Comments for The Clash: Revolution Rock

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Produced by Joyride Media (Paul Chuffo and Joshua Jackson)

Other pieces by Joyride Media

Summary: A new one-hour radio special pays tribute to "the only band that matters" with both exclusive and archival interviews.
 

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Review of The Clash: Revolution Rock

The Clash: Revolution Rock

Best placed on stations with AAA, Alternative Music, eclectic music formats and possibly dual format, NPR News / AAA stations.

Three strong appeals for this program, all from the listener's perspective, but there's a Radio insider's appeal as well.

The art and craft of radio and pubic radio's other core values are on solid display in this successful music documentary. The music itself, and the story behind the music, share equal billing and appeal on significant levels.

The compelling human storytelling components of the program evolve naturally. So does the musical story for those not familiar with the Clash and the punk movement they either founded or refined while also taking it to new and substantial musical levels.

This show, I think, will please Clash fans that have lifted the band to cult status, and there is similar appeal for other broadly tasted music fans. I'll let the more knowledgeable Clash fans and experts speak for themselves, but I suspect they'll say this Joyride Production does the band justice.

And while radio, and PRX, is first and foremost about listeners, this program serves as a living template, instructional device and perspective provider for those learning, teaching and honing their radio documentary chops. A pleasure to hear and an inspiring pleasure to learn from.

Appreciative strokes to Joyride Media for knowing how to format and package the program for use on the radio and to host Delphine Blue who knows exactly what she's doing and saying.

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Review of The Clash: Revolution Rock

A compact run-down (less a history) of "the only band that matters" compiled from interview snips from existing Don Letts documentaries, along with interviews with those who have documented and been influenced by the Clash and their legacy.

In a time when the idea that the individual can and should make a difference, the Clash's messages have become relevant again - if they were ever made irrelevant - and feel as fresh and urgent as they did in the late '70s/early '80s, and this may be why, in addition to the untimely passing of de facto band leader Joe Strummer in 2002, there has been a passel of Clash/Strummer books and documentaries released in the past few years.

Unlike other Clash documentaries, this piece includes full plays of select songs, including the enduring "London Calling", allowing the music that changed many young lives to continue to speak.