Beto O'Rourke explains why the Clash and 'Clampdown' 'changed my life'

[TexasTowelie]

To understand what makes Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke tick, you have to understand his favorite band, the Clash. When a friend at El Paso High gave him the band’s seminal 1979 double album, “London Calling,” O’Rourke said, “it absolutely changed my life.”

“The urgency in that music. Politics in a way I had never experienced it before. (Lead singer/songwriter) Joe Strummer — the coolest human being that ever walked the planet,” O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman, told The Chronicle’s “It’s All Political” podcast.

“Selling (1980 triple album) ‘Sandinista!’ for the price of a single album. Wearing their politics on their sleeve. Trying to be a voice for those who otherwise would not have a voice — but then making it popular. Bringing me in through the beat, the riffs, (guitarist/singer/songwriter) Mick Jones’ soaring vocals. They just absolutely changed my life.

“There’s got to be something in this corporate moment where it’s not just what we watch on TV and what we buy,” O’Rourke said. “It’s our politics — it’s how we consume public life.”

Read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Beto-O-Rourke-explains-why-the-Clash-and-13968656.php

[mopinko]

1. did the same for my ex.

true story.

[FM123]

2. I totally get that. Once you hear The Clash, music does not speak to you in the same way again.