Clash's London Calling Artwork Being Auctioned, Strummer Loved Springsteen

Artwork and sketches for The Clash's classic 1979 London Calling album will be auctioned in London, England on Dec. 16.

Bonhams will sell the sketches, drawings and designs for the record, which is expected to go for up to 70,000 (about $122,000 Canadian), according to NME.com.

London Calling's cover art features a photo of Paul Simonon smashing his bass on stage in New York on Sept. 21, 1979. Pennie Smith, the photographer, didn't want The Clash to use the photo because she thought it was too blurry. The album's design, which was done by Ray Lowry, is intended to pay homage to Elvis Presley's 1956 self-titled debut album.

Two rare, signed photos from The Clash are also up for auction.

You'll be able to see the London Calling artwork and the photos at Bonhams' salesroom in London beginning Dec. 13.

In other Clash news, a letter Clash frontman Joe Strummer wrote about Bruce Springsteen has made its way onto the internet.

Strummer sent a fax about The Boss to documentary producer Mark Hagen in 1997. Hagen wanted Strummer's opinion on Springsteen for a film he was making that became 1998's Bruce Springsteen: A Secret History. The letter surfaced on the Letters Of Note website on Monday (Nov. 30).

"BRUCE IS GREAT... IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH THAT YOUR'E A PRETENTIOUS MARTIAN FROM VENUS," Strummer wrote in ALLCAPS that would make Kanye West jealous. "BRUCE LOOKS GREAT... LIKE HE'S ABOUT TO CRAWL UNDERNEATH THE CHORDS WITH A SPANNER & SOCK THE STARTER MOTOR ONE TIME SO THAT A ENGINE STARS UP - HUMMING & READY TO TAKE US ON A GOLDEN RIDE WAY OUT SOMEWHERE IN THE YONDER."

It doesn't end there. Strummer goes on to say Springsteen "ISN'T ON AN EGO TRIP... BRUCE IS ACTUALLY INTO THE MUSIC... WE NEED PEOPLE LIKE THIS... A LOT OF RECORDS TODAY ARE MADE BY PEOPLE JUST TO FEED THEIR FAME. BRUCE IS GREAT... THERE AINT NO WHINGING WHINING OR COMPLAINING... THERE'S ONLY GREAT MUSIC, LYRICS & AN OCEAN OF TALENT."

Take that, Kanye West. "OCEAN OF TALENT" is a far better use of ALLCAPS than "VOICE OF THIS GENERATION, OF THIS DECADE."