Some of you will have already noticed that the original Wall of Paul slogan, "Paul Tatara on Movies (and so forth)," now reads "Paul Tatara on Pop Culture (and so forth)." In the winter of 2007, when we launched this site, I knew I'd initially draw readers who were familiar with my CNN and Goodauthority movie coverage, so I mostly wrote about movies. But I live in the same world everyone else inhabits, and I contemplate a lot of things besides motion pictures. It was my goal, then, to eventually examine music, sports, politics, religion, firecrackers, action figures, babies, fast food, heroes, hypocrites, air conditioning, parades, cream puffs, and a slew of other topics that have come to shape my consciousness. Thus the altered, and far more accurate, slogan.

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Phony Beatlemania has Bitten the Dust

Jan. 5, 2010

London Calling Photo

The Clash's indisputable masterpiece, "London Calling," was unleashed upon the masses - or, at least, the portion of the masses that was hip enough to register a seismic shift in the tectonic plates of cool - 30 years ago today, on Jan. 5, 1980. The British government is actually issuing a postage stamp in honor of the record, while here in the United States somebody's programming a laptop to sound more like a real drummer.

The Clash on Stage

I could go on about the Clash's still-startling ability to shift gears between punk, reggae, and revved-up folk without ever sounding like poseurs, or about the "let's kick down the doors" and "let's sell some records" dichotomy of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones' songwriting contributions. But I think it's best if we just listen to the apocalyptic title track as loudly as possible, and marvel that the greatest album of the 1980s was released when the decade itself was a mere five days old.

"London Calling"