Skip to content

Cover of Combat Rock by The Clash — Cover: Combat Rock

Song · The Clash

“Straight To Hell” by The Clash

From the album Combat Rock (1982)

“Straight To Hell” by The Clash appears on 23 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 1982 and 2023. It was first released in 1982 on the album Combat Rock. Its best result is #6 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1982. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #21 alternative song of 1982 and #1,355 alternative song of all time.

23countdowns

9stations

#6best position

0#1 finishes

1top 10 finishes

1982–2023years charted

Watch

The Clash - Straight to Hell (Official Audio)

Video from YouTube (theclashVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Straight to Hell" came near the end of the Clash's New York sessions for Combat Rock, their fifth album, and it was born in a rush: by the account of Mick Jones's guitar tech Digby Cleaver, the band tore through it on December 30, 1981, a day before they were due to leave town. Joe Strummer had stayed up all night at the Iroquois Hotel writing the words, cut his vocal at Electric Lady, then rode the E train up to Times Square just before midnight into a heaving crowd, sure they'd nailed something special.

They had. Topper Headon's drums tap out a slow, hypnotic pulse, Paul Simonon's bass prowls underneath, and Jones and Strummer's guitars drift like smoke over a hot street, with Glyn Johns mixing. In September 1982 it went out as a double A-side with "Should I Stay or Should I Go".

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1982	6	John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1982	50

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1999	588	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	588	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	588	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	588	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2002	128	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)	2002
2003	588	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2003	274	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)	2044
2004	588	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	589	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2007	1915	CD101	CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007)	2008
2007	287	WTMD	WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time	897
2008	1887	CD101	CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008)	2009
2009	1915	CD101	CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009)	2010
2010	1970	CD101	CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010)	2011
2012	684	WXPN	WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012)	885
2014	724	WXPN	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014)	885
2018	348	The Current	The Current's 893 Essential Songs	892
2019	117	KEXP	KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time	627
2022	281	KEXP	KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022)	491
2023	43	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s	850
2023	346	WYEP	WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023	1229
2023	262	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places	800

Also listed as: Straight to Hell; Straight To hell.

Charting alongside it in 1982

Best songs of 1982 →

Comments

Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Straight To Hell" by The Clash.

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.