Combat Rock is the fifth studio album by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was released in May 1982  spending 23 weeks in the U.K. charts and peaked at No. 7 in the United States, spending 61 weeks on the chart. Combat Rock is the group's best-selling album, being certified 2x platinum in the United States.

On the surface of things, Combat Rock appears to be a retreat from the sprawling stylistic explorations of London Calling and Sandinista! The pounding arena-rock of "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" makes the Clash sound like an arena rock band, and much of the album boasts a muscular, heavy sound courtesy of producer Glyn Johns. But things aren't quite that simple. Combat Rock contains heavy flirtations with rap, funk and reggae, and it even has a cameo by poet Allen Ginsberg — if this the album is, as it has often been claimed, the Clash's sell-out effort, it's a very strange way to sell out.

 

Even with the infectious, dance-inflected New Wave pop of Rock the Casbah leading the way, there aren't many overt attempts at crossover success, mainly because the group is tearing in two separate directions. The result is an album that is nearly as inconsistent as Sandinista!, even though its finest moments — "Should I Stay or Should I Go," "Rock the Casbah," "Straight to Hell" — the Clash illustrate why they're able to reach a larger audience than ever before with the record.

 

Side 1

Know Your Rights

Car Jamming

Should I Stay or Should I Go

Rock the Casbah

Red Angel Dragnet

Straight to Hell

 

Side 2

Overpowered by Funk

Atom Tan

Sean Flynn

Ghetto Defendant

Inoculated City

Death is a Star