Simonon smashed the instrument on stage at the Palladium in New York City on Sept. 20, 1979, out of anger at the stiffness of the audience. Simonon said in an interview that he was frustrated that the show’s bouncer would not allow the audience to get out of their seats. He took it out to the perfectly functioning bass guitar, lifting it up like an axe and smashing it against the stage floor.

Photographer Pennie Smith captured the outburst with her 35mm Pentax camera. The photo, taken a moment before the instrument crashed into the stage floor, was chosen as the cover for The Clash’s most influential album, London Calling. The picture is one of the most recognizable photos in the history of rock and roll, and the smashed instrument itself gained a reputation as an artifact of British rock music.

Simonon and The Clash had previously loaned the bass to be displayed at several museums. Prior to the contract with the Museum of London, the bass was on display at the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

The instrument will join a curated collection of treasures at Museum of London’s world city gallery, which tells the story of London from the 1950s to today, alongside Bill and Ben string puppets, a Vespa scooter and the 28-inch-waist trunks worn by Tom Daley at the 2012 London Olympics. 

In 2019, the bass guitar was displayed in a temporary exhibition at the museum dedicated to the album.

“London Calling is The Clash’s defining album, a rallying call for Londoners and people around the world. The album’s lyrics reflected contemporary concerns, many of which are still relevant today, as it moved away from traditional punk by adopting and reworking much wider musical influences,” said Beatrice Behlen, the museum’s senior curator, in the introduction to the 2019 The Clash: London Calling exhibition. The exhibition included other band relics, such as singer Joe Strummer’s personal notebook, in which he wrote during the London Calling era, and several instruments used to record the album.