The Clash

   

The Clash was a British punk rock group that extended beyond the norms of that form of music, incorporating reggae, roots rock, and eventually many other music styles. They were one of the most influential bands of the late 20th century, both in their rise and their fall. They were dubbed by their fans "the only band that matters".

Line up and early days

Comprised of Joe Strummer (b. John Mellor) (vocals, guitar), Mick Jones (vocals, guitar), Paul Simonon (bass), and Tory Crimes (b. Terry Chimes) (drums), the Clash formed in London in 1976 during the first wave of British punk. Strummer had previously been in the pub rock act The 101ers (his stage name then was Woody Mellor), and Jones and Simonon in legendary proto-punk band London SS. At the behest of manager Bernie Rhodes, Jones and Simonon recruited Strummer from the 101ers ("You're all right," they told him, "but your band's crap." Rhodes then allegedly gave Strummer 48 hours to sign on, but called him wanting an answer in 24). And so the Clash--name supplied by Simonon after seeing the word in all the newspapers--came to be.

Keith Levine (later of Public Image Limited) was an early guitarist and songwriter with The Clash, but he never recorded with the band.

Following the release of their first album, Chimes was replaced with drummer Topper Headon. Initially The Clash were notable for their strident leftist political outlook and distinctive clothes that they painted with revolutionary slogans ("Sten Guns in Knightsbridge" "Under Heavy Manners"). Their first gig was in 1976 supporting The Sex Pistols, and that autumn the band were signed to CBS Records. They released their first single ("White Riot") and first album (The Clash) in 1977 to considerable success in the UK, though CBS initially declined to release either in the United States.

The Clash was a seminal UK punk album. Most of the songs were 2-3 minute thrashes, but the superior lyrics and melodies already marked Strummer and Jones out as songwriters as being a cut above many of their peers. It includes the first evidence of their ability, which they would repeat throughout their career, to absorb a musical style and make it their own in their atmospheric and threatening cover of Junior Murvin's classic reggae track "Police and Thieves".

Their next album, the Sandy Pearlman-produced Give 'Em Enough Rope, was the first to feature Topper Headon on all cuts. 'Rope' was released in 1978 and debuted at number two on the British charts, but failed to crack the top 100 in the world's largest music market, the United States.

Politics

Like many early punk bands, The Clash were akin to protest movements against the monarchy and the general aristocracy in the U.K. and around the world. Unlike many early punk bands, however, The Clash rejected the overall sentiment of nihilism and anarchy. Instead, they found more solidarity with a number of liberation movements going on at the time. Specifically, they gave a certain limited amount of support to the IRA and the PLO, and later, the Sandinista and other Marxist movements in Latin America (hence the title of their 1981 album, Sandinista!). They were involved directly with the controversial Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism. Their politics were expressed explicity in their lyrics, in songs such as "White Riot," which encouraged disaffected white youths to join the black freedom movement, "Career Opportunities," which expressed discontent over the lack of jobs in the U.K., and so-on. In one instance in 1977, at a Love Music Hate Racism show, organized by the Anti-Nazi League, Joe Strummer wore a controversial t-shirt bearing the words "Brigate-Rosse" with the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof) insignia in the middle. He later said in an interview that he wore the shirt not to support the left-wing terrorists factions in Germany and Italy, rather to bring attention to their existence. Still, he felt bad after the show, prompting him to write the song "Tommy Gun," renouncing violence as a means of protest.

The Clash are generally credited with founding the roots of punk rock in liberal protest, and were known as the "Thinking Man's Yobs" by many for their politically astute take on the world.

US success

In response, the Clash went on their first tour of the US. Their first album was released there at more or less the same time, but in a drastically different form from the version that was released elsewhere. This included a roaring version of Bobby Fuller's "I Fought The Law" (originally from their "Cost Of Living" EP).

