God, they were a great band! I just listened to this one all the way through again, and it's still one of my all-time favorite Clash tracks. From their much-criticized, but overall brilliant, 3-disk
Sandinista album, this breath-of-fresh-air melody has nothing to do with punk music, but everything to do with the wonder of great pop music. It celebrates the rise of small U.K. labels in the 1970's punk/new wave movement and the liberation from the "music machine" it brought for awhile. Also referring to their beloved Motown capital, Detroit, which was Hitsville U.S. in the 1960's, an earlier time when small labels and brash independents managed to shake up the big record companies as well as energize a new audience with great, fresh-sounding 45's that managed to pack a huge punch in only 2:59. This single was released as a promo only in the U.S., and this copy has the same version on both sides.
