"Remote Control" is a song by The Clash, featured on their debut album, and is written against oppression and conformity.

Background

The song was written by Mick Jones after the disastrous Anarchy Tour and contains pointed observations about the civic hall bureaucrats who had cancelled concerts, the police, big business and especially record companies. The song mentions a 'meeting in

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' which is thought to refer to the EMI shareholders' meeting held on 7 December 1976, which effectively withdrew all support for the Anarchy Tour. Also alluded to in the song are the 'old-boy' peerage networks and hapless politicians. Writing for '' the A.V. Club'', Jason Heller said that the song "imagines a deliberately, dramatically exaggerated England circa 1977, one where urban claustrophobia, totalitarian authority, and a robotic kind of daily routine".

Single release

The band virtually disowned the song, following their record label CBS's decision to release the song as a single without consulting the band. The band had already told ''

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'' magazine that their next single would be "

Janie Jones Marion Mitchell (born 1941 in Seaham, County Durham), better known by her stage name Janie Jones, is a former English singer. She became renowned for holding sex parties at her home during the 1970s, and was jailed for her involvement in 'contro ...

", and were irate that CBS had undermined them and made a decision to release "Remote Control" instead without the band's permission. To the band, the song became a symbol of everything they were fighting against. The incident was referred to in the first lines of a later song, " Complete Control", which is on the 1979 US release of the album: : ''They said, 'Release "Remote Control", but we didn't want it on the label...'' The B-side is a mono live version of " London's Burning". The band re-recorded the song in early summer 1979 during rehearsals for '' London Calling'', at Vanilla Studios in Vauxhall. This version was eventually released in 2004, on the second disc of the ''London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition'', known as ''The Vanilla Tapes''. In the liner notes, Mick Jones is quoted as saying: :''I think Joe

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disliked it on a symbolic level, because of what happened with the release. But we always liked the tune.''

Personnel

* Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar * Mick Jones – lead vocals, lead guitar and rhythm guitar *

Paul Simonon Paul Gustave Simonon (; born 15 December 1955) is an English musician and artist best known as the bassist for the Clash. More recent work includes his involvement in the supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen and playing on the Gorillaz alb ...

– bass guitar, backing vocal * Terry Chimes – drums

References

1977 singles The Clash songs Songs written by Mick Jones (The Clash) Songs written by Joe Strummer 1977 songs CBS Records singles {{1970s-single-stub