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Saida Dahir

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Saida Dahir's Spoken-Word Debut Is A Powerful Love Letter To Black Muslim Women

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"I wanted to make sure that future generations of girls that put the hijab on aren't scared, aren't worried, aren't sad, aren't getting bullied, because they know they have people to look up to," the teen poet tells the Recording Academy
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Aug 15, 2019 - 5:51 pm

Saida Dahir has never gone back to Somalia, her native country, which sits on the east side of Africa. But she knows exactly why it is endearingly called the "Nation of Poets."

"A lot of people in Somalia write poetry about the war and about trauma and everything," she enthusiastically says over the phone about the country's centuries-long tradition with the spoken-word format. "Poetry is this thing that has been in my family since as long as time." 

18-year-old Dahir originally emigrated from Somalia with her family when she was three and claimed refugee status in Salt Lake City, but her country's tradition lives on in her work: Dahir penned her first-ever poem at just seven years old.

As she grew older, Dahir found herself at a crossroads with her culture as a black Muslim. "I was out of the norm for every single person," Dahir says. Microaggressions and adversity due to her religion and race caused her to feel different."I went through so much self-hate and so much doubt and wanted to assimilate to the surroundings."

But things changed in the seventh grade when she decided to start wearing a hijab, a traditional head covering worn by Muslim women. "I could either hate the otherness that I had or embrace it," she says of her decision. "I wanted to make sure that the representation that I had, that the future generations of the girls that do put the hijab on aren't scared, aren't worried, aren't sad, aren't getting bullied, because they know they have people to look up to."

Dahir also began to reclaim the way she saw herself through pen and paper. Through spoken-word poetry, she examined her experiences growing up Muslim, female and black in a perdominantly white community in the U.S. "The stranger looks at me funny, like an alien, like some exotic creature that needed to be rescued from its dying habitat, but she didnt know was, I like the same bands as her," she says in her poem "The Thing On My Head."

One spoken-word performance even went viral, when, in 2018, Dahir spoke at the 2018 March Of Our Lives event in Salt Lake City. “How much longer do we have to deal with this sh*t?” she asked the crowd. “Blood pools as we watch innocent bodies get hit/ politicians claim it’s not guns but they need to just quit."

Those experiences make up her powerfully emotive spoken-word debut, The Walking Stereotype, out Saturday, Aug. 17. The album is a way to bring her message of self love to young women who look just like her. "When I started writing poetry, I realized that there is so much darkness that comes with all these identities, but there is also so much light and so much hope," she says. 

Dahir also utilizes her YouTube channel to connect with other young people like her, filming vlogs with tips and anecdotes around everything from fashion to college applications. 

The Recording Academy spoke to Dahir about her spoken-word debut, what her black-Muslim identity means to her, BTS and other music she listens to, and more.

Tell me about yourself. 

My name is Saida Dahir. I was born in a refugee camp in Kenya after the civil war in Somalia broke out. People were very disastrous to my family. We lost everything we knew and everything we had so we fled to Kenya. I was born in one of the little plastic tents in a refugee camp. By the time I was three we were finally granted a green card to seek refuge in the United States. So I moved to white town in Salt Lake City, Utah where I was out of the norm for every single person. That's really what made me who I am and made me do things that I do.

What was your first experience with poetry?

Poetry is this thing that has been in my family since ... as long as time. Somalia's known as the land of poets. A lot of people in Somalia write poetry about the war and about trauma and everything. I started writing poetry when I was seven years old after reading countless poems from my mom and my brothers and getting inspiration. The first poem I wrote was a very trivial ... I think it was just a sappy poem, but that really sparked me to continue and to write about things that I'm very passionate about. That's what brought me to where I am.

Did your family write poetry similar to yours?

Yes. I feel like all of my siblings' poetry has been about social activism and movements and things that they want to see change in the world. I think we use our poetry as a way to inspire people and to inspire ourselves to really want to create change and to keep the feel of power in ourselves.

Sounds like your family has really empowered you. 

They have. They've inspired me. They've motivated me. They've really pushed me to excel in every single thing that I've done.

Why name your album, The Walking Stereotype?

The background behind the album title is very funny. You probably can't know from the phone but I'm Muslim, I'm black, I'm a woman, I'm a refugee. I have so many different stereotypes and so many different marginalized groups that I'm a part of. One time I was mentioning this to one of my friends and he jokingly said, "Bro, you're like the walking stereotype." That has really resonated with me because I really am the embodiment of so much hatred and so much destruction put on the groups that I'm a part of. I ran with that phrase and I made a blog called "The Walking Stereotype." That was my Instagram name for awhile. I knew that if I would ever do anything like this that that would be the name that I would make it [with]. There's so much that I talk about in this album, and it's not just one group that I talk about. I talk about every single group, all of my stereotypes that I walk in every single day.

What you said just now, that you embody so many stereotypes, sounds heavy but you sound so light when you talk about it, like you don't let it get to you.

Mm-hmm. It was heavy for awhile. It was so hard for me to claim it and to really find myself. I went through so much self-hate and so much doubt and wanted to assimilate to the surroundings. When I started writing poetry, I realized that there is so much darkness that comes with all these identities, but there is also so much light and so much hope. And there's so much power that comes behind them and culture and history. So when I talk about who I am, I have to be so happy because I would not want to be anybody but who I am. That's why that phrase ["walking stereotype"] it doesn't bring me sadness. It brings me so much courage because ... a lot of people are a walking stereotype. We can all be walking stereos together and we can use that as our shield against the world. 

You've been through all these experiences. What made you decide to want to make an album?

Like I said, I've been writing poetry for so long and I would just read them to people and that was that. I would record them but I would never post them anywhere or would never have a YouTube dedicated to it. There is so much power that comes from writing things down and sharing things and having them in a manifested form, so I knew that my poetry was something I didn't want to keep to myself.

I didn't want it to be something people read because my poetry doesn't sit on the paper. You can't just read it because when I say it, there's certain phrases that I emphasize or there's certain parts that I slow down. It's like music basically but it's not music. It's words, but the melody and the rhythm of the words that I say, it's what makes the poem. It's what gives it that mood. That's why I decided that the best place would be not a book, it wouldn't be a post. It would be me, my voice, my genuine reactions, and an album was the greatest way to do that.

To reclaim something for oneself can be a huge process. It takes a lot of reflection and you have to deal with a lot of pain in order to first face it and then decide, "I'm going to change this narrative." Do you remember the moment, or maybe it was a series of moments, where you decided, "I want to do this for myself. I want to reclaim my story. I want to love myself"?

I think the first moment that I had that realization of changing my narrative is when I started wearing the hijab. The hijab is the cloth, the scarf that a Muslim woman wears. I started wearing that when I was in seventh grade. Up until that point I was very assimilated to the American culture. I was a very American child but as soon as I put the scarf on, I was different. I was other. I could either hate the otherness that I had or embrace it.