The band's critical and commercial breakthrough in the US came with London Calling, a double album released in December 1979 for the price of a single album (at the band's insistence). Besides straightforward punk, it featured a much wider array of styles than the earlier albums, including American-style rockabilly and reggae works that resonated with the ska movement in Britain. The album is considered a landmark, and tracks such as "Train in Vain", "Clampdown" and "London Calling" show up with regularity on rock stations to this day.

The Clash followed London Calling with a triple album (again released for the price of a single album)in late 1980, entitled Sandinista! (with the catalog number FSLN1, from the Spanish initials of the Sandinista political movement, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional). The results were mixed, as the band continued their experimentation into reggae and dub ("Let's Go Crazy") and expanded into other musical styles and production techniques that included jazz ("Look Here"), hip hop ("The Magnificent Seven"), chamber music ("Rebel Waltz"), vocals by keyboard player Micky Gallagher's young son, and "Mensforth Hill," a tape loop collage similar to The Beatles Revolution No 9. Fans were confused and sales were down, although they were better in the US than previously. Following the release of Sandinista!, The Clash went on their first world tour including venues in eastern Asia and Australia.

Tensions and disintegration

After that, the Clash began to slowly disintegrate. Topper Headon was fired on account of drug abuse and the original drummer, Terry Chimes, was brought back into the fold for tours. The two key members, Strummer and Jones, began to feud. The effects of this were not apparent externally at first, as The Clash returned in 1982 with the best-selling of all their albums, Combat Rock. Featuring the singles "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" it broke into the American Top Ten, and did the same in the UK. "Ghetto Defendant" featured Allen Ginsberg, and "Red Angel Dragnet" referenced the film Taxi Driver.

Terry Chimes left the band after the 1982 Combat Rock tour, convinced the band could not continue with in-fighting and turmoil. In 1983, after an extensive search for a new drummer, Pete Howard was recruited and performed with the original line-up at several low-key US dates and before The Clash's largest audience at the US Festival in San Bernardino, California—Mick Jones's last appearance with The Clash.

We Are The Clash: Out of Control, Treated Like Trash

In September 1983, Strummer and Simonon ousted Jones from the band, citing his problematic behaviour and divergent musical aspirations (Jones went on to found Big Audio Dynamite (BAD) with Don Letts).

After a series of auditions, the band announced Nick Sheppard (23), formerly of the Bristol-based Cortinas, and Vince White (23) would be the band's new guitarists. The band played its first shows in January 1984 with a batch of new material and launched into a self-financed tour, dubbed the Out of Control tour.

Musically, the band was more than capable of re-creating—at times, bettering—the fire and intensity of the original line-up, but chemistry and trust between the old guard and the new were sometimes strained due to circumstance and unfamiliarity. Regardless, the band toured heavily over the winter and into early summer, with Strummer taking a hiatus until the fall to tend to personal matters. At a Miner's benefit show in December, he announced the band had a new record and was releasing it early in the new year.

The album's recording sessions were a shambles with manager Bernie Rhodes scrubbing Howard's considerable talent in favour of a drum machine, drastically re-engineering the songs' live arrangements, and relying on synthesizers and mob choruses. Other songs aired on the tour remain unreleased: "Ammunition", "Glue Zombie", "In the Pouring Rain".

Disillusioned in Rhodes's album, Strummer took the band busking across Northern England, playing for free on street corners and in bars.

The Clash played their final shows at European festivals in 1985, with Strummer eventually calling the band together and put The Clash down. Meanwhile, Cut the Crap was released to a generally poor reception, though it charted higher than Big Audio Dynamite's release in the USA.

