2 on the U.K. album charts, kept off the top spot by Paul McCartney's Tug of War. In the United States, Combat Rock reached number 7 on the album charts, selling in excess of one million copies. Combat Rock was the band's most successful album in the United States. However, in the U.K, Combat Rock was tied with the 1978 album Give 'Em Enough Rope for the highest charting album for the band in their native U.K. "Rock the Casbah", which was composed by drummer Topper Headon, reached number 8 on the U.S. singles chart. The single was accompanied by a distinctive video directed by Don Letts that aired frequently on the then-fledgling television channel MTV. Headon, despite composing the song, was not in the music video after being replaced by Terry Chimes for his raging heroin addiction. In January 2000, the album, along with the rest of the Clash's catalogue, was remastered and re-released. A fortieth anniversary reissue was released in May 2022 with demos and previously cut songs. Reception and influence Combat Rock peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, number 7 on the Billboard Pop albums, and the top ten on many charts in other countries. It was ranked at #4 among the top "Albums of the Year" for 1982 by NME, with both "Straight to Hell" and "Know Your Rights" ranked among the year's top 50 tracks. The United States Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Combat Rock as a Gold album in November 1982, Platinum in January 1983, and Multi-Platinum in June 1995. In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau lamented the same attempts at funk and dub the Clash had tried on Sandinista! (1980). Nonetheless, he dismissed the notion the band were selling out and believed they were "evolving" on Combat Rock, writing songs at a "higher level of verbal, musical, and political density", albeit in less "terse and clear" fashion than on their early work. Douglas Wolk said in a retrospective review for Blender that while the record was originally seen as the Clash's "sellout move" because of its danceable sound and two hit singles, the other songs featured "audaciously bizarre arrangements and some of Strummer's smartest lyrics." Q magazine was less enthusiastic, deeming it "their biggest seller, but the beginning of the end." In 2000, Alternative Press called it "the penultimate Clash album ... employing lessons