It took so many years and me learning and me moving and countless microaggressions and countless adversity that was thrown my way, but at the end of the day I wanted to make sure that the representation that I had, that the future generations of the girls that do put the hijab on aren't scared, aren't worried, aren't sad, aren't getting bullied, because they know they have people to look up to. Then things just started escalating on the news ... a couple of years ago with the Muslim ban and with the hatred towards a bunch of the stereotypes that I had. I knew that poetry was the way that I was going to use my voice and change the narrative. So I started writing poems about politics and about laws and about things that I needed to see change. I think that me expressing myself is what helped myself learn who I was.

Having listened to your album, I really felt like it was this love letter to yourself, but the more I hear you talk, I feel like this is almost a love letter to the Muslim black woman.

It really is. It's a love letter to every single person that looks like me because they need the love too. They don't get that love in the media. They don't get that love in the press. They don't get that love in the history books that are written. So we got to love ourselves.

Anything else did you want to achieve with the album?

I think what I want to achieve with the album is to show people that look like me that there's so much talent behind your words and so much power that your words hold. I don't know how to sing. I don't know how to rap. I don't know how to do all of these things that people use to express themselves. I don't even know how to draw. I know how to write and I know how to express myself in English and in so many other languages. I think that there is power behind people's words and every single person has that talent if they write things down, if they speak up, if they express themselves. That is where the true power comes from, your words and how you use them. 

You mentioned that you've been writing since you were seven. Has this album been the accumulation of all your writing throughout that time? 

The first poem that I wrote in that album is called "The Thing on My Head," which is a poem about how I started wearing the hijab. I wrote that poem when I was in seventh grade so this is an accumulation from poetry from when I was 14. How old are you when you're in seventh grade? I think 13, 14. So a good portion of my life is on that. A good portion of the life that I remember and the life that I lived and the experiences I have since I started writing.

It's basically your sonic debut. 

Yes, this is. I've never done anything like this before so when I heard the GRAMMYs wanted me to interview me I was like, "What?"

Did you reach out to someone to record the album or did someone reach out to you? 

The record company that I did this album with, they found one of my poems on YouTube that I did at the March for Our Lives. That poem went viral and so they asked me if I wanted to record that poem for another album and I said, "Sure." So I recorded that poem for an album about gun violence. Then a couple of months later they were like, "Why don't you just do a whole album by yourself because you have such powerful poetry?" I was like, "Okay, sure." And that's what I did.

One of your poems is about Parkland. What inspired you to write about the tragedy?

I wrote that poem the day of the Parkland shooting. I found out about it and I got home and I was so distraught ... It was a normal thing. It's a normal thing for us and I was a junior in high school, I had tests to worry about, I had my grades to worry about, but I was immobile because the only thing that was there was just the fear. The fear of going to school and of not coming back. So I did what I do when I'm in situations where I'm so heavily burdened by society, I wrote a poem that day. I've never written a poem in one day before. That was the first poem that I sat down and I wrote the entire thing and I still have not changed it at all because it was the true expression and the true feelings I was feeling that day. The anger and the fear and all of that just boiled down to, "What I can do to make sure that that never happens again?" Then I read at the March for Our Lives and the reaction that I got in the crowd was so many people that said they could relate. There's nothing better than when you can ... people can relate to your emotions.

How does it feel for a total stranger to connect with you?

It's what inspires me to do everything that I do. When I read a poem and after someone walks up to me and says, "No one has ever expressed that before in the way you did and I agreed with everything that you said. It's been something that's in the back of my head," it really just makes everything that I do worth it. If I'm putting people's feelings into words and I'm sharing them and they hear it and they just are like, "I get that," that just is the best feeling in the world.

You sound like a very confident person. Were you ever scared to share your stories with the world?

Yes, I was terrified. Like I said, seventh grade was the pivotal year in my life. The reason why I did the things that I did is one of my teachers, he knew that I wrote poetry and that I never read any of it. He told me that he was going to force me to read a poem at our talent show or he would fail me-

Oh no.

I was like, "Oh no." I was so terrified and I signed up to read a poem at the talent show. I didn't want to do it but I didn't want to fail the class. I knew he was joking, he was not going to fail me, but I decided that this would be an incentive. I went up there and I read a poem and I got a standing ovation. I was just a shy girl and to get that standing ovation was just like, "This is crazy, people like what I did. People like what I wrote."

Then I, of course I was terrified every single time I'd get up onto the stage. I've also walked off a stage and been yelled at and called "terrorist," but I don't think about that. I think about how when I'm on stage, what change I could make and how I can keep the ball rolling.

Is there anything telling your story has taught you?

I think something that telling my story has taught me is that there is so much power behind just being who you are. It's so easy to just think that you can be who you are but it's so hard when the world is so [full of] hate and the world is so exactly how it's supposed to be [with the] status quo. To just say, "No, I'm not going to do that," and just express yourself in every single way that you are and just to love yourself, I think that's incredibly powerful.

The term "refugee" has been all over the news these last few years. People are defining it in different ways. What does it mean to you?

I think it's hope. I think that word means hope. Being a refugee means leaving everything you know, everything you love, your culture, your religion, your background, your language, your food, your home, your family, in the hopes for something better. That's what my family did and that's what the people at the border are doing right now. That's what the people in Syria are doing right now. They know that they're leaving everything they have and their whole universe because they know that something's better and something is waiting for them. When they do arrive to those situations, they're either loved and welcomed or they're pushed out. 

My family was not loved and welcomed but we were not pushed out. We were indifferent, but now people are being pushed out. There's never been love. Once we can figure out how we can solve this problem and greet people, because no one is going to ... No one understands that no one's going to leave everything that they have if they're not pushed out, if they're not killed, if they have no other options. I think once we realize that, we can figure out how we can solve this refugee problem in the world. No one just wakes up one day and is like, "I'm going to cross the river. I'm going to walk barefoot. I'm going to not eat for a couple of weeks for fun." It doesn't work that way.

Is there any poem in your album that means the most to you in any kind of way? If so, why?

I think the poem that has the most meaning towards me is, "Oh, Somalia." I've never been to Somalia after the war. When we fled to Kenya I came immediately here. I wrote that poem because I really have never gotten the opportunity to love my homeland. One day I will, I will go back and I will visit. I have that poem for now and whenever I feel homesick of a home that I've never been to, I read that poem and I think about it. One day I'll be in Somalia, hopefully, and I'll be able to read that poem while I'm there. That's my goal.

Has not knowing your homeland affected you?

I think it's affected me because growing up I was too white for the Somalia kids and then I was too black for the white kids. I never really knew myself. I didn't speak Somalia fluently when I was growing up and a lot of the Somalia kids I knew would make fun of me. Then I would get made fun of by the white kids that I was with. It was very disheartening because I never had that safe haven and that safe space. When you're too black for the white kids and you're too white for the black kids, where do you go? You have to make spaces for yourself.

That's why I try to learn so much about my culture. I study more about my culture than people that live there probably do because I don't have it accessible to me. It's not at the touch of my fingertips so I have to try tenfold just to get that experience of my ... calling my place home.

There's this thing Billie Eilish said in an interview. She said something along the lines of, "People underestimate the power of a young mind." Do you agree?

