Combat Rock

Combat Rock, the Clash's fifth album, was released on 14 May 1982. It was recorded in London and at Electric Lady Studios in New York, and the band arrived with around eighteen songs, enough for a double album.^[1]

Mick Jones favored longer, dancier mixes, but Glyn Johns, brought in at manager Bernie Rhodes's suggestion, helped Strummer and Jones cut a roughly 77 minute draft to a 46 minute single LP of twelve tracks.^[1]

Lyrically it touches on the aftermath of Vietnam, postcolonialism, American decline, and authoritarianism. It reached number two in the UK and number seven on the US Billboard 200, and is the band's best-selling record.^[1] Critics were divided at the time, though later retrospectives have been kinder.^[1] Drummer Topper Headon was fired days before release, and the album produced the hit Rock the Casbah.^[1]