Police on My Back
"Police on My Back" is a 1967 song originally released by The Equals from their second studio album Explosion. In 1980, the song was covered by The Clash.
| "Police on My Back" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Equals | |
| from the album Explosion | |
| Released | December 1967 |
| Recorded | 1967 |
| Genre | Funk, soul |
| Songwriter(s) | Eddy Grant |
"Police on My Back" was written by Eddy Grant and recorded by his band The Equals for their second studio album Explosion in December 1967.
| "Police on My Back" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Clash | ||||
| from the album Sandinista! | ||||
| B-side | "The Crooked Beat" | |||
| Recorded | 12 December 1980 | |||
| Genre | punk rock | |||
| The Clash singles chronology | ||||
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In 1980, the Clash recorded a cover version of the song for their album Sandinista!, and turned "the mid-paced soul-pop song into a charged-up, full-powered rocker". Their version featured guitarist Mick Jones on lead vocals. Their version of the song was only released in Australia, and was described as a "punk anthem at a time of political and social repression", and as their "most full-throated rock song since I Fought The Law."
The song was also covered by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day in 2020, during the coronavirus lockdown.
The song was described as being: "an expression of Jamaican rude boy culture". The song has been covered a number of times over the years, including Zebda in 2003, Asian Dub Foundation, Lethal Bizzle in 2007, and more recently, Culture Abuse in 2018.