Just as Winston Smith rebelled against Big Brother in George Orwell’s political and dystopian 1984, The Clash questioned authority and ranted against oppression and conformity from their first performance to their last. Much of the band’s recorded output dealt with political and social issues, which fans connected with in a way that was unlike many others.
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In the 2000 documentary Westway to the World, bassist Paul Simonon said, “We used to have a lot of political discussions about our lives and things that affect us.” Added singer Joe Strummer, “We were trying to grope in a socialist way towards some future where the world might be less of a miserable place than it is.”
The name of the band came from Simonon, who kept seeing the word “clash” pop up repeatedly in The Evening Standard newspaper. The idea of becoming a “programmed robot” who accepts the status quo is unacceptable. When The Clash formed in l976, England was going through an economic downturn. Inflation raged while public service strikes led to garbage pileups. Disenfranchised youth were looking for a voice. It arrived with spiky hair and safety pins.
When Joe Strummer saw the Sex Pistols at The Nashville Room in London, he realized everything he’d done before then was “yesterday’s papers.” It lit a fire under him to reinvent himself. Punk rock was the future. Clash guitarist Mick Jones also believed there was no looking back. After a disastrous tour with the Sex Pistols, where most of the shows were canceled, Jones holed up over the Christmas holiday and began writing a mini opera about senior authority and the oppression of youth. Let’s take a look at the story behind “Remote Control” by The Clash.
Who needs remote control?
From the Civic Hall
Push a button
Activate
You gotta work, and you’re late
The Recording
In February 1977, The Clash entered CBS Studios in Beaconsfield, England, just west of London, to record their debut album. Mickey Foote produced the band as they worked out the arrangements for the songs they had been performing live. Their drummer, Tory Chimes (listed as Crimes on the album credits), left the band just before the album was released; hence, only three members were on the cover. Nick “Topper” Headon replaced Chimes just weeks after the release of the debut album.
It’s so grey in London town
Panda car crawling around
Here it comes
Eleven o’clock
Where can we go now?
The Single
CBS Records released “White Riot” as the lead single off the album, and it just popped onto the UK Top 40, reaching No. 38. The band told Melody Maker magazine their next single would be “Janie Jones.” However, CBS Records was not on the same page. “Remote Control” was the follow-up release against the band’s wishes. Wrote Strummer in the 2008 book The Clash, “Columbia thought that ‘Remote Control’ was the most radio-friendly track on the album, so they released it. We thought it was one of the worst tracks, but they manufactured it while we were on [the White Riot] tour and so couldn’t do anything about it.”
Can’t make no noise
Can’t get no gear
Can’t make no money
Can’t get outta here
Against Their Wishes
The Clash were proud of “Remote Control,” but they began to resent the song when the record label released it as a single against their wishes. Wrote Simonon, “We were really pissed off about the record company releasing ‘Remote Control,’ ‘cos, as far as we were concerned, we had artistic freedom. We had to make it clear to them that we knew what we were doing.”
Big business, it don’t like you
It don’t like the things you do
You got no money
So you got no power
They think you’re useless
And so you are, punk
“Punk”
Although The Damned were the first band to release a punk record when Stiff Records put out “New Rose” in October 1976, “Remote Control” by The Clash was the first record to use the word “punk” in the lyrics.
They had a meeting in Mayfair
They got you down and wanna keep you there
It makes them worried
Their bank accounts
It’s all that matters
You don’t count
“Complete Control”
As the fallout from CBS Records’ decision to release the single without the band’s consent boiled over, Strummer and Jones wrote a song called “Complete Control.” The opening line was, They said, ‘Release Remote Control.’ But we didn’t want it on the label.
Can’t make no progress
Can’t get ahead
Can’t stop the regress
Don’t wanna be dead
In Concert
As The Clash toured throughout 1977, “Remote Control” regularly appeared in the setlist. They stopped performing it after the disagreement over the single release. They returned to the song in July 1979 and even attempted a rerecording of it during the London Calling sessions. That recording was finally released in 2004 as part of the “Vanilla Tapes” on the 25th Anniversary Edition of London Calling.
Look out, those rules and regulations
Who needs the Parliament?
Sitting making laws all-day
They’re all fat and old
Queuing for the House of Lords
Dr. Who
In 1984, Big Brother, a dictatorial leader with a cult of personality created by the Party’s Thought Police, has omnipresent government surveillance and historical negationism using propaganda to persecute individuality. The concept of punk rock is the extreme other side of the coin. Becoming a “programmed robot” who follows without question is the thing to avoid at all costs.
The BBC TV series Dr. Who features an extraterrestrial being who is part of a species known as Time Lords. As the doctor travels across time and space, many enemies are faced, including Davros, the Cybermen, renegade Time Lord the Master, and the Daleks, whom Strummer sings about in “Remote Control.”
Repression, gonna start on Tuesday
Repression, gonna be a Dalek
Repression, I am a robot
Repression, I obey
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Photo by Keith Bernstein/Redferns
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