THE CLASH - STRAIGHT TO HELL

In 1982, The Clash released their fifth studio album Combat Rock - the album was their most successful and was the last to feature the band's classic lineup. The albums biggest hits were Rock The Casbah and Should I Stay Or Should I Go. The later was released as a double A-side single with the album track Straight To Hell. That song had reportedly been written at the Combat Rock recording sessions in New York City. Joe Strummer recalled writing the song in 1981, the night before the band had a New Years Eve flight out of New York City at the end of their two months of recording sessions. The original recording of Straight To Hell was 7 minutes long, and it was shortened to 5:30 when the album was drastically edited down to a single album, rather then the originalyl planned double album. In 2007, Straight To Hell's distinctive riff was sampled by M.I.A. (and co-writer/producer Diplo) on her massive hit Paper Planes. The song fittingly gives writing credits to Clash band members.