Post-Clash careers

Joe Strummer acted in a few movies, recorded movie soundtracks (notably "Love Kills" for the film Sid and Nancy) and experimented with different backing bands with limited success. In 1991/92 Strummer joined The Pogues after their split-up with former frontman Shane MacGowan for a series of concerts across Europe. Finally, in the mid- to late-1990s, Strummer gathered top-flight musicians into a backing band he called The Mescaleros. Strummer signed with the California punk label Hellcat Records, and issued a stunning album co-written with Anthony Genn, called Rock Art and the X-Ray Style. A tour of England and North America soon followed; sets included several Clash-fan favourites. Genn left The Mescaleros in the middle of recording sessions for the second album, Global A Go-Go, which included violinist and guitarist Tymon Dogg, who contributed the song "Lose This Skin" to the album Sandinista! Following the release of Global A Go-Go, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros mounted a 21-date tour of North America, Britain, and Ireland. Once again, these concerts featured Clash material ("London Calling", "Rudie Can't Fail"), as well as classic covers of reggae hits ("The Harder They Come", "A Message To You, Rudie") and regularly closed the show with a nod to the late Joey Ramone by playing The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop". In December of 2002, Joe Strummer died of a heart attack at the age of 50.

Following the break up of The Clash, Paul Simonon joined a group called Havana 3AM, which recorded only one album in Japan and quickly folded. Then Simonon returned to his roots as a visual artist, mounting several art-gallery shows and contributing the cover for Mick Jones' third BAD album, which was, coincidentally, co-produced by Joe Strummer. Simonon's reluctance to play music again has largely been cited as the reason why The Clash were one of the few 1970s British punk bands that did not reform to cash in on the punk-nostalgia craze of the late 1990s.

In 1991 "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" reached number one in the UK charts.

It should be noted that the Clash were never driven entirely by money. Even at their peak, tickets to shows and the prices of souvenirs were kept reasonable. Similarly, the group accepted lower royalties from Sandinista! in order to ensure that the album would be sold the same price as a single LP.

After being fired from the band shortly after the release of Combat Rock, Topper Headon wandered aimlessly with a heroin addiction. He formed a jazz band that enjoyed a very brief life. Until the filming of Don Letts' retrospective documentary about The Clash, Westway to The World, and a subsequent presentation to Strummer, Jones, Simonon, and Headon of a Lifetime Achievement British Music Award, Headon disappeared from the music business. It should be noted that his contribution to The Clash was by no means limited to his drumming for the band--Headon also composed the piano riff for "Rock The Casbah."

Sound Sample

Sample of "London Calling", from London Calling. 30 seconds, 616 KB

Discography

Albums

Hit singles

  • from "The Clash"
    • 1977 "White Riot" #38 UK
  • non-album singles (added to "The Clash" US version)
    • 1977 "Complete Control" #28 UK
    • 1978 "Clash City Rockers" #35 UK
    • 1978 "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" #32 UK
  • from "Give 'Em Enough Rope"
    • 1978 "Tommy Gun" #19 UK
    • 1979 "English Civil War (Johnny Comes Marching Home)" #25 UK
  • non-album EP
    • 1979 "The Cost Of Living EP" (I Fought the Law/Groovy Times/Gates of the West/Capital Radio One) #22 UK
  • from "London Calling"
    • 1979 "London Calling" #11 UK
    • 1980 "Train in Vain (Stand by Me)" #23 US
  • from "Black Market Clash"
    • 1980 "Bankrobber" #12 UK
  • from "Sandinista!"
    • 1980 "The Call Up" #40 UK
    • 1981 "The Magnificent Seven" #34 UK
  • from "Combat Rock"
    • 1982 "Rock the Casbah" #30 UK, #8 US (1983 release)
    • 1982 "Should I Stay or Should I Go/Straight to Hell" #17 UK
  • from "Cut the Crap"
    • 1985 "This Is England" #24 UK
  • from "The Story of the Clash", originally on the US version of "The Clash"
    • 1988 "I Fought the Law" #29 UK
  • from "The Singles"
    • 1991 "Should I Stay or Should I Go" (re-issue) #1 UK
    • 1991 "Rock the Casbah" (re-issue) #15 UK

See also

de:The Clash fr:The Clash it:The Clash no:The Clash sv:The Clash



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