There were more than a few outraged faithful who thought their heroes had sold out because the sound was too smooth to be punk, but London Calling proved that a band could be anti-establishment and pro-melody. Joe Strummer and Mick Jones kept their collective pen focused on the issues of contemporary England and (they hoped) late capitalism (“I’m all lost in the supermarket/ I can no longer shop happily/ I came in here for that special offer/ a guaranteed personality”) but they also had enough maturity to realize that, while politics was inseparable from life, it was not life’s entirety. The cover features the most famous photo in rock, Paul Simonon the moment before his guitar becomes thousands of expensive toothpicks, bracketed by the same font and colors used on Elvis Presley’s debut.