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The Magnificent Seven (song)

"The Magnificent Seven"
Mag seven cheeseboiger.png
UK vinyl single, whose sleeve reveals the vinyl labels on both sides, including the A-side label showing seven o'clock
Single by The Clash
from the album Sandinista!
B-side "The Magnificent Dance"
Released 10 April 1981 (U.K.)
Format 7" single
Recorded April 1980 at Electric Lady Studios, New York
Genre Dance-punk, rap rock, funk, disco rap, old school hip hop
Length 5:33
Label CBS
Writer(s) The Clash
Producer(s) The Clash
The Clash singles chronology
"Hitsville U.K."
(1981)
"The Magnificent Seven"
(1981)
"This Is Radio Clash"
(1981)

"The Magnificent Seven" is a song and single by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was the third single from their fourth album Sandinista!. It reached number 34 on the UK Singles Chart.

The song was inspired by raps by old school hip hop acts from New York City, like the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.Rap was still a new and emerging music genre at the time and the band, especially Mick Jones, was very impressed with it, so much so that Jones took to carrying a boombox around and got the nickname "Whack Attack". The song was recorded in April 1980 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, built around a funky bass loop played by Norman Watt-Roy, the Blockheads. Joe Strummer wrote the words on the spot, a technique that was also used to create Sandinista!'s other rap track, "Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)". "The Magnificent Seven" represents the first attempt by a rock band to write and perform original rap music, and one of the earliest examples of hip hop records with political and social content. It is the first major white rap record, predating the recording of Blondie's "Rapture" by six months. Strummer said of the group's encounter with hip-hop:

When we came to the U.S., Mick stumbled upon a music shop in Brooklyn that carried the music of Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, the Sugar Hill Gang...these groups were radically changing music and they changed everything for us.

Though it failed to chart in America, the song was an underground hit and received heavy play on underground and college radio. Also popular were various dance re-mixes, both official B-side, ("The Magnificent Dance"), and original DJ remixes such as WBLS's remix known as "Dirty Harry", after the film of same name, which can be found on various Clash's bootlegs, including Clash on Broadway Disc 4: The Outtakes.


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