This article is about the English rock band. For the Thai rock band, see
Clash (band).
 |
|
| Background information |
| Origin |
Ladbroke Grove, London, England |
| Genre(s) |
Punk rock
Rock |
| Years active |
1976–1986 |
| Label(s) |
CBS Records |
Associated
acts |
The 101ers, London SS, Big Audio Dynamite, Havana 3am, The Latino Rockabilly War, The Pogues, The Mescaleros, Carbon/Silicon, The Good, the Bad and the Queen |
| Website |
www.theclashonline.com |
| Members |
Joe Strummer
Mick Jones
Paul Simonon
Topper Headon |
| Former members |
Nick Sheppard
Keith Levene
Pete Howard
Terry Chimes
Vince White
Rob Harper |
The Clash were an English punk rock band, active
from 1976 to 1986, and part of the original wave of UK punk rock in the late 1970s. Although a
punk rock band, the band experimented with reggae, funk,
New Wave, dub, and rockabilly in their music[1][2]. The band's music was often charged by a leftist political ideology.[3]
The Clash were a major success in the UK from the release of their first album in 1977, and became popular in the U.S. in
1980. Their third album, the late 1979 release London Calling is an influential
album in the history of rock music; it was released in the U.S. in January 1980, and a decade later Rolling Stone magazine declared it the best album of the 1980s. Rolling Stone also placed it at #8 on
their list in 2003 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
The Clash's attitude and style, as much as their music, influenced many other bands from the 1980s. Epic Records A&R
director dubbed them "The Only Band That Matters."[4] In
2003 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[5] In 2004, Rolling
Stone ranked The Clash[6] #30 on their list of
the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[7]
History
1976-1982
Originally composed of Joe Strummer, Mick
Jones, Paul Simonon, Keith Levene and
Terry Chimes (credited, as a pun, on their first
LP as "Tory Crimes"), the Clash formed in
Ladbroke Grove, West London in 1976, during the
first wave of British punk. Levene (later of Public Image Ltd.) was a friend of Mick
Jones and served as guitarist and songwriter with The Clash,
but never recorded with the band. According to Mick Jones in the 1999 Clash documentary Westway to the World, Levene was kicked out for never showing up to practice.
Strummer had previously played in the pub rock act The
101'ers (his stage name at this point was Woody Mellor; soon he renamed himself "Joe Strummer", a reference to his
rudimentary strumming skills on the ukulele as a busker in the London Underground); Jones, Simonon, and Tony James (later of
Generation X) were (briefly) in legendary proto-punk band London SS. At the behest of their
manager Bernie Rhodes, Jones, Levene, and Simonon recruited the slightly older Strummer
from the 101'ers. "You're great," they told him, "but your group is shite".[8] Strummer agreed to join the group, which was named The Clash.
The Clash had their first gig on July 4 1976, supporting the
Sex Pistols.[9]
Leading up to the gig, Simonon stated that he felt the band weren't good enough to play a live show. He decided to go on with it
after meeting with Johnny Ramone earlier that day, who told him, "We stink. You don't have
to be good, just get out there and play".[10]
That autumn the band was signed to CBS Records. In early September, Levene left. On
September 21, 1976 the band performed at the 100 Club Punk Festival, sharing the bill with the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Subway Sect. Chimes left
in late November (briefly replaced by Rob Harper for the Anarchy Tour in December 1976) but
was soon drafted back to record their debut album. The band released their first single
("White Riot/1977") and first album (The
Clash) in 1977 to considerable success in the UK. However, CBS initially declined to release either in the
United States, waiting until 1979 before releasing a modified version of the first album
in the U.S., after the UK original had become the best-selling import album of all time in the United States.
Following the release of their first album, Chimes left amicably due to personal differences with the remaining members. In
the documentary Westway to the World, Mick Jones referred to him as one of "the best drummers around". But Chimes, who had
no great wish to make a career from music, said, "The point was that I wanted one kind of life - they wanted another, and why are
we working together, if we want completely different things?" Chimes later joined the glam
punk group Hanoi Rocks.
The band experienced a period of changing drummers. After some time with Mick Jones handling drum duties, the band finally
recruited Nicholas Bowen Headon, nicknamed "Topper" by
Simonon, because he resembled the famous comic's cartoon cover star, Mickey the monkey. Headon had solid timing and excellent
musical skills, being able to play other instruments as bass, organ and guitar. He was originally planning to stay briefly and
gain a name for himself, before finding a better band. Realizing the band's potential he changed his plans and stayed in the
band.
