“Janie Jones” by The Clash

"Janie Jones" is where it all starts: the first track on the Clash's 1977 debut, The Clash, and a blast of pure pogo propulsion. Joe Strummer and Mick Jones wrote it, sing it and slash away at the guitars, Paul Simonon's bass bounces underneath, and Mickey Foote produced it with no time wasted on polish.

It's named for a real Janie Jones, a 1960s cabaret and pop singer who was convicted in 1974 of controlling prostitutes at the parties she threw at her Kensington home. She got out of prison in 1977, and Strummer, apparently a bit smitten, wrote the tune for her. A live take turns up in the 1980 film Rude Boy, and Nick Hornby's 1995 novel High Fidelity put it at the top of Rob Fleming's list of the best side-one track-ones, a choice the 2000 film kept.

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