MUSIC: FATHER KNOWS LESS THE ALBUM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

3.21.97 By Tom Sinclair for Entertainment Weekly (Page 73)

He may be Bob Dylan's son, but the Wallflowers' Jakob Dylan says the double album that set him on the rock & roll road wasn't his papa's 1966 watershed, Blonde on Blonde, but the Clash's 1980 opus, London Calling. Dylan confesses to having been a bona fide Clash nut, and says he even asked former Clash member Joe Strummer to produce the Wallflowers' latest, Bringing Down the Horse. (Strummer, alas, declined.) Below, Dylan explains why he thought the Clash were the only band that mattered. --Tom Sinclair

"There was always music around, but [hearing London Calling] was the first time I discovered something that was really mine. I must have been around 11 or 12. I think one of my older brothers gave it to me. 'Lost in the Supermarket' was the song I first picked up on, though it wasn't necessarily the loudest or the best. They were considered punk, but not only was there reggae on that album, they used organs, pianos and harmonicas, classic instruments. I always thought they were a lot more intelligent than the other punk groups. At any given time, there are just a few really strong rock & roll groups around, like the Rolling Stones or the Who. That record really proved the Clash were in that league."

Copyright 1997 Time Inc.