I 100% agree. I'm at this this conference right now with so many young people. They're geniuses. They are so revolutionary and so innovated. They have so many goals and things they want to change about the world. So much optimism. If we were just heard out, if we were just listened to, if we weren't just called, "Oh, they're just kids. Oh, they don't know what they're talking about," we could bring so much to the table. If we don't have a voice, we're just going to talk. We're just going to be disruptive.

Jeremy Jemmott, who worked with Gil Scott-Heron, worked with you on this album. How does it feel to have someone of that caliber work with you on this project?

I love the Black Panther Party and I love "The Revolution Will Not be Televised." When they told me that he was going to be on the album, I literally was in shock. He's an amazing, an amazing, musician. Just knowing that the power and the history behind his art and his talent with my words, it just proves that it's inter-generational. We've been fighting for causes, we've been fighting for the things that I've ... I'm talking about in these poems, for years and years and years. And it shows because when he was drumming back then we were going through the same sh*t. 

What other music are you into?

I really love soul music. I'm a big K-pop fan. A lot of people don't know that.

Who's your favorite band?

I love BTS. I love good rap music. It's funny because rap music is literally poetry. When I tell people that, they're really confused and I'm like, "No, you're favorite rapper is in fact a poet. They're just putting the beat behind it." Some of the songs on my album have a beat behind it and so I'm basically a rapper.

You're attending UC Berkeley in the fall, which is really famous for its student activism. What are you most looking forward to there?

I'm really looking forward to be able to be in a college setting. I'm a first generation college student so I know that that is a very heavy burden, but I'm really excited to continue this for the generations after me. Having one person in your family be a college graduate just keeps the ball rolling and rolling and rolling. I'm really just excited to learn more and to grow and to find out what my purpose in life is through the academia aspect and just learn.

What kind of career you want to pursue? Do you want to continue being a poet?

For all my life I wanted to be a journalist, and then I wanted to be a lawyer for a couple of months and so that's what I applied to all my colleges through. Now I think I'm going to go back to journalism.

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Courtesy of Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation

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How The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation Has Been Quietly Helping Schools By Donating Musical Instruments

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Thanks to the non-profit, more than two million students have seen improvements to their school's music programs
Crystal A. Frost
GRAMMYs
Mar 20, 2020 - 2:57 pm

Nearly a quarter of a century in the making, the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (MHOF) has become much more than founding member and film composer Michael Kamen ever imagined. Since 1996 when the non-profit organization began, upwards of 30,000 instruments have been donated to schools and more than two million students have been impacted by improvements to their music programs. What began as a simple, heartfelt effort to bring high-quality musical instruments into underfunded K-12 music programs has developed into a large-scale effort to improve music and arts programs all around the country. 

Michael Kamen, who earned four GRAMMY Awards from nine nominations during his career, named his foundation after the award-winning 1995 family movie Mr. Holland’s Opus, which he scored. The film tells the true story of an American composer-turned-teacher named Glenn Holland, who spent 30 years improving the lives of his high school students through robust music education, despite the constant struggle against budget cuts. Kamen, whose score for Mr. Holland’s Opus earned him the GRAMMY for Best Instrumental Arrangement that year, was so inspired by the story that he decided to start a foundation based on the same core values.

“Music’s role in a child’s education is key in engaging them, sparking their creativity and unique voice and improving their overall enjoyment and success in school. A vibrant, music-rich curriculum makes an immense difference in their lives.”  - mhopus.org 

Each year, MHOF receives hundreds of applications and must choose between 70 and 100 schools to award instruments. “Part of my job is to make sure we do not overextend or overcommit,” Scott Holtzman, Chairman of the Board of Directors explains, in an interview with the Recording Academy. “The core mission of MHOF is to bring instruments to schools that can’t afford them, but it hasn’t always been easy.” Coming out of their best year to date, Holtzman still looks back on the more difficult years as a learning experience. “The biggest challenge for any foundation is getting people to open their pocketbooks,” he explains. “People tend to look at music and music activities as not one of the highest-profile concerns in a world where we have such political turmoil and wars going on.”

Despite his busy career as Executive VP of Music Business Affairs at Walt Disney Studios, Holtzman has been with MHOF for 17 years because to him, music is a critical part of education. “It’s not just about learning music, but about the skills, you learn from learning music.” And according to the National Association for Music Education, Holtzman is right. Studies show that learning music builds curiosity and imagination while simultaneously teaching discipline, pattern recognition, coordination, and an array of other skills. 

 “It’s not just about learning music, but about the skills you learn from learning music.” -Scott Holtzman, Chairman of MHOF Board

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MHOF President Felice Mancini, daughter of philanthropist Ginny Mancini and renowned film composer Henry Mancini, finds that working at the foundation is a very personal experience for her as well. “I grew up with music all around me,” she shares. “My parents gave me that sense of social responsibility as well. They were very, very philanthropic.” Several years ago, Mancini inherited her father’s flutes and began learning how to play them. “I did it as sort of an homage to him,” she explains, having only studied piano and voice in the past. In the end, the experience gave Mancini a new appreciation for the work she does. “Learning a new instrument is not easy, and you have to be very motivated and dedicated to keep it up.” The experience serves as evidence that when a child is drawn to music, it is so crucial they have instrument access. “It is so important that you give them the best instruments you can so that they can learn correctly instead of getting defeated and quitting.”

Since its founding, the non-profit has seen donors with remarkable stories pass their instruments on to students, one of which was even turned into a documentary. A few years back, a radio station in New York (WQXR)  partnered with MHOF to do an instrument drive. Scattered around the city were drop sites where people could come to donate their retired musical instruments. Upon arrival, donors were asked to share the stories behind them. One donor was 91-year-old Holocaust survivor, Joseph Feingold, who came from his home in the Bronx to donate his violin.

 "After he got out [of the camps], he bought this instrument on the black market in order to heal from his experiences," Mancini recalls. The instrument was donated to a 12-year-old girl named Brianna in a school in the Bronx. "A [documentary filmmaker] who worked at the Daily Show with Jon Stewart at the time heard the story on the radio and pursued it." Joe’s Violin, as it was called, earned an Academy Award nomination for best documentary short that year, and the story itself earned the hearts of many. 

Sharing Knowledge Through Data

The momentum with which MHOF’s new Music Education District Support Services (MEDSS®) program has taken off is one of the MHOF team’s largest sources of excitement. The program began as a way to share the knowledge and data the foundation has acquired over the years regarding the strengths and weaknesses in low-income school districts.

“We found that people are just so hungry for this information,” Mancini explains. “If they know what other districts are doing and what their challenges are, it makes them feel more proactive.”

Within a few short years, the program developed into much more than just data sharing. MEDSS partners with school districts in need and assesses their music programs from a functional standpoint with the end goal of enhancing and sustaining their music education. “We like to give them the information they need, assess what their challenges are and help them. In the end, the leverage point is that we will give instruments to these schools,” Mancini added.

