Music Video Monday! I Melt With The Clash!

This week’s installment of Music Video Monday comes to you courtesy of one of the grooviest, punkiest, reggaiest bands ever to take the stage:  The Clash.  Charlie Don’t Surf is a track off the 1980 double album, Sandinista!  While that album is not a favorite of mine, the song, as of this summer, has become a favorite and has gotten a solid following (by me) on my iPod.  I’m not entirely sure why it hit me the way it did when I first heard it, but … it did.  

I was in a particularly downtrodden mood one rainy Monday afternoon and I needed something to watch that could match my mood without trumping it.  That “something” turned into the poorly received I Melt With You starring a couple of my personal favorite actors:  Thomas Jane and Rob Lowe.  Released in 2011 with a strong supporting cast (Jeremy Piven and Carla Gugino) and a downright depressing plot, the movie received nothing but shitty reviews.  IMDB has it listed as 5.5 out of 10 stars and Rotten Tomatoes has certified it at a solid 45%.  Not very promising, I know, but I’m not trying to sell you the movie by any means, only the song.  In the movie, Jane’s character is the first to wake up one morning surrounded by hints of debauchery (empty alcohol bottles, a mirror supporting a hill of coke, leftover roaches, etc. etc.) and decides that the week is just getting started . . . 

n        Side Note – the plot revolves around 4 grown men who get together once a year at a prestigious house on the beach to recount their partying ways.  In other words, they get together to escape the mundaneness of their lives.  All spoilers aside – Escape they do.

. . .  so he grabs a half full bottle of beer (I’m an optimist), takes a swig followed by a bump off the hill and immediately turns on the nearby stereo.  He dances, he rejoices, he wakes up the other 3 guys and they all, in their own ways, take in the aura of what exactly they are doing there in the first place.  Charlie Don’t Surf is the soundtrack to this scene and while I couldn’t find the exact scene, I did find a fan made video recounting war and rock–n–roll (nothing to do with the movie though, sorry about that).  The video is alright, the song is amazing and the movie is depressing, but all resonate with me anyway.  Enjoy the tune and have a kick-ass week.  Happy Monday!