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WCSX Classic Cuts : Should I Stay or Should I Go

WCSX Classic Cuts The Clash: “Should I Stay or Should I Go” The Hook: Reissued in Britain in the early 1990s, it became the Clash’s only British number-one. Album: Combat…

INDIO, CA – APRIL 26: (L-R) Carbon/Silicon musicians Mick Jones (former of The Clash) and Tony James (formerly of Generation X) perform during day 2 of the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival held at the Empire Polo Field on April 26, 2008 in Indio, California. (Photo by Karl Walter/Getty Images)

Credit: Karl Walter / Gettyimages

WCSX Classic Cuts

The Clash: "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

The Hook: Reissued in Britain in the early 1990s, it became the Clash's only British number-one.

Album: Combat Rock

Year: 1982

Writers: The Clash

Stats:
Peaked at number-45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-13 on its Top Rock Tracks chart.

Background:
The Clash never had a chart-topping album or single in the U.S. and only one at home in Britain. "Should I Stay or Should I Go" went to number-one when it was reissued there in 1991, nearly a decade after its original release. In an old interview, guitarist Mick Jones -- who sang the song on Combat Rock, his final album with the group -- explained what happened.

Clash guitarist and singer Mick Jones on “Should I Stay or Should I Go” being the group’s only British chart-topper, but only after it was reissued nearly a decade after it first came out. OC:…still together. :20

“It was a pretty strange situation, because the record company wanted to release it and it was released and sort of went to number-one in this country. I don’t know, it was pretty nice to have a number-one, but the problem was that I think it was probably about eight years too late, because the group had already split up. I mean, it’d probably have helped us out a lot more if it’d been a hit while we were still together.”