MEDSS also works hard to carefully incorporate local organizations into the improvements. “We like to bring in other organizations from their community that will plug right into the findings,” Mancini shares. Schools in need have a tendency to say yes to anyone offering services for free which is often at the expense of sustainability, but MHOF is determined to avoid this. “We want to help this become a community effort, but in a smart, strategic way.”

Perhaps one of the most unique things about MHOF though is their “no-frills” attitude when it comes to fundraising. “We just do what we do with our heads down and try to make an impact in as many low-income schools and districts as we can. People notice and support that,” Mancini says. She goes on to explain that the organization is not celebrity-driven and has no celebrity spokesperson or fundraising gala. “We just try to be the organization that makes things happen for the people who want it to happen.” It is clear that her desire is for the donors to be seen as the real heroes. “We are just the middleman; the conduit.” Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. “We do, at some point, want to put on an event to honor Michael Kamen and raise money for the foundation,” Holtzman shares. Perhaps this is something we can all look forward to in their 25th year.

When asked about the organization’s roadmap for 2020 and beyond, Holtzman and Mancini both reply with a clear sense of optimism. “This is going to be a year for our growth, both with fundraising and with staff,” Mancini reveals. Driven by the success of MEDSS, MHOF will continue to help as many districts as they can in order to make children’s musical dreams a reality. Of course, the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation would not be approaching its 25th Anniversary with the same momentum and success if not for the generosity of all those who believed in the organization and contributed along the way. Regular donors to Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation include several GRAMMY award-winners, including film composer Alan Silvestri, songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, rock artist Eddie van Halen, and country singer Chris Stapleton. A full list of donors can be found on mhopus.org where the sub-header affectionately reads, "These are the people who make it all possible."

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Caloncho

Photo: Jeremy Cohen

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Mexican Singer/Songwriter Caloncho Is On A Mission To Give Back—In Music And Beyond

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How the Guadalajara-based, Latin GRAMMY-nominated performer is determined to make a positive difference in his home country
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Mar 6, 2020 - 12:47 pm

Caloncho loves life. The tattoo on his left arm—a mom-heart-style illustration with "Vida" written in the center—is just one way he makes that known. The 33-year-old Mexican singer/songwriter, born Oscar Castro, has very much built a reputation around his optimism and zeal for living. Even when he forgoes his love-soaked lyrics with words of disillusion, his guitar-heavy reggae, rock steady pop sound keeps the mood warm and light, making it easy to forget you’re hearing about heartbreak; it transports you to a tropical island and makes you want to get up and dance.

The curly-haired singer exudes a calm warmth in person too. His vibe is as sunny as the city he finds himself in on the last days of February: Santiago de Queretaro, a small colonial town in North-Central Mexico.

Caloncho is in Queretaro to perform for an intimate group of fans on the last stop of the Live At Aloft Hotels Homecoming Tour, a partnership between the new Marriott hotel in the city and Universal Music Group, which features artist performances in their home countries.

The popular singer doesn’t mind the positive associations with his music. “If I die tomorrow, I'm glad, I'm happy,” he says hours before his performance, sitting in the hotel lobby wearing yellow high socks with a smiley face printed on them. "I think I’ve done something for people through my music because they’ve told me they like it and that it actually helps [them], so that's useful.”

Being helpful is equally important to Caloncho. It’s “a mission” for him. More than making people feel happy, Caloncho, who studied international relations in college, wants to make a genuine difference in the world. Optimism gives people faith, he believes.

The day before, he swapped his guitar for a pair of gloves, rubber boots and a face mask to do something beneficial outside of music.

The tour stop has enabled him to build a partnership with a local nonprofit in Queretaro raising awareness on the pollution called Habitantes del Rio. The singer brought together locals, Aloft employees and media to clean a section of Queretaro’s polluted river. The historic river, which at one point provided water for many to use, has become extremely contaminated over several years. You’ll find soccer cleats, television parts, glass and even human waste flowing in or around the river.

The river’s state reflects a greater problem the country faces; six out of every 10 rivers are polluted in Mexico.

Queretaro’s river, flowing across most of the state like a belt, has caused local townspeople health problems and has overall become bothersome, not just because the water is a sewage green color but because it emits an extremely toxic smell.

Local authorities have initiated plans and programs to clean the river, but to no prevail. Habitantes also set up cleaning dates throughout the year to help solve the issue. So far, they have taken 15 tons of trash from the river.

Caloncho learned of the organization while at a music festival. He thinks it’s important for people to know what’s going on in the country and feels a responsibility to do good not just through music, but everywhere else, too. "Music is a great vehicle for sharing issues," he says as he gets ready to pick up trash with the nonprofit.

Cameras and photographers follow the singer around as he gravitates towards one part of the river, a muddy corner that looks like a small landfill in the making. The green water flows by behind him.

Back in his hotel lobby a day later, Caloncho reflects on his river experience.

“I love to travel. I love to do what I do. It was just a great opportunity to visit Querétaro with Habitantes del Rio," he says. "I admire the job they do, what they think. I was really excited to clean the river, to be part of it and to let the people know that they have something vital that's actually a treasure."

The singer hopes the cleanup, now documented on his social media, can inspire local fans to help out as well. "They have a river, their place, and this is an example for [what can be done for] the rest of the rivers throughout Mexico and the planet," he says.

Humans have been the cause of the river’s unhealthy condition since the mid 17th century. In college, Caloncho faced one of the most debated questions related to the actions of human beings: "Are human beings good or bad?"

Caloncho still isn’t sure how to answer that question. For him, though, there is power in choice.

"We have to protect [rivers] and we have so much power as individuals to do that. Every choice of consumption that we get to get every day, everything we choose, is going to have an impact and environmental weight," he says.

GRAMMYs

Photo: Jeremy Cohen

The singer will begin working on his forthcoming album in a few days and feels strongly about including songs that will make people think. Caloncho wants to include more of his thoughts on society and human emotional intelligence, even incorporating discourse, something he says is not easy to do.

"Ideology is not an easy thing to get into a song," he says. "But I'm trying."

The love songs he’ll include, though, will be Classic Caloncho. He’ll include a special message to his daughters, who he didn’t have when he began making music.

“I want them to be independent and intelligent,” he shares. “[The album will have] a letter to them. I think it's kind of personal in that way.”

Fatherhood has only added to the singer’s love for life. While he loves to make music and going on tour, he admits leaving his children at home is tough.

“I feel so full when I'm home playing with them and just existing, watching them grow. I think that everything is primitive and easy and as simple as that,” he says. “There's nothing else to do other than enjoying our existence … I could be doing nothing at all, just sitting, watching, and that's beautiful … I'm in love. I love existing, I love my daughters.”

Caloncho released an EP titled Pa with his youngest baby girl on the cover last year. Evidently, his determination to make a difference in and out of music is also tied to fatherhood.

"Everything is okay in terms of creating music. I could just relax and do love songs and chill but I want to be useful. Maybe it's related to being a father now, I don't know," he says.

Caloncho released his first EP, Homeotermo, in 2011. A series of EPs titled Fruta and Fruta Vol. II followed before he released his latest album Bálsamo in 2017.

