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White Riot" was the first single by punk band The Clash, in 1977. The song is featured on their debut album. It exists in two versions: the original on the UK version of the album, and the second (re-recorded, with a different intro) on the "White Riot" single and US version of the album released in the States two years later in 1979. The UK album version is 1:56 in running time, while the single and US album version run in at 2:01.
The song is short and intense, drawing influence from the Ramones' style of three chords played very fast. Mick Jones counts off "1-2-3-4" at the start (In the re-recorded version, it instead begins with the sound of a police siren).
Lyrically, the song is about class economics and race and thus proved controversial: many people thought it was advocating a kind of race war. Rather, lyricist Joe Strummer was trying to appeal to white youths to find a worthy cause to riot, as he felt blacks in the UK already had. It contains a positive message in the lines "Are you taking over / Or are you taking orders? / Are you going backwards / Or are you going forwards?"
The song was written after Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon were involved in the riots at the Notting Hill Carnival of 1976.
"White Riot" is considered a classic in The Clash canon, although as the band matured, Mick Jones would at times refuse to play it, considering it crude and musically inept. Over two decades later, Joe Strummer would perform it with his band the Mescaleros.
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