Jeez. Why don't you wait a little longer? lol :P
Now go buy Modest Mouse's new album.
Rarr. Johnny's sexy-meter just shot through the roof.
You can't go wrong with the Clash.
Does this mean that Johnny Bacardi is ditching all that old hippie vinyl, getting all punk rock on us, and changing his name to Johnny Carlsberg? Only time will tell...
There seems to be a couple of different Clash compilations out there, and my choice would probably be On Broadway 'cause it has rarities and b-sides, and has just been reissued cheap. Mind you, all it took was the 7" of White Riot to change my life utterly, so why be choosy?
These Essential collections are a good way to get into artists you've otherwise missed (recently did this with the Shawn Mullins set), though for me the still-defining Clash moment was buying that first album as a still fairly new British import long-player: the opening lines of "Janie Jones" were what did it to me. . .
Oh yeah- it's definitely going to be a starting point, then I'll go from there. My friend Mike, the biggest Clash fan I personally know, loaned me some sort of sampler a year or so ago, and I listened to it pretty hard...but after all was said and done, it was the most commercial stuff ("Train In Vain", "Should I Stay", etc.) that stuck with me. I figure that an Essentials set is better than having no Clash at all, though.
I was very slow to get into punk and new wave in general back in the day...here's what I wrote on the occasion of Joe Strummer's death, which kinda sums up my feelings about the Clash as well.
Shane: I'm very interested in Modest Mouse...I caught a video the other night and liked the song. One of these days...
I know people in the didn't really get into the Clash until the third album, London Calling - I guess the earlier stuff came across as a little bit UK-centred and parochial. The music is still great though, and I think there was something unique about the Clash that set them apart from the other punk bands of the day. Plus, Strummer's later stuff with The Mescaleros is definitely worth checking out. And Bill is absolutely right about Janie Jones of course.
But have you heard Made To Love Magic, the new Nick Drake compilation yet? Some of it is workaday, some of it is fabulous.
I haven't heard Magic yet, but I did read about it in the new Mojo. It's funny- I was just telling someone about Nick yesterday. We were talking about books we'd read lately, and I mentioned that I had recently read the Humphries bio- she had never heard of him. So now I have a sampler CD to burn! 
The legend grows...
I think if I really get into that Clash colelction then I'll look up some of their other albums. I've had a lot of people tell me "You should hear this" and "You should hear that"...I guess it's pretty darn difficult to narrow the track list down.
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