Fruta earned him a Latin GRAMMY nom for Best Alternative Album in 2014. That year he was also nominated for Best New Artist.

His journey into music began thanks to his late grandfather, who also gave him his nickname, "Caloncho."

“My grandfather, my father's father, he used to play norteña. He used to play mostly with an accordion. And he gave me my first guitar too,” he says. “He had a Yamaha Electone his living room, which I now have, so it was like going to my grandparents' house was just discovering music through this Electone and another synthesizer he had.”

The Beatles were another early influence; their CD is the first he ever purchased.

“I love them. They created pop music and it's always a reference when recording. I love their sound. We actually studied the process of how do they get to that voice and guitar and drum sound,” he says.

When he’s not creating music on his own, he’s collaborating with Latin GRAMMY-nominated singer El David Aguilar in a band called Vacación. The band is influenced by a variety of Mexican and Latin American musical styles and genres including boleros. Together, they combine some of the most praised songwriting in the Spanish language. After his intimate performance in Queretaro, Caloncho will continue a spring tour with the side project.

The singer/songwriters share an album, Tiempo Compartido, and Caloncho has learned a lot from Aguilar.

“He's an amazing musician, an extraordinary human being,” he says. “I've learned to not be afraid of having a discourse, even though it doesn't rhyme, even though it's not sexy.”

Of making an English album, Caloncho says he’d love to someday, but the language hasn’t come as naturally to him. 

Whatever happens, Caloncho is content with taking it slow. “I'm just finding myself. I'm getting to know myself as composer, and as a human—like everybody else.” 

Soccer Mommy On 'color theory,' Impulse Depop Shopping & The Demon Living In Her House

Kendrick Lamar - Grammys 2018

Kendrick Lamar performs at the GRAMMYs in 2018

Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

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From Social Media To Streaming: 10 Moments That Changed The Landscape Of Music In The 2010s

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From the rise of streaming services to the globalization of pop, the 2010s were a revolutionary decade that disrupted the music industry and forever changed the game
John Ochoa
GRAMMYs
Dec 27, 2019 - 9:32 am

With the final days of 2019 comes the finale to a revolutionary decade that disrupted the music industry.

A bit of cultural context: The decade kicked off in January 2010 with a rising Lady Gaga dominating the global charts with her breakout track, "Bad Romance," Taylor Swift taking home the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year for Fearless and a (very) young Justin Bieber breaking into the mainstream with early single, "Baby." Later in the year, Apple would release its first-ever iPad and Instagram would debut in the world. Other major developments would follow later in the decade: Spotify launches in the U.S. in 2011; and Apple Music and YouTube Music hit the scene, while Jay-Z acquires and rebrands Tidal, the latter three milestones all happening in 2015.

As music and technology evolved in parallel at lightning speed, the music industry paradigm of yesteryear began to shift. Social media, which would soon allow a direct line of communication between artist and fan, broke down walls. Music fans, once fed a top-down stream of culture and content, became the tastemakers. And the music industry as a whole largely pivoted from a sales-based business model to a streaming-heavy consumption model.

As the decade comes to a close and enters a new era, The Recording Academy reflects on 10 moments and developments that forever changed the music landscape for the listener, the artist and the biz itself in the 2010s.

The Rise Of Streaming Services

Spotify on tablet

Nowadays, music fans are accustomed to having complete on-demand access to millions of songs at the convenient touch of a button. That's all thanks to major streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal and Amazon Music, which have collectively helped shift the consumption of music from ownership-focused to access-based via subscription models.

Read: Who Ruled Music Streaming In 2019?

Today, streaming accounts for approximately 80 percent of the music industry's revenue. Culturally, playlists are now a primary source for new-music discovery, becoming powerful launch pads for artists and labels and largely replacing traditional tastemakers and gatekeepers like radio and music blogs. As well, major streaming services have helped discover and proliferate niche genres and global sounds. Chances are you'll still discover your next favorite artist, album and song on a streaming service 10 years from now.

Hip-Hop Reigns Supreme

The 2010s saw hip-hop reach a new level. Trap, a rap subgenre popularized in the early 2000s and rooted in the American South, reached mainstream crossover success when artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry integrated the sound into their pop-centric music. The genre also birthed today's leading rap stars and producers, including Future, Migos, Gucci Mane, Sonny Digital, Metro Boomin and Mike WiLL Made-It.

Most recently, the so-called "SoundCloud rap" explosion has launched the careers of bona fide stars like Post Malone, Lil Pump, Trippie Redd, Lil Tecca and Rico Nasty. By 2018, the scene achieved its first chart-topping album via the late South Florida rapper XXXTentacion, who's second artist album, ?, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. last March. Chicago SoundCloud rapper Juice WRLD, who died earlier this month, continued the streak when his second album, Death Race For Love, topped the Billboard 200 chart this past March.

Read: Find Out Who's Nominated For Best Rap Album | 2020 GRAMMY Awards

Bolstered by the rise of streaming—Chance The Rapper's 2016 mixtape, Coloring Book, became the first streaming-only album to reach the Billboard 200 charts and win a GRAMMY—hip-hop and R&B surpassed rock as the most popular genre in the U.S. for the first time ever in 2017. What lies ahead for the genre is both a mystery and a wide-open opportunity.

The Latin Music Explosion

Where the 2000s popularized regional and niche sounds like bachata and banda, the 2010s saw Latin music skew toward urban and contemporary styles, setting the stage for urbano, the umbrella term encompassing genres like reggaeton, Latin trap, dembow and more, to reach critical mass.

The decade's Latin music victor is the undeniably catchy, omnipresent international breakout hit "Despacito" from Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee. Released in January 2017, the track, which claims the top spot for the most-streamed music video of all time, set off the so-called "Despacito effect," a music industry phenomenon that consequently ushered in an avalanche of Spanish-language hits and mainstream pop crossovers. The international success of the Spanish-language track ultimately helped break down cultural and language barriers across the global pop spectrum.

Read: Los Angeles' First Permanent Latin Music Gallery Launches At GRAMMY Museum

With Latin music ranking as the fifth-most popular genre in America, in terms of album consumption, the future burns bright for the sound.

K-pop, Afrobeats And The Globalization Of Pop

One of the most notable changes in the pop landscape this decade comes in a rainbow array of languages and cultures: the globalization of pop, led by the international sounds of K-pop from Korea and Afrobeats from West Africa and the wider diaspora.

While modern K-pop dates back to the '90s, the genre reached true international scale in 2012 with the arrival of Psy's breakthrough viral hit, "Gangnam Style." The track's official music video would eventually become the first video ever to reach 1 billion views on YouTube, once standing as the most-viewed clip on the video-sharing platform.

Psy and "Gangnam Style" set the stage for the K-Pop explosion in the U.S. and across the globe: BLACKPINK became the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella in 2019 and BTS became the first K-pop act to top the Billboard 200 chart via their 2018 album, Love Yourself: Tear.

Read: Why is K-pop's popularity exploding in the United States?

