"Police on My Back" | |
---|---|
Song by The Equals | |
from the album Explosion | |
Released | December 1967 |
Recorded | 1967 |
Genre | Funk, soul |
Songwriter(s) | Eddy Grant |
"Police on My Back" was written by Eddy Grant and recorded by his band The Equals for their second studio album Explosion in December 1967. [1]
"Police on My Back" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Song by The Clash | ||||
from the album Sandinista! | ||||
B-side | "The Crooked Beat" | |||
Recorded | 12 December 1980 | |||
Genre | Punk rock | |||
The Clash singles chronology | ||||
|
In 1980, the Clash recorded a cover version of the song for their album Sandinista!, [2] [3] and turned "the mid-paced soul-pop song into a charged-up, full-powered rocker". [4] Their version featured guitarist Mick Jones on lead vocals. Their version of the song was only released in Australia, and was described as a "punk anthem at a time of political and social repression", and as their "most full-throated rock song since I Fought The Law." [5] [6]
The song was also covered by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day in 2020, during the coronavirus lockdown. [7]
The song was described as being: "an expression of Jamaican rude boy culture". [8] [9] The song has been covered a number of times over the years, including Zebda in 2003, Asian Dub Foundation, [9] Lethal Bizzle in 2007, [9] and more recently, Culture Abuse in 2018. [10]
The Equals
The Clash
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