director for Stiff Records, who had earlier overseen the covers for Sandinista! (1980) and Combat Rock (1982). It shows a punk, apparently King's brother, wearing a mohawk, black leather jacket and sunglasses—all markers of 1980s punk fashion. The image is rendered so that the portrait looks like a poster glued to a wall. A similar image appears on the 7-inch release of "This Is England". A lithograph of the cover is held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, who attribute an "unknown designer". Rhodes titled the album, taking the words "cut the crap" from a scene in the 1981 post-apocalyptic film Mad Max 2, when Mel Gibson's character, Max Rockatansky, insists on driving the oil tanker on which the settlers' survival depends: "Come on, cut the crap. I'm the best chance you've got." According to Jucha, the sentiment reflected the band's view of themselves in the mid-1980s: "the back-to-basics Clash, Round two—like the initial band of UK punk rockers—were going to eradicate the meaningless New Romantic bands dominating the British pop world. They were 'the best chance [the world's] got'." Nevertheless, the title is widely disliked; Jucha described it as "awful". Critical reception By the time the new "Mark II" line-up released Cut the Crap on 4 November 1985, they were an accomplished live band, and had written and performed several songs that would appear on the final studio album; a few had been live favourites. On the strength of their recent gigs, the UK press were optimistically waiting for the album's release. Epic Records anticipated that both the three-year gap since Combat Rock (1982) along with their updated sound, would result in critical acclaim and high sales. In the promotional lead up, Strummer told journalist Richard Cook that he was not going to release any new material until he knew it could "last ten years". Most critics and fans were disappointed on its release—especially with its sound and production values, and the omission of stand-out live tracks "In the Pouring Rain" and "Ammunition" (usually titled "Jericho" in contemporary bootleg recordings). Cut the Crap sold poorly compared to earlier Clash releases, reaching just number 16 in the UK charts and number 88 in the US. On release, British and American critics alike generally viewed the album in an unfavourable light. Melody Maker and NME both published sharply negative reviews, the latter of which was titled "No Way,