Straight to Hell

The track was recorded during the Combat Rock sessions with Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon. The album sessions took place in London and at Electric Lady Studios in New York, with the Clash producing and Glyn Johns mixing the final album version. Released on Combat Rock in 1982, it became one of the album most powerful political songs, addressing war, displacement and postcolonial fallout. Though not issued as a charting single, it became a major album track alongside the record international hits. It remains one of the Clash most acclaimed late period songs and a defining example of Joe Strummer political lyric writing. The track gained renewed visibility when its guitar motif was sampled prominently in M.I.A. Paper Planes.