13. The Clash: 'London Calling' – We could've picked a number of tracks from the highly politicised punk legends - from 'Career Opportunites' which attacks the dire political and economic situation of England to 'White Riot' which deals with class and racial inequalities – but the title track of their defining 1979 album 'London Calling' is our choice. Taking it's title from the World War II BBC World Service message “this is London calling”, the packed song alludes to not only the state of the capital but also Three Mile Island (“a nuclear error”), desperation, social criticism, drugs and the flooding of the Thame barrier ("London is drowning / And I live by the river"). Oh, and it's a killer song to boot.

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