Forty years on from the
London Calling album, we rate the best tracks by the genre-hopping punks
![The Clashs 40 greatest songs – ranked!](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/389e242ce18e83d01e238788df035ef5ab3cf7ab/0_551_4977_2988/master/4977.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=7eaf037c867768a7252e1ca9b87ae961)
A historical artefact, not for the proto-punk
music, but because the lyrics epitomise the new wave’s perceived threat to the old guard. “No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones / In 1977,” sang Joe Strummer, hardly about to let his love of such pop greats get in the way of punk’s declaration of year zero.