đ SURF 'N TURF đď¸
-THE BORACAY ISLAND LIFE-
This week in 1979, photographer Pennie Smith took the photo of Paul Simonon that ended up on the cover of the âLondon Callingâ LP (September 20, at 9.50pm)
Pennie had accompanied The Clash throughout their 1979 US tour, and very nearly didnât attend this particular concert.
In the end she chose to turn down the offer to go out with friends and ended up stage right at The Palladium in New York City.
The band were used to playing to a seething mass of bodies, but not on this night â The Palladium had fixed seating, and bouncers were strictly enforcing the sit-down rule, which was a bummer for the band.
âThe show had gone quite well,â Simonon recalled, âbut for me, inside, it just wasnât working well, so I suppose I took it out on the bass.
If I was smart, I would have got the spare bass and used that one, because it wasnât as good as the one as I smashed up.
When I look at it now, I wish Iâd lifted my face up a bit more.â
Pennie Smith usually stood on the other side near Mick Jones, but for some reason she changed it up and stood on the other side, about 6 feet from Simonon.
She remembers seeing him suddenly spin toward her. âHe was in a really bad mood, and that wasnât like him.â
She was so startled, she got the photograph.
âIt wasnât a choice to take the shot.
My finger just went off.â
That chance moment gave the band an ideal image for the London Calling coverâŚ
After poring through hundreds of photos to choose a cover shot, as soon as Joe Strummer saw it, he knew it was âthe oneâ.
But Smith wasnât so sureâŚ
âI said, âItâs completely out of focus, it wonât work!â
But Joe wouldnât have it.
He said, âThat one is the photo.â
So I thought, âOK, Iâm not going to argue. Itâs your bloody album, get on with it.â
It was illustrator Ray Lowryâs idea to borrow the font, colours, and set-up of Elvis Presleyâs self-titled debut album cover, and it was another stroke of genius.
Both punk and rock and roll held the same cultural significance, each in their own time, but The Clash announced themselves on the album cover as purifiers of the tradition, stripping out the âphony Beatlemaniaâ Strummer decried in the title track and replacing it with righteous, if barely-in-focus, rageâŚ
And this photo crystallized itâŚperpetuating it in timeâŚ
One of the most iconic photos in rock historyâŚ.
#theclash, #londoncalling, #paulsimonon, #penniesmith, #coverart, #classicalbum, #photo, #albumcover, #dailyrockhistory, #thisdayinmusic, #onthisday
Credits Goes to the respective
Author âď¸/ Photographerđ¸
đ đłď¸