Currently, Afrobeats is the next international sound sweeping pop music. Major stars like Kanye West and Rick Ross have all collaborated with Afrobeats acts. Drake's 2016 international hit "One Dance," once the most-streamed song on Spotify, featured Nigerian Afrobeats artist Wizkid, who would go on to sign with RCA Records in what became the biggest record deal ever for an African artist. This past July, Beyoncé released The Lion King: The Gift, the soundtrack album to the 2019 Lion King remake, which featured African and Afrobeats artists like Wizkid, Burna Boy, Mr Eazi and many others. With major labels like Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group betting on Afrobeats, all eyes are now on Africa.

Social Media Makes Impact

With nine out of 10 regular social media users partaking in music- or artist-related activities on social apps and 63 percent of users employing social media technology to discover new artists, social media's massive impact on the music industry is virtually immeasurable.

Most notably, social media has broken down the walls once separating artists from listeners. Musicians can now use multiple social media avenues to directly communicate with fans, and vice versa, creating a "bond" between the two parties like never before. On a business front, social media has changed the A&R and music discovery game forever: Shawn Mendes blew up on Vine, Tori Kelly built her career off YouTube videos and Cardi B was an Instagram star before she was a chart-topping rapper.

Read: Lil Nas X's No. 1 Run Began With TikTok, Now The Music Industry Is Taking Notice

Social media marketing, led by memes, social media challenges, viral songs and dance challenges, is the next wave for the music industry. Today, the video-sharing social network TikTok, which introduced Lil Nas X and his viral hit, "Old Town Road," to the world is being touted as the future of the biz. 

Beyoncé And The "Surprise Album" Formula

Nine Inch Nails' immersive marketing campaign for Year Zero and Radiohead's pay-what-you-want model for In Rainbows may have shocked the music industry, but Beyoncé completely subverted the system when she surprise-dropped her self-titled album in December 2013. The 23-time GRAMMY champ dropped Beyoncé, marketed as a "visual album" comprising 17 videos to coincide with the project's 14 tracks, with zero advance notice, skipping the months-long marketing and promotional campaigns that have become the industry standard for artists of pop-star stature.

Read: J Balvin & Bad Bunny Drop Surprise Album 'Oasis,' Release Sensual Single "Que Pretendes

The unconventional formula worked: Beyoncé debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. and once stood as the fastest-selling album ever on the iTunes Store. The success behind the album's surprise-drop approach sparked an industry trend, and newfound marketing tactic, that saw everyone from J Balvin and Bad Bunny to little sister Solange following in Beyoncé's gold-dusted footsteps.

Music Festival Inc.

Music festivals have been a part of American music history since the days of Woodstock and Monterey Pop Festival in the late '60s. Over the past decade, however, the culture and business of music festivals have developed from a DIY approach to a fully fledged industry. In 2017, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which celebrated its 20-year anniversary this past April, became the first reoccurring festival franchise to gross more than $100 million, with a total gross of $114.6 million that year. Goldenvoice, the organizers behind Coachella, also holds the overall record for all-time top festival gross for its 2016 event Desert Trip, which brought in a record-breaking $160 million in 2016.

In addition to big payouts for festival producers and headlining artists alike, festivals have also become a creative playground for ambitious acts. Coachella alone has been the home to many milestone moments and industry-wide trends and developments over the past decade, including multiple band reunions (OutKast, Guns N' Roses, N.W.A); the genesis of the booming hologram concert industry; and Beyoncé's game-changing Homecoming headlining performance in 2018. Today, festivals worldwide serve as a breeding ground for artistic ambition and a launch pad for the new, now and next in music technology.

"Hamilton" And The Mainstreaming of Jukebox Musicals

On paper, "Hamilton" reads like an unlikely premise: a hip-hop Broadway musical based on the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. What unfolded was an even unlikelier run: 11 Tony Awards, a Broadway box office record and a Pulitzer Prize(!). Since its original off-Broadway debut in New York City in 2015, "Hamilton" has been unstoppable. The show's multiplatinum-certified original Broadway cast recording, released by Atlantic Records in September 2015, went on to peak at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart and topped the Top Rap Albums chart. It also took home a GRAMMY for Best Musical Theater Album for 2015, while the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, received the President's Merit Award from the Latin Recording Academy in 2017. Elsewhere, The Hamilton Mixtape, a 2016 follow-up mixtape album featuring original and deleted songs from the musical, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Read: How Hip-Hop & "Hamilton" Are Transforming An 8th Grade History Class

The breakout success of "Hamilton" has since launched Broadway culture and musicals into the global mainstream unlike any other production before it, shining a new light on the art form and introducing a younger generation to the medium. Its lasting legacy has also initiated a wave of jukebox musicals, pop-music-inspired shows and productions, with everyone from The Temptations ("Ain't Too Proud") to Tina Turner ("Tina: The Musical") receiving the Broadway treatment.

EDM Conquers The Global Dance Floor

In the 2010s, EDM went mainstream. Beloved pop icons crossed onto the dance floor via full-on dance-pop collaborations: Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris, Jack Ü (Diplo x Skrillex) with Justin Bieber, Steve Aoki and One Direction's Louis Tomlinson. Even Britney Spears dabbled in dubstep on her 2011 No. 1 pop hit "Hold It Against Me."

This decade also saw EDM fully infiltrating the GRAMMYs. In the same year dubstep wunderkind Skrillex swept the dance/electronic category in 2012, Canadian electronic artist/producer deadmau5 and French dance legend David Guetta joined Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Foo Fighters onstage for a televised cross-genre performance. Two years later, in 2014, French electronic icons Daft Punk would win big at the GRAMMYs for their 2013 album Random Access Memories, which took home major awards, including Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year for lead single "Get Lucky."

Watch: Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams win Album Of The Year

Today, EDM artists are among the highest-paid musicians across the board—Calvin Harris ($38.5 million), Marshmello ($40 million) and The Chainsmokers ($46 million) raked in big bucks in 2019 alone—and continue to headline international festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. What was once an underground subculture is now the soundtrack to the future.

The Convergence Of Gaming And Music

Counting more than 2 billion gamers around the world and with the potential to become a $300 billion industry by 2025, today's video game market is thriving. It's no surprise, then, that the music industry wants in on the action. While video games and music have gone hand in hand since the days of "Super Mario Bros." in the mid-'80s, the convergence of the two worlds hit its peak in the 2010s. These days, the music biz is leaning heavily into the gaming industry to unlock new revenue streams, reach new listeners and bolster marketing campaigns.

Video games have always provided a healthy income for major artists via licensing deals: Famously, Aerosmith made more money from their 2008 video game, "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," than from any of their albums. Still, the current wave of video game and music crossovers takes the approach to the next level via virtual concerts. This past February, superstar producer/DJ Marshmello performed an exclusive in-game "concert" in "Fortnite," a massively popular online video game, that attracted more than 10.7 million people. A clip of the performance has since garnered +45 million views on YouTube. Following the concert, Marshmello released Marshmello Fortnite Extended Set, a DJ mix album based on the virtual performance, which topped Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the U.S. With video games and music now at the forefront of pop culture, the two industries will continue to push into the future together.

