HITSVILLE UK Released January 16, 1981…A song by the Clash and the second off their fourth album Sandinista!. A duet between lead guitarist Mick Jones and his then-girlfriend Ellen Foley, it’s the 13th single release by the Clash. The lyrics refer to the emerging indie scene in British music in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which is held in contrast to the “mutants, creeps and musclemen” of the major labels with their “expense accounts” and “lunch discounts”, making “AOR” and using “chart-hyping” to sell their records. References are made to a number of UK independent labels (Small Wonder, Rough Trade, Fast Product and Factory). The song’s title is a nod to Motown Records, which used the moniker “Hitsville U.S.A.” in its advertising and to refer to the label’s first headquarters in Detroit. It is impossible to not like…
