How Public Image Ltd Exploded the Possibilities of Music With ‘Metal Box’

Tim Sommer writes:

Metal Box is, perhaps, Post-Punk’s signal achievement, its Pet Sounds.

Metal Box, which turns 37 this month, is simply an album that blows minds, re-writes rules, decimates expectations, and, well, tells the truth. It also continually reaffirms my belief in the power of music and creativity, which is especially effective when it is unhinged and elated.

In 1977 the Clash may have sung “No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones,” but in actuality they produced records entirely modeled after the thrush-mouthed, star-riffed sucker-punching rock bands of the past. However, Metal Box actually takes the steps that punk rock only claimed to take—and truly, nothing on it has anything to do with Elvis, the Beatles, or the Rolling Stones. The album is the soundtrack to the “No Future” the Sex Pistols had promised.