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The Clash - London Calling

The Clash

 
 

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Anti-Flag, Audio Karate, Tsunami Bomb And More Discuss The Legacy Of The Clash's 'London Calling': "It Forces You To Think Bigger"

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To celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Clash's iconic album, some of the leading artists and bands in punk and rock discuss the ongoing influence of 'London Calling'
John Ochoa
GRAMMYs
Dec 26, 2019 - 7:07 pm

Few bands in the entire history of rock music have left as big of an impact on the wider pop canon as The Clash. Known for their tight songwriting, piercing guitar riffs, boundless sonic experimentation and sharp political lyrics and social commentary, The Clash command a powerful sound that spans multiple genres and has influenced generations of punks, poets and provocateurs. It's also what earned the U.K. group the epithet heard around the world: "The only band that matters."

As one of the progenitors of punk, The Clash are responsible for one of the most distinguished discographies in rock: a collection of six sonically diverse albums, recorded and released during the band's short nine-year stint. Standing at the epicenter of The Clash's legacy is London Calling, the group's third album and their undeniable magnum opus.

Released in the U.K. in December 1979 and in the U.S. in January 1980, London Calling is today hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time, with everyone from Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly singing its praises. It's a commercial success, too: London Calling reached the top 10 in the U.K. and achieved platinum status in the U.S. In 2007, London Calling was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. (At the 2003 GRAMMYs telecast, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, No Doubt's Tony Kanal and others honored The Clash frontman and guitarist Joe Strummer, who died two months prior to the show, with a performance of the group's punk anthem, "London Calling," in what became the GRAMMY's first-ever "In Memoriam" tribute.)

At its core, London Calling is a sonically daring album from a band unafraid to push the limits of their own sound and that of the genre from which they originated. Across the album's 19 tracks, The Clash smash the punk playbook, transcending their punk roots and expanding their sound into everything from reggae ("The Guns Of Brixton") and ska ("Wrong 'Em Boyo") to rockabilly ("Brand New Cadillac") and post-punk ("Lost In The Supermarket").

The Clash - London Calling - Album Cover

"It's a punk record, a reggae record, a pop record, a rockabilly record, and it's accessible and influential on bands 40 years after its release," Jason Camacho, guitarist for California rock band Audio Karate, tells The Recording Academy. "The Clash, and London Calling in particular, is one place where people with vastly different musical tastes can intersect and agree."

Beyond its groundbreaking musical approach, London Calling is also one of The Clash's most politically and socially critical releases. Across the album, frontman Strummer, guitarist/lead vocalist Mick Jones and bassist Paul Simonon tackle heavy social issues like unemployment, racial conflict, drug addiction, war, consumerism and beyond via thought-provoking lyrics and unforgettable melodies. It's the pop-meets-politics paragon perfected by The Clash.

"London Calling serves as a blueprint, a document on how to fight fascism and bigotry [and how to] create community and find commonality in arduous times," Chris #2, bassist for Anti-Flag, tells The Recording Academy.

"London Calling taught me that anger, protest and raw energy could also be catchy," musician Nathan Gray adds. "Not just nihilistic reaction, but a cause to stand for, righteous anger instead of anger for anger's sake. I immediately knew that punk was my music and my lifestyle from there out."

To this day, both The Clash and London Calling continue to inspire generations of musicians and bands. In honor of the iconic album, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this month, The Recording Academy surveyed a handful of artists to discuss the ongoing influence and legacy of London Calling.

What was your first memory of London Calling?

Chris #2 (bassist for Anti-Flag): I actually didn't find London Calling for a while. I was probably 17 years old and playing some of my first shows in Anti-Flag. But growing up, I was so hungry for activist and empathetic music. I was politicized at a very early age by N.W.A and "F**k Tha Police." My childhood was one of dysfunction, the cops were always f**king with my siblings. This was the first place I was able to compartmentalize my anger and frustration. But when I found the songwriting, melody and succinct packaging of London Calling, I felt empowered. I felt like you can write a song and impact a person, and that person can spread empathy and impact the world. I'm forever grateful for this lesson from The Clash.

Jason Camacho (guitarist for Audio Karate): My first memory of London Calling is likely very similar to many people my age (37). I had an older brother [who was] into new wave and punk, and [The Clash's 1982 hit] "Rock The Casbah" was on the radio in pretty heavy rotation when I was a kid. My brother learned I liked the song and played London Calling for me [when I was] around age 5. The staccato opening guitars of the title track were burned into my brain forever. Artistically, The Clash have always stood out to me as one of those great punk bands who are a punk band by virtue of being punk rockers, but their music is so much more than three-chord punk rock. There is instrumentation and reggae and rockabilly and world music elements, and that has always left an impact. I mean, by the time one is done listening to "Jimmy Jazz," you really have no clue what the fourth track [on London Calling] might sound like because the first three are so different.

Nathan Gray (artist): It was 1985, I was 13 years old. I was living in Pensacola, Fla., and my mom and I were at a public library. I remember it vividly: walking into the music section and searching through to find something I'd never heard before. And there it was. That iconic and powerful cover, LONDON CALLING, with Paul Simonon hunched over about to slam his bass into the stage. The energy leap off the cover, and I knew I needed to hear it.

My mom let me check it out, and I still remember the excitement I felt that I had discovered something special... I had no idea how right I was. I put the tape in my boom box and sat back: The guitars came in, the bass, the drums. And then [the opening lyrics]: "London calling to the faraway towns." I was hooked. I just have listened to that album through at least 25 times before my parents insisted I shut it off and head to bed.

With every song, a new discovery, a fire in my veins and call to action! It was raw, desperate and important. Absolutely changed my life and my perspective on what a magical medium music was.

Andrew Pohl (guitarist for Tsunami Bomb): My first memories of London Calling are from when I was in high school, about 15-16 years old, with friends and I discovering more about punk and, specifically, the roots of the punk rock we were into at the time: Rancid, Green Day, Bad Religion, etc. We were learning about bands like Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat and, of course, The Clash. I had heard The Clash before when I was much younger from their videos on MTV, but didn't really think much of it, as I was more interested in " G.I. Joe" at the time [Laughs.] I loved the album and how all over the place it was stylistically. And man, starting off with the title track was a hell of a way to draw you in—such a powerhouse of a song.

Jason DeVore (frontman for Authority Zero): I would have to say I was probably 23-24 [years old]. A friend of mine brought it to my attention, and I really dug the vibe of it and how eclectic it was. It opened my eyes to different variations of pop and punk in a different way.

As an artist, what does London Calling mean to you?

Chris #2 (bassist for Anti-Flag): There isn't a record that I have dissected more. I've learned to play the entire thing, all of the instrumentation that's within my wheelhouse. We as a global society have only seen an acceleration of the warnings of London Calling. Globalization has left so many people behind and created the historic wealth gap we see today. The false populist movements we're seeing around the world are pitting people against their neighbors, refugees, immigrants, women, people of color, LGBTQ+ folks—those most vulnerable and marginalized are being scapegoated. London Calling serves as a blueprint, a document on how to fight fascism and bigotry [and how to] create community and find commonality in arduous times.

