"Rock the Casbah" (The Clash)

Even before I listened—I mean really listened—to the song "Rock the Casbah," I was a big fan of the music video.  I'm pretty sure I first saw a snippet of it on Casey Kasem's syndicated America's Top 10 T.V. show sometime around late 1982/early 1983.  Those famous shots of the Arab sheik and Hassidic limo driver, hanging out, dancing around, and chowing down on Whoppers outside an Austin-area Burger King, instantly made an impression.  I laughed myself silly the first time I watched it (you know, one of those "grab your feet and rock back-and-forth while trying not to wet yourself" little kid laughs).
I didn't really think much of the song itself until I started hearing it again in college.  In the mid-90s, G-105 (WDCG-FM) out of Raleigh, NC, went to an all alt-rock format.  So anything that even smelled faintly of angst got steady airplay, including certain songs from The Clash's Combat Rock (1982).  "Rock the Casbah" made at least a daily appearance amidst all of the various Third Eye Blind and Goo Goo Dolls stuff that was in constant rotation. 
Hearing it on its own, separate from the video (which is still a work of low-budget genius, by the way), I realized just how good "Rock the Casbah" is.  Unlike other songs from that era, there's little about it production-wise that screams "1982."  Its punk sneer, biting wit, and danceable groove all feel timeless.  It also still feels eerily relevant, considering that not much has changed with the political situation in the Middle East since the late, great Joe Strummer wrote his lyrics about religious fanatics banning the boogie.
But the real genius behind the song was the band's drummer, Topper Headon, who not only wrote the music but also performed drums, piano, and bass on the track.  The irony is, Headon got kicked out of the band just before "Rock the Casbah" became a hit.  Strummer fired him because he was in the throes of heroin addiction and was becoming more of a liability than an asset.  It's a battle Headon only recently won after years of self-destructive behavior.