Bob Dylan started his career 1959, when Rock and Roll music was still evolving and taking shape. In the following decades the music genre grew bigger and many sub-genres appeared, changing completely the musical landscape. One of them was Punk Rock, which tried to make Rock and Roll a simple kind of music again, like in the early days, since in the late 70s there were bands making long and complex albums.
The legendary Folk Rock artist, who is one of the most prolific songwriters of all time, didn’t talk a lot with the press over the decades but he once revealed that there was a Punk Rock band that he actually liked.
The Punk band Bob Dylan said he liked
It might be surprising for many people, but Bob Dylan actually listens to many different music genres and more recently he even mentioned artists like Ronnie James Dio and Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses” on his book “The Philosophy of Modern Song” (2022). But in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1984, he revealed that he actually liked the British Punk band The Clash.
A “protest singer” himself, Dylan always admired groups and artists who used their music to talk about the injustices of the world and for him, The Clash was one of those groups. He was first asked about Punk and Sex Pistols, saying: “Yeah. I didn’t listen to it all the time, but it seemed like a logical step, and it still does. I think it’s been hurt in a lotta ways by the fashion industry,” Bob Dylan said.
Then he said that he had seen The Clash playing live: “Yeah. I met them way back in 1977, 1978. In England. I think they’re great. In fact, I think they’re greater (After Mick Jones left) now than they were. Yeah. It’s interesting. It took two guitar players to replace Mick,” Bob Dylan said.
In his book “The Philosophy of Modern Song”, Dylan also mentioned The Clash again. He said that although Punk is the music of frustration, the British band was different regarding that. He also said that the song “London Calling” was The Clash at their best.
“Punk rock is the music of frustration, and anger, but the Clash are different. Theirs is the music of desperation. They were a desperate group. They have to get it all in.”
He continued:
“And they have so little time. A lot of their songs are overblown, overwritten, well-intentioned. But not this one. This is probably the Clash at their best and most relevant, their most desperate. The Clash were always the group they imagined themselves to be,” Bob Dylan said.
Dylan performed “London Calling” in London back in 2005
It’s something hard to imagine even for The Clash fans, but Bob Dylan really likes the band and even covered them in 2005. It was during one of his concerts at Brixton and he briefly (60 seconds) covered the famous track “London Calling”, which was originally released by the band on their album of the same name in 1979. He continues to admire the track since he mentioned it in his 2022 book.
The Clash was formed in London, England in 1976 and was active until 1986. Their classic line-up had Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Sinomon and Nicky “Topper” Headon. They released six studio albums and have sold more than 6 million albums worldwide. Nowadays, the band has more than 11 million monthly listeners in Spotify, for example, which is a really good number on the platform. So they continue to be heard and discovered by new generations.
A reunion of the band sadly wouldn’t be complete if it happened nowadays since the band’s guitarist and vocalist Joe Strummer passed away back in 2002 at the age of 50. He suffered a heart attack caused by an undiagnosed congenital heart defect.