THE CLASH – ROCK THE CASBAH (1982 , SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT)

Music Video Deconstruction

The First Rule

The first feature of Andrew Goodwin’s rule is that the music video would demonstrate the characteristics for that genre, ie stage performance in a metal video.

This video conforms to this rule in as much as it contains scenes in which the band are playing, as is common in most punk rock videos. However, this is also linked heavily to the ‘story’, as they’re playing somewhat in costume and location.

However, there is a small section at the end, interspersed with sections of the story, which shows them running on stage and performing live.

The Second Rule

The second feature is that there is a correlation between the lyrics and the visuals. This video both obeys and disobeys respectively. Some scenes match up perfectly with the lyrics of the song, for instance, in the line ‘The king called up his jet fighters’, there is the image of a jet flying overhead which the band react to.

However, there are also many instances where the visual does not match up to the video, often narrating a story to do with, but not exact to the lyrics.

The Third Rule

The third rule is that there is a correlation between the music and the visuals. Much of the video is made up of the band performing, which is the biggest correlation the visuals have to the music.

The Fourth Rule

The forth is that, due to the demands of the record label, there will be lots of close-ups of the artists, and maybe a reoccurring motif.

For this video, this holds true for the video, there are many shots of the band and especially Joe Strummer, the front man. Here are some examples from throughout the video.

However, there isn’t so much a motif in it, as the band themselves.

The Fifth Rule

The fifth is that there are many references to looking ie screens, mirrors ect. And a somewhat voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

As for the female part, there are to women save for the crowd shots at the end, so the video does not exploit this part of the rule.

However, in reference to looking there are some, for instance the character at the beginning with a pair of binoculars

The Sixth Rule

The last feature states that there is often some form of intertextual reference. The video itself is low-budget, and doesn’t contain much in the way of intertextual references.

The hair style Joe Strummer sports during this time was in reference to the Robert De Niro’s character Travis Bickle, in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.

Overview

The video to the song Rock the Casbah by The Clash follows many of the features of Goodwins categories. Although being predominantly performance-based, the video follows a direct story line.

There are many promotional close-ups of the band, including one of their performances.

The overall lightness of both the video and the song also help to establish how The Clash differ from other punk-rock bands, following a more regge influenced style.