The Meaning Behind “Straight to Hell” by The Clash and How It Puts a Light on the Hypocrisy of Western Democracies

When The Clash released Combat Rock in 1982, they reached their commercial summit. But the other side of the mountain was a steep and steady decline, and the group from London was hurling toward the edge.

Their previous album, Sandinista!, was a sprawling triple album, crossing disparate genres like reggae, jazz, dub, calypso, disco, and even rap. Singer and guitarist Joe Strummer felt the band had drifted far from the simplicity of their punk-rock origins. Combat Rock was a return to a more direct, if not shorter, album. “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and “Rock the Casbah” became global hits, and The Clash was back. 

But drummer Topper Headon, who’d written “Rock the Casbah,” was descending into a spiraling heroin and cocaine addiction. He was fired following the release of Combat Rock. Though Strummer missed The Clash’s chaotic past, Headon’s addiction wasn’t the mess Strummer was after. 

Instead, he and bassist Paul Simonon rehired their former manager, Bernie Rhodes, who was around during the band’s early “anarchy” days. Guitarist Mick Jones was against the idea, and tensions spilled over into the studio as they disagreed over the album’s direction. Legendary producer Glyn Johns, known for his work with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin, was hired to shape a radio-friendly version of the new album. 

Johns’ production wasn’t only radio-friendly; the newly launched MTV added “Rock the Casbah” to regular rotation. Strummer and Jones fought over the album’s production, but the results produced The Clash’s best-selling album of their career. 

“Should I Stay or Should I Go” was released as a double A-side with “Straight to Hell.” Combat Rock’s strong political themes addressed post-colonialism, the Vietnam War, and American decline. Strummer takes on many of these topics in “Straight to Hell.”

Uncomfortable Truths

“Straight to Hell” puts a light on the hypocrisy of Western democracies. The first verse covers disenchanted citizens blaming Britain’s problems on immigrants. Xenophobia is nothing new in advanced countries and certainly didn’t end in Britain in the early ’80s. 

If you can play on fiddle
How’s about a British jig and reel?
Speaking King’s English in quotation
As railhead towns feel the steel mills rust
Water froze
In the generation

Strummer crossed the pond and next set his sights on America’s war in Vietnam, zooming in on American soldiers fathering children with local women, then leaving the kids behind. The kids grew up lacking identity while asking for their fathers.

Wanna join in a chorus of the Amerasian blues
When it’s Christmas out in Ho Chi Minh City
Kiddie say, papa papa papa papa papa-san, take me home
See me, got photo, photo, photograph of you
And mama, mama, mama-san
Of you and mama mama mama-san

The third verse examines American cities in decline from drug addiction. The drug trade created a vicious cycle of dependence and incarceration, feeding generational poverty. 

You wanna play mind-crazed banjo
On the druggy-drag ragtime U.S.A.?
In Parkland International, hah, Junkiedom U.S.A.
Where Procaine proves the purest rock man groove and rat poison

New York City

The Combat Rock sessions happened mostly at Electric Lady Studios in New York. Jones had been staying with his girlfriend in the city while the rest of the group stayed at the Iroquois Hotel, famous as the home of James Dean. 

Jones mixed the initial versions of the songs with extended dance mixes that wouldn’t fit on only one album. Strummer wanted shorter songs on a single album. A fourth verse from “Straight to Hell” was edited to accommodate Strummer’s vision for a more commercial release. Strummer won the argument, and Combat Rock reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 7 on the U.S. Billboard albums chart.

Samples

M.I.A. sampled “Straight to Hell” for her hit song “Paper Planes.” Her version was re-sampled on “Swagga Like Us,” featuring Jay-Z, Kanye West, and T.I. The Clash received co-writing credits for both songs. In M.I.A.’s version, she’s looking at America’s stereotyping of immigrants, echoing Strummer’s indictment of British attitudes toward people from third-world countries.

Like Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” The Clash made anthems from protest songs. “Straight to Hell” isn’t as well-known as the other singles from Combat Rock, but M.I.A and Jay-Z’s hip-hop hits that sampled the song showed the enduring legacy of The Clash. 

Combative Till the Very End

In 1991, Strummer briefly replaced Shane MacGowan on vocals after he’d been kicked out of The Pogues for being too rowdy. Strummer performed “Straight to Hell” with The Pogues at a show in Cologne, Germany. The New Yorker wrote how the druggy-drag ragtime U.S.A. verse sounded like a loving homage to MacGowan. (The Pogues’ fabled singer had recently died at the time of this writing). If Strummer was looking for chaos, there weren’t many better places or people to find it than MacGowan. 

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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images