When The Clash took aim at the radio: “I hate them”
Though only together for a decade, The Clash is considered one of the greatest of all time because they always adhered to the core tenets of punk while churning out some of the catchiest tunes of their era.
What makes them even more special is that even at their peak, major industry players kept trying to squeeze them out, and they still managed to hold their fists up to those with the power to influence the masses.
The confrontational and anti-authoritarian spirit of punk was branded unfit for airplay by many channels and stations, oblivious to the fact that it represented the frustrations of an entire generation. Angered by how his group never received their due shine on the radio, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones penned a song criticising what was London’s only commercial radio station at the time.
‘Capital Radio’ (sometimes listed as ‘Capital Radio One’) was originally released as part of the Capital Radio EP in 1977, and then in several other compilations over subsequent years. Reinterpreting the main riff from ‘I Can’t Explain’ by The Who, this cut went through several phases before turning into a pointed and focused attack on the Capital Radio station.
In staying true to their disdain for commercial profiteering, The Clash refused to sell the record and instead launched a campaign that allowed readers of NME and those who purchased their debut LP free access to the cut; after all, the whole point of the song was to get a message out to the youth.
During an interview in 1977, Strummer voiced his irritation with radio professionals who obscured his band’s work from the public eye, going so far as to equate those efforts to the work of Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist of the Nazi party.
“They’re even worse because they had the chance, coming right into the heart of London and sitting in that tower right on top of everything,” he said, “But they’ve completely blown it. I’d like to throttle Aiden Day [Capital Radio’s head of music at the time]. He thinks he’s the self-appointed Minister of Public Enlightenment.”
He went on to dismiss the station for being out of touch with what was actually going on in the UK, suggesting that they “turned their back on the whole youth of the city”, adding, “They say ‘Capital Radio in tune with London’. Yeah, yeah, yeah! They’re in tune with Hampstead. They’re not in tune with us at all. I hate them. What they could have done compared to what they have done is abhorrent. They could have made it so good that everywhere you went you took your transistor radio.”
The song itself was a brutal and direct takedown, as the group held no punches in delivering their message loud and clear, referring to the station as “the Dr Goebbels Show” in the opening line. Following that, Strummer pointedly sings, addressing the person in charge with the line, “Get the word from Aidan Day, He picks all the hits to play to keep you in your place all day”.
The song instantly became a staple of The Clash’s live shows as it perfectly encapsulated their qualms with a system that allowed a select few to decide what is best for public consumption, and despite the efforts to limit the group’s reach, they built a grassroots movement that ended up having a far greater impact on culture than Capital Radio could have imagined.
