'Complete Control'

Single by The Clash

from the album The Clash(US version)

B-side

'City of the Dead'

Released

23 September 1977(U.K.)

Format

7-inch vinyl

Recorded

July 1977

Studio

A: Sarm East Studios^[1]
B: CBS Studios, London^[2]

Genre

Punk rock

Length

3:10

Label

CBS(S CBS 5664)

Songwriter(s)

Joe Strummer, Mick Jones

Producer(s)

Lee 'Scratch' Perry^[3]

The Clash singles chronology

'Remote Control'
(1977)

'Complete Control'
(1977)

'Clash City Rockers'
(1978)

The Clash reissued singles chronology

Train in Vain
(1991)

Complete Control
(1999)

Lee Scratch Perry Live 2014 Video
Reggae Lee Scratch Perry

33-second sample—with applied .3-second fadeout—of 'Complete Control' taken from The Essential Clash
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'Complete Control' is a song by The Clash, released as a 7' single and featured on the U.S. release of their debut album.^[4]

Dec 06, 2019 ‎A notoriously eccentric figure whose storied reputation and colorful personality match the sheer strangeness of much of his recorded output, Lee Perry is unquestionably one of reggae's most innovative, influential artists. His mixing-board innovations, from his early use of samples to hallucinatory.
Lee 'Scratch' Perry OD (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936) is a Jamaican record producer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music with his early adoption of remixing and studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing reggae trac.
Lee 'Scratch' Perry uDiscover artist page featuring curated audio playlist streams, videos, photos, social feeds, album tracks & original artist biography.

Background[edit]

The song is often cited as one of punk's greatest singles and is a fiery polemic on record companies, managers and the state of punk music itself, the motivation for the song being the band's label (CBS Records) releasing 'Remote Control' without asking them, which infuriated the group.^[5]Stereogum described it as 'this extraordinary airing of grievances, a desperately catchy cataloguing of the many ills visited upon a young band experiencing its first forays into corporate culture'.^[6]

The song also refers to managers of the time who sought to control their groups–Bernie Rhodes (of The Clash) and Malcolm McLaren (the Sex Pistols)–the song's title is derived from this theme. Bernie Rhodes had arranged a band meeting at the Ship, a pub in Soho's Wardour Street, where he said he wanted 'complete control'.

He said he wanted complete control. I came out of the pub with Paul collapsing on the pavement in hysterics over those words.

The track also refers to the band's run-ins with the police, their practice of letting fans into gigs through the back door or window for free and a punk idealism seemingly crushed by the corporate reality they had become part of and the betrayal and anger they felt.

This message was scorned by some critics as naïveté on the part of the band – the DJ John Peel was one of those, suggesting that the group must have realised CBS were not 'a foundation for the arts' – while others were strong in their support of the single.

Instead of a piece of cynicism, Complete Control becomes a hymn to Punk autonomy at its moment of eclipse.

— Jon Savage, England's Dreaming^[8]

The track was recorded at Sarm East Studios in Whitechapel, engineered by Mickey Foote and produced by Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Perry had heard the band's cover of his Junior Murvin hit 'Police and Thieves' and was moved enough to have put a picture of the band (the only white artist accorded such an honor) on the walls of his Black Ark Studio in Jamaica. When the Clash learned that Perry was in London producing for Bob Marley & the Wailers, he was invited to produce the single. 'Scratch' readily agreed.

During the tracking session, some Clash and Perry biographies claim, Perry blew out a studio mixing board attempting to get a deep bass sound out of Paul Simonon's instrument, while a 1979 New Musical Express and Hit Parader article penned by Strummer and Jones stated that Perry had complimented Jones' guitar playing, saying he 'played with an iron fist'. Perry's contribution to the track, however, was toned down - the band went back and fiddled with the song themselves to bring the guitars out and played down the echo Perry had dropped on it. The song was also Topper Headon's first recording with the band, following the departure of Terry Chimes.

'Complete Control' reached number 28 in the singles chart,^[9] making it The Clash's first Top 30 release. In 1999, CBS Records reissued the single with a live version of 'Complete Control'. In 2004, Rolling Stone rated the song as No. 361 in its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[10] The song is featured as a playable track in the video games Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Rock Band.^[11]The Guardian described it as 'the high watermark of the Clash’s punk period'.^[12]

In 1980, legendary guitarist Chuck Berry was asked to review some modern records by the St. Louis 'Jet Lag' fanzine. After reviewing the Sex Pistols' 'God Save the Queen', the next song to be reviewed was 'Complete Control', his review read: 'Sounds like the first one. The rhythm and chording work well together. Did this guy have a sore throat when he sang the vocals?'^[13]

Personnel[edit]

'Complete Control'[edit]

Joe Strummer - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones - lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Paul Simonon - bass guitar
Topper Headon - drums

'City of the Dead'[edit]

Joe Strummer - lead vocal, backing vocal, organ, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones - backing vocal, lead guitar
Paul Simonon - bass guitar
Topper Headon - drums
Gary Barnacle - saxophones

Charts[edit]

Charts (1977)	Peak position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)^[9]	28

Notes[edit]

^Gilbert 2005, p. 159.
^The Clash (October 1980). Super Black Market Clash. album sleeve notes. Epic Records. ASINB00004C4L1.
^Partridge, Kenneth (10 April 2017). 'How The Clash Can Lead to a Great Record Collection'. Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
^Letts, Don (2001). The Clash: Westway to the World (Film). Sony Music Entertainment. Event occurs at 11:45. ASINB000063UQN. ISBN0-7389-0082-6. OCLC49798077.
^Lucas, John (4 January 2019). 'Five Songs About: the music industry'. The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 7 May

Lee Scratch Perry Live 2014