Forgotten Classics
The Clash
Sandinista!
by Oliver St John
While it was the album London Calling that defined the sound the Clash would come to be known for, it took Sandinista! to truly show what they could do. The album is no longer as well-known as it once was; indeed, but for a reference to it in a Barenaked Ladies tune eight years ago it might have been forgotten entirely by most of us.
The album was truly ahead of its time, applying the sentiments of the punk wave sweeping Britain in the late Seventies and early Eighties to a widely varied experimental rock; this album showed the world that the Clash were capable of more than the angry shouts of their peers in the genre. This is not to say that Sandinista! was NOT punk - the very title came about due to a report that then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wished to ban the word entirely after a revolution by that name in Nicaragua.
Contrary to the short but punchy punk albums of the day, notably the Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bollocks, this was released as a triple album. The Clash had a lot to say, and weren't afraid to say it to anyone.
Today, most of us know the song "Should I Stay or Should I Go?", thanks in large part to its popular re-release in 1991. Those who think that was what the band was about have much more to discover.
The singles "Hitsville UK" and "The Call-up" both scored highly on the British charts in 1980, and the third single "The Magnificent Seven" may have been the first rap single released by an all-white band.
The album as a whole appears heavily influenced by reggae, and with at least a tinge of late 60s psychedelia thrown in.
If you still have a copy of Sandinista! lying around, take another listen; you won't be sorry you did.