“The Guns Of Brixton” by The Clash

"The Guns of Brixton" was Paul Simonon's breakthrough as a songwriter, the first Clash song he both wrote and sang, and it turned up on London Calling in December 1979. By then the bassist had learned to play guitar and started bringing in material of his own, and he drew this one from the South London neighborhood he grew up in.

It's a low, menacing reggae crawl, Simonon's bass line prowling underneath while Topper Headon's drums and percussion keep the tension simmering, a song soaked in the culture of Brixton and the swagger of the reggae gangster film The Harder They Come. Guy Stevens produced it and Bill Price engineered. The band, fresh off a split with manager Bernard Rhodes, had worked up their demos at Vanilla Studios in Pimlico that summer before moving into Wessex Studios in August 1979 to cut the album.

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