The Clash

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The Clash were a band formed in 1976, and were part of the original wave of British punk rock groups. The members of the band during most of its existence were Joe Strummer (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, news and politics), Mick Jones (lead guitar, vocals, pop sensibility), Paul Simonon (bass, backing vocals, occasional lead vocals, fashion statements) and Nicky "Topper" Headon (drums, percussion, heroin). In 1982 Headon left the group, and (after some internal friction) Jones left in 1983. After this point, the band rapidly dissolved, bringing on various replacements, but finally disbanding in early 1986.

The Clash did a cover of the song "I Fought the Law" recorded originally by the Bobby Fuller Four.

Contents

[edit] The Only Band That Matters (accolades)

The Clash were named "the only band that matters", as proclaimed by the sticker on the jacket of London Calling ("18 [sic] [1] new songs by the only band that matters!") by Epic Records' A&R director (although that was almost definitely influenced by the Clash's having a contract with said company), and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.[2]

At the end of the 1980s, Rolling Stone magazine declared London Calling the best album of the 1980s. Presumably they were not only hailing a great album, but also making a snarky statement about the state of popular music during the 80s. After all, London Calling was released late in 1979.

[edit] The thinking man's yobs

The Clash were well known for having a strong leftist stance as a band, and were known as "the thinking man's yobs" for espousing an ideology other than pure anarchism. Strummer especially was known for his outspoken progressive views, and as he wrote most of the lyrics this is definitely in evidence, loudly and rather intelligently.

They often railed against fundamentalism and authoritarianism, but appear to have largely ignored our third mission target, the anti-science movement.

[edit] Right-wing?

Despite this, some people have mistaken the Clash's message for one that promotes right-wing ideologies. Indeed, during the Clash's heyday National Review ran at least two articles mistaking the Clash (and most of the rest of the early British punk bands) for being on the conservative right, in one article hailing British punk as a youthful reaction against Labour Party welfare statism. "Hate & War" was claimed to be a rebuttal to hippie peace & love, "Career Opportunities" a broadside against welfare statism, the punks' preference for short hair a statement against long-haired hippie drug culture (National Review oddly enough forseeing straight edge here), and don't forget who was president when "I'm So Bored with the USA" was released. The second article reviewed a Clash concert that coincided with the start of the Falklands War and talked up the Clash's militant stance as some sort of ideal soundtrack for wartime (or at least for those grown up little boys who read magazines about mercenaries). Many years later, "Rock the Casbah" wound up on a National Review list of best conservative songs. It was also reportedly adopted by U.S. troops during the Gulf War. However, Strummer (who wrote the lyrics) is said to have wept when he learned that the title of the song was written on a bomb dropped in Iraq during said war, and is quoted as having said "Hey, man, I never could think that a song of mine could be written as a death symbol on a fucking American bomb."[3] The media also latched on to the fact that members of the Clash used to be in a band called the London SS, and some of their earliest songs were named "White Riot" and "White Man in Hammersmith Palais".

While clearly leftist most of the time - songs like "Working for the Clampdown" and "Washington Bullets" bear this out - the Clash could make unpredictable political fakes to the right with or without any irony. "The Guns of Brixton" suggests the answer to police brutality in poor neighborhoods is widespread ownership of the firearms; "Red Angel Dragnet" seems to endorse right-wing vigilantism of the Guardian Angels type; the aforementioned "Rock the Casbah" was a protest against the social policies of Islamic governments, especially Iran; and "Overpowered by Funk" comes across as rather negative towards hip-hop culture. Three of those four songs are from Combat Rock, an album also filled with Vietnam War references, not to mention the title, so in context it is easy to see how they could be mistaken for right-wing. But see also Poe's law.

[edit] Commercialism?

Their strong leftist stance did not stop them signing to CBS, at the time one of the world's biggest record labels. Neither did it stop their publisher allowing the use of "Should I Stay or Should I Go" in a jeans commercial, or "London Calling" by luxury car maker Jaguar for a television commercial, many years after their release. Although, they did force the record company to sell the double and triple-disc albums London Calling and Sandinista! for the same price as single-disc albums, with the Clash forfeiting royalties on the first 200,000 sold, and even during their peak popularity tickets to concerts were "reasonably priced"; because of these "VFM", or Value For Money, policies the band was in debt to CBS for much of their career, only breaking even in 1982. [4]

Not all punk fans were happy with the band's US$200,000 CBS deal though. In 1978, the seminal book on the early days of the British Punk movement, The Boy Looked at Johnny: The Obituary of Rock and Roll by Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons was published. The authors attacked the Clash as "…the MC5 of the new wave; the credibility hustling manager Bernie Rhodes, the six figure recording contract, the revolution for fun and profit." They go on to posit that the Clash "were the first band to use social disorder as a marketing technique to shift product." Punk band Crass wrote on their self-released 1978 song, "Punk is Dead": "CBS promote the Clash, but it ain't for revolution, it's just for cash. Punk became a fashion just like Hippy used to be, and it ain't got a thing to do with you or me!"

[edit] Cut The Crap!

There was no Clash album of this name. "This is England" was a good song though.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. There were 19, but one was a non-political song about a girl.
  2. The Clash's Entry at the Hall of Fame
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_the_Casbah
  4. http://www.therockandrollemporium.com/THE-CLASH-PICTURE-DISC-p/pdclas.htm
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