The Clash’s 2nd album cover wasn’t always this un-American.

Give ‘Em Enough Rope artwork print signed by Mick Jones and Paul Simonon

If you’re lucky enough to have a first pressing of Give ‘Em Enough Rope, you’ll know that the cover is not exactly the same as the limited edition print featured above. The fact that  Mick Jones and Paul Simonon signed this version suggests that it is their preferred design. You can find it at snapgalleries.com

The first U.S. pressing had the faux oriental font replaced with block letters.

I’m guessing the record execs at CBS were none too happy that The Clash was putting an anti-consumerism message on the cover of their American debut in the first place.

Nerd fact

Give ‘Em Enough Rope came out before The Clash’s self-titled debut in the US. Back before the interWeb, good news just didn’t travel as fast kids.

In 1977, the self-titled album from The Clash was the #1 import in the US. But still the band was largely unknown.

That said, I’m guessing the CBS exec in charge of launching the band wanted to make sure that if some kid in Utah had yet to hear White Riot, he wouldn’t mistake the album as the latest from some Japanese boy band.

Following the first pressing, the cover was tweaked from its originally design.

As for who actually designed it, all is not clear. Credits are given to Gene Grief, but Berkeley artist Hugh Brown can’t be overlooked.

While recording with Sandy Perlman in California, Mick and Joe visited Hugh Brown’s Chinese Tourist Art exhibition. The End of the Road for Capitalism, a piece inspired by a postcard photograph of a dead cowboy, caught the band mates’ eyes and it became the cover.

40 years on, but just a relevant today.

Give ‘Em Enough Rope was released November 10, 1978. Great music and album covers stay relevant. Sadly, Give ‘Em Enough Rope’s dead cowboy is all too relevant today with capitalism morphing into a top-heavy system for a precious few. And it’s currently killing a lot peeps in the middle and whipping out the bottom.

The themes that run through the songs are 2018 on point. Tommy Gun’s Middle East Terrorism, Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad’s—I’m going to say drug abuse—and English Civil War’s concerns about the rise of the right.

So go ahead slap it on the turntable or stream it. It’ll make ya feel alive as well as think.