The album art for The Clash’s album ‘London Calling’ is one of the most iconic covers there has been in rock history. The Clash are very much a punk rock band and this particular album is post punk but it incorporates a huge variety of sounds on it including punk, reggae, rockabilly, ska, New Orleans R&B, pop, lounge jazz, and hard rock.
The image was taken by Pennie Smith but she never originally wanted it to be used as she thought it to be out of focus. It was in fact this quality that made it all the more appealing to the graphic designer Ray Lowry. The photographs captures the moment that the bassist of the band Paul Simonon as he was about to smash up his bass guitar. This photograph was in fact named the best rock and roll photograph of all time by Q magazine. It was chosen as it shows a loss of control, a quality that rock and roll had provoked. This image was an "accident", as it was taken Pennie Smith was moving backwards as the bass moved closer to her, the shutter was pressed just at the right moment to capture this moment.
The Clash’s music is heavily guitar based , the smashing of the guitar doesn't only reflect this but also the feeling of rebellion that the album has. The subject matters addressed in the album are those of social displacement, unemployment along with drug use and the responsibilities of adulthood. ‘The card cheat’, ‘Koka kola’ and ‘London Calling’ both reference drugs, ‘London Calling’ criticises the casual use of drugs “we ain't got no high, except for that one with the yellowy eye” where as the other song refer to under ground ‘opium den[s]’ and in ‘Koka Kola’ they refer to the advertisement world and that of coca cola as ‘ Kokaine’.
The album cover doesn't only show the rebellion of the era but also the edginess of the punk genre and that they aren't afraid to go on stage and smash things up. It is a sign of rebelling against what is expected of them and breaking out from society and all the issues that were present at the time, much like the idea of global warming presented in the song ‘London Calling’ - see lyrics below [1].
The image was taken by Pennie Smith but she never originally wanted it to be used as she thought it to be out of focus. It was in fact this quality that made it all the more appealing to the graphic designer Ray Lowry. The photographs captures the moment that the bassist of the band Paul Simonon as he was about to smash up his bass guitar. This photograph was in fact named the best rock and roll photograph of all time by Q magazine. It was chosen as it shows a loss of control, a quality that rock and roll had provoked. This image was an "accident", as it was taken Pennie Smith was moving backwards as the bass moved closer to her, the shutter was pressed just at the right moment to capture this moment.
The Clash’s music is heavily guitar based , the smashing of the guitar doesn't only reflect this but also the feeling of rebellion that the album has. The subject matters addressed in the album are those of social displacement, unemployment along with drug use and the responsibilities of adulthood. ‘The card cheat’, ‘Koka kola’ and ‘London Calling’ both reference drugs, ‘London Calling’ criticises the casual use of drugs “we ain't got no high, except for that one with the yellowy eye” where as the other song refer to under ground ‘opium den[s]’ and in ‘Koka Kola’ they refer to the advertisement world and that of coca cola as ‘ Kokaine’.
The album cover doesn't only show the rebellion of the era but also the edginess of the punk genre and that they aren't afraid to go on stage and smash things up. It is a sign of rebelling against what is expected of them and breaking out from society and all the issues that were present at the time, much like the idea of global warming presented in the song ‘London Calling’ - see lyrics below [1].
The album cover for London Calling was among the ten chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January 2010.
The cover artwork was designed by Ray Lowry and was a tribute to Elvis Presley’s self titled debut album. This was done through the use of typography, the colours used in the title and the positioning.