mcconville

I am embarrassed. I consider myself a pretty well-rounded music fan, but there are some inexplicable gaps in my musical knowledge, and a huge one is The Clash. I don’t apologize for it, nor am I proud of it. It just wasn’t part of my upbringing. The Clash weren’t on my friends’ radar, and they certainly weren’t on my parents’ radar.

Then, Sunday night at Yoshi’s in San Francisco as part of SF Sketchfest, Paul F. Tompkins, Ted Leo and PFT’s excellent band did a version of Police On My Back and I loved it, despite not knowing who wrote it. It has been in my head since.

Last night, I went to see a live interview show with Jeff Garlin and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, one of my biggest musical heroes. He mentioned the influence of The Clash and my friend and girlfriend both shot me a look, as I had told them of my ignorance of the song and the band.

Then, in a work break room today, I hear Police On My Back blaring out of a television- someone was watching a terrible cop show called Campus PD, and apparently it’s the theme song.

I took it as a sign. While I thought George Jones or Ernest Tubb was my next musical undertaking, I am now thinking it will be The Clash.