The Clash

They were "the only band that mattered," the fateful foursome that tore into the London punk scene with the white-hot ferocity of their first single, "White Riot," before making the leap to trail-blazing roots-rock rebels with tracks like the reggae-inflected "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais." Next step? London Calling, a collection of perfection ignited by a title track that, nearly 30 years later, stands as an apocalypse-rock call to arms and a hallowed declaration of the band's indisputable glory.

As songwriters, the team of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones was as good as it gets. Together, they powered the ferocity of punk protests like "Career Opportunities" as handily as they fired up the roots-rock revelry of "Rudie Can't Fail." It's Paul Simonon, though, who cooked up one of the band's most legendary tracks, "The Guns of Brixton." Righteous and rocksteady, the dread-reggae creeper bestowed rock immortality to the outlaw rebels of the bassist's working-class background.

Snarling social commentary never sounded so good. Firing off truth-tellers like "Capital Radio One," the Clash wasn't content to rest on its punk rock laurels. In the hands of this band, sonic cross-pollination produced strange, amazing new breeds: Witness the eerie, end-of-the-world dub of "Armagideon Time," or the V-8 rockabilly of "Brand New Cadillac," a classic she-done-me-wrong turned into a take-no-prisoners tear-down of consumer culture.

The Clash detonated the '76 London punk bomb with a sound that didn't merely define the genre; it changed pop music as we knew it. Before the decade was out, the band left the scene they helped birth, grabbing the world by its beating heart with their own fierce brand of revolution rock. Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Topper Headon fused their fury at the sorry state of the world with a bone-deep love of roots-rock and reggae, and staked their claim to immortality with tracks that rocked every bit as hard as they rebelled — "Janie Jones," "Straight to Hell," and "Complete Control," to name a few. Hopes of a reunion were crushed by Strummer's tragic death in 2002, but the band's spirit lives on in its fiery anthems and street-savvy serenades.