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The Clash
last updated 2026-09-11 11:26
The Clash
Plays on LTZ: (historical total not available beyond this vault's episode folders)
Tracks played
London Calling — played 2026-02-12, 2026-06-11
Research
The Clash — London Calling
Played: 2026-02-12; 2026-06-11 (Segment 5 — Moment in History) (moment in history)
2026-02-12
Moment in History: New life goal, have a train named after me. In 2005, a Class 47 locomotive (47828) was named after Clash frontman Joe Strummer at a ceremony in Bristol. The diesel train, owned by Cotswold Rail, was named after the singer/guitarist who died, aged 50, in 2002. He also played with the Pogues.
2026-06-11 — Segment 5 — Moment in History
Title track of the 1979 double album. Strummer's apocalyptic broadcast — "London is drowning, and I, I live by the river" — drew on the real fear of a Thames flood (he lived near it) and the Three Mile Island "nuclear error." The title nods to the wartime BBC World Service ident, "This is London calling." Lifts the segment to its peak.
Moment in History: In June 1977, Joe Strummer and Topper Headon were detained overnight and fined £100 over the theft of a Holiday Inn pillowcase — ironic given the band would soon release "Police and Thieves." At the time the band had no positive financial net worth and was deeply in debt despite signing a £100,000 CBS record contract (worth roughly £806,490 today), partly because their contract forced them to pay out-of-pocket for all their own recording sessions, mixing, equipment, and touring costs.