Nathan Gray (artist): London Calling taught me that anger, protest and raw energy could also be catchy. Those songs stuck in my head and I couldn't get them out! It spoke to everything I felt looking out at a world that seemed cold, dark and devoid of anything substantial to say. I remember thinking, "This is what I was hoping to hear from the Sex Pistols." Not just nihilistic reaction, but a cause to stand for, righteous anger instead of anger for anger's sake. I immediately knew that punk was my music and my lifestyle from there out.

Watch: Offspring's Noodles On Punk's Roots | "On Location: L.A."

Andrew Pohl (guitarist for Tsunami Bomb): London Calling is a testament to the fact that you as an artist has the ability to define and redefine yourself at your will. If you want to write a politically charged song, do it! If you want to write a ska-infused song, go for it! If you want to toss in some rockabilly for kicks, have at it! I love how free the album is and that The Clash took chances as songwriters. It's super inspiring.

Adam Masterson (artist): London Calling resonates with me because it forces you to think bigger. I love The Clash for their sense of place. They tell you to write about where you're from, and if you live in a big city and you're feeling lost in it and pulled down, it forces you to think bigger again and keep building it up until you have something that can't be denied and stands up to the forces that are pushing you down. They say that to me in the title track "London Calling" and "Lost In The Supermarket" and so many of the songs. It had a massive impact on me and [is] a lasting source of encouragement and inspiration.

What is it about London Calling that's allowed it to spread across so many generations throughout the decades?

Jason Camacho (guitarist for Audio Karate): The album has stood the test of time after 40 years because it is honest and urgent. You listen to [lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Joe] Strummer singing and he has something to say. He is singing about concepts that will always be relevant. There is always going to be a generation of young men and women that are navigating racial conflict, unemployment and social disparity. London Calling will be relevant another 40 years from now.

Chris #2 (bassist for Anti-Flag): It's timeless in its messaging, sonically so diverse that it fits in perfectly in a world where art is genre-less. It changes moods as quickly as we do now, and it does so beautifully.

Nathan Gray (artist): Those hooks. Seriously. You can be as provocative as you like, but if you can't keep an audience's attention, you're lost. The Clash were the whole package. They were raw rebellion anthems that borrowed from pop, rock and reggae, and then put them in a punk blender for the disenfranchised. They were the perfect storm, exactly what we needed when we needed them.

Read: The Ramones' Pioneering Punk Rock

Andrew Pohl (guitarist for Tsunami Bomb): I think what has helped the album remain so vital is how honest it is. It's the album that really shows The Clash coming into their own as a band, both musically and as a force of nature. The songs are so well put together, and the way it is paced is incredible. There are so many awesome moments on the record that demonstrate the band having a lot of fun as well as taking bold steps with their writing. It's got a lot of soul, and I think people just resonate with how it takes from so many influences and not just punk.

How has London Calling influenced your own music and art? 

Chris #2 (bassist for Anti-Flag): I've dissected [the album]. In doing so, it's unlocked melodies and chord progressions I never thought possible and [that] I carry with me into every Anti-Flag song we write. Because of London Calling and The Clash, we are endlessly on this mission to write a song that sticks with you melodically, in its energy, that you're humming or singing as you walk down the street, but at the same time, that song is about how we will fight them with every breath we take, dismantle systemic oppression and put power in the hands of the people.

Nathan Gray (artist): London Calling and The Clash taught me music was meant to be important. It was meant to convey a message and spit in the face of manufactured and sedate cookie-cutter pop, while still borrowing stylistically from the parts that grab your ear. When I have writer's block, London Calling is my battering ram to remind me why I write music.

Jason DeVore (frontman for Authority Zero): It inspired me with the open styles woven throughout [the album] and its groove as well. I've written quite a few songs based on or around some of the arrangements and riffs with my own band.

How would you explain the importance and legacy of London Calling to someone who's never heard it?

Jason Camacho (guitarist for Audio Karate): I'd say, in 1979, a working-class punk band from the U.K. wrote an era-defining album about race, consumerism, nuclear meltdown and concepts that no one else was really dealing with. It's a punk record, a reggae record, a pop record, a rockabilly record, and it's accessible and influential on bands 40 years after its release. The Clash, and London Calling in particular, is one place where people with vastly different musical tastes can intersect and agree.

Nathan Gray (artist): Funny enough, I don't know if I would try. I'd just play it, and either they would get it or they wouldn't. That's The Clash to me: an energy that only those who can tap into it fully get. Open your ears, your mind and your heart to what they have to offer, and if you don't get it, you were not meant to.

Chris #2 (bassist for Anti-Flag): There is this thing that happens, specifically with great art: the moment. All of it was a perfect cauldron for this album. The global crisis they faced, their own failures or losses as a band, having [drummer] Topper [Headon] being able to play everything and get out the sounds in their collective heads. The only description it needs is that it's a perfect record. They are the only band that mattered.

Adam Masterson (artist): Had London Calling not happened, The Clash would have still been a legendary band from the first album. But London Calling transcended them to something more than one of the glorious trailblazers of punk and turned them into one of the most influential bands in the history of popular music, who will no doubt continue to influence generations to come.

London Calling celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. In 40 years from today, when the album turns 80, do you think you'll still love it as much as you do now?

Nathan Gray (artist): That would be like asking if I'd still love my parents when they turn 80. Will I still love an album, a band and music that mentored me through my awkward preteen years? Will I still love an album that completely changed all I thought I knew about music? Hell yes! London Calling and The Clash will be mainstays in my music catalog until the day I die. The Clash were maybe total strangers from the U.K., but in my bedroom, when I needed them most, they became my best friends in the world and inspired me to push forward with music as my rebellion, my hope and my love.

Jason Camacho (guitarist for Audio Karate): In 40 years, I will be dead, but if I happen to survive, I will absolutely still want to crack a beer and nod and sing along to London Calling. The production isn't hokey or dated. It is truly a timeless rock 'n' roll album.

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Chris #2 (bassist for Anti-Flag): I will 100 percent still listen to it. I'm hopeful we will live in a far more egalitarian world, one with social, racial and economic equality and equity abound. The stories on the record will serve less as warnings, but more as a document of where they were and what they fought for, that there were four incredible humans that created art predicated upon empathy and gave a f**k about more than just themselves.

Andrew Pohl (guitarist for Tsunami Bomb): I think the album is timeless and easily one of the most important punk albums of all time. Having learned so much about the band between the time of my introduction to the album till now, I've gained an incredible amount of respect for what they accomplished with London Calling. It's made such an impact and helped to inspire so many other fantastic artists with their music and other forms of art.

Adam Masterson (artist): Yes, because great music never dies and only gets better with time.

Jason DeVore (frontman for Authority Zero): Absolutely! It's just one of those well-written and timeless records. I believe no matter what direction music goes, people will continue to appreciate it and use it in remixes and otherwise.

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