this hall inducted are also legends such as Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, and many more transcendental musicians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKFbGteyVXU

3. In 1980, London Calling was voted the best album of the year in Pazz & Jop

Pazz & Jop is an annual poll of musical releases compiled by American newspaper The Village Voice. Featured artists have been The Who, The Sex Pistols, Stevie Wonder, and more! Robert Christgau, the poll's supervisor and creator, also named it 1980's best record in an accompanying essay and said, "it generated an urgency and vitality and ambition...which overwhelmed the pessimism of its leftist world-view.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcOpZhQ7MEM

4. In 1981, Robert Christgau released his book “Christgau's Record Guide” where London Calling placed #1

Robert Christgau is an American essayist and music journalist. As one of the earliest professional rock critics, he spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop poll. “Christgau called it the best double album since the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. (1972) and said it expanded upon, rather than compromised, the Clash's driving guitar sound in a 'warm, angry, and thoughtful, confident, melodic, and hard-rocking' showcase of their musical abilities.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17hbj5l4rIA

5. In 1987, Los Angeles Times named it the 4th best album of the previous 10 years

Robert Hilburn named it the fourth-best album of the previous 10 years and said, while the Clash's debut was a punk masterpiece, London Calling marked the genre's "coming of age" as the band led the way into "fertile post-punk territory". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGiIWIrwWuM

6. In the 1994 Guinness Book of Top 1000 Albums, Colin Larkin named it the second greatest punk album

Colin Larkin is a British writer and entrepreneur. He was the editor-in-chief and founder of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, described by The Times as "the standard against which all others must be judged." The Clash’s London Calling joins this list alongside The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuS698b0ess

7. Pitchfork ranked it second on their Top 100 Albums of the 1970s

Over the last decade or so, Pitchfork have solidified their place as a trusted voice in the music community. In their review within the article, Amanda Petrusich regards London Calling as "the ultimate expression of that collective fascination, a double album both intensely unsettling and undeniably clever, full of mouthy indictments and unbridled celebrations...25 years later, the record still moves—an astoundingly diverse, ambitious, and inspired bit of politically charged punk rock, as relevant and revolutionary today as it was in 1979." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNot47WRBFk

8. In 2009, the album was included in the BBC Radio 1 Masterpieces Series

Created by Zane Lowe, the first half of the show was dedicated to interviews and an in-depth look at the album's cultural impact, with the album being played in full in the second half of the show. In this series we can find albums such as Nevermind by Nirvana, Is This It by The Strokes, Metallica by Metallica, and many more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ82BX0hGBM

9. It was certified gold in Canada, France, and Italy

Sold over 500,000 copies! An international success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrEAWcAvRg

10. It was certified PLATINUM in the United Kingdom and the United States

Sold over 1 million copies! The numbers don't lie. London Calling is a legendary piece of art. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oZxBDLK3FU