With Topper Headon firmly in place on drums, the Clash recorded Give 'Em Enough
Rope in 1978. Produced by Sandy Pearlman, whose previous credits included the
American heavy metal band Blue Oyster Cult, the album had a straighter rock sound that
many British fans found disappointing. However, the band's fan base in the US grew with the release of this album and the
reconstituted The Clash in 1979.
The Clash then recorded London Calling. Produced by Guy Stevens, who had
previously worked with Mott the Hoople and others, the album had a sound that was more in keeping with the band's personality,
allowing for a mix of rock, punk, reggae, and ska elements that recalled the band's earlier days, but also had greater maturity
and production polish. The album contained 2 LPs and ended with a hidden track not noted in the song list. Called "Train in
Vain", it received the most airplay on album-oriented rock (AOR) FM stations in the U.S.
To follow up on this success, the Clash planned to record and release a single every month in 1980. Their record label, CBS,
balked at this idea, however. Instead, these efforts resulted in the sprawling album Sandinista!. Containing elements of rock, punk, reggae (including extended dubs), ska, and (somewhat)
tongue-in-check stabs at jazz and disco, unified by a heavily echoed sound, this 3-LP, 36-song album was their most controversial
to date, both politically and musically. Some viewed it as their most complete statement, while many others found it indulgent
and incoherent. The album had no catchy single and, in the increasingly conservative environment of AOR FM radio in the U.S.,
received minimal airplay.
The band retrenched and recorded their fifth album Combat Rock. Combat Rock
was originally planned as a double album with the title Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg,
but the idea was scrapped after internal wrangling within the group. Mick Jones had produced the first cut, but the other members
were dissatisfied and producing duties were handed to Glyn Johns at which point the album became a single LP. The original cut
has since been obtained and subsequently bootlegged. Simpler and more straightforward than Sandinista!, the album
contained the single Should I Stay or Should I Go? which received heavy airplay in the U.S. on AOR FM stations. The
following single, Rock the Casbah, a song about the Iranian clampdown on imports of Western music, was a bona fide Top 40
hit in the U.S., with heavy rotation on MTV.
1982–1986
After Combat Rock, the Clash began to disintegrate. Topper Headon was asked to leave the band just prior to the release
of the album, due to his heroin addiction, which was hurting his health and drumming. The band's
original drummer, Terry Chimes, was brought back for the next few months. The loss of Headon brought much friction, as he was an
essential part of the band and well-liked by the others. Jones and Strummer began to feud. The band, although still touring
arenas and opening up for The Who in stadiums on their tour in 1982 did not get along well; the
original dates for the UK leg of the Combat Rock tour were cancelled when Strummer disappeared.
The band continued to tour, but by 1983, the years of constant touring and recording took their toll. They were growing as
musicians and individuals, but they were not able to cope with the tension and stress. Chimes left the band after the 1982-1983
Combat Rock tour, due to the in-fighting and turmoil.
In 1983, drummer Pete Howard joined the band for the US Festival in San Bernardino, California, of which The Clash were, along with David Bowie and Van Halen, co-headliners. The crowd of roughly half a
million was by far the biggest of the Clash's career. This was Jones' last appearance with The Clash. In September 1983, Jones
was fired due to his problematic behaviour and divergent musical aspirations. Jones went on to found Big Audio Dynamite (BAD) with Don Letts, and both Strummer and
Simonon collaborated with BAD at various times.
The band picked Nick Sheppard, formerly of the Bristol-based Cortinas, and Vince White as the band's new guitarists. Howard continued to be the drummer. 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, and
they toured heavily over the winter and into early summer. At a striking miners' benefit show ("Scargill's Christmas Party") in
December 1984, they announced that a new record would be released early in the new year.
The recording sessions for Cut the Crap were chaotic, with manager Bernie Rhodes
and Strummer working in Munich, Germany. Most of the parts were played by studio musicians, with
Sheppard and later White flying in to come up with guitar parts. Struggling with Rhodes for control of the band, Strummer
returned home. The band went on a busking tour, playing in public spaces in cities throughout
the UK where they played acoustic versions of their hits and popular cover tunes.
After a gig in Athens, Strummer went to Spain to clear his mind. While Strummer was gone, the first single from Cut the
Crap, "This Is England" was released to mostly negative reviews. The song, much like the rest of the album that came out
later that year, had been drastically re-engineered by Rhodes, with synths, drum machines, and football-style chants being added
to Strummer's incomplete recordings. For the remainder of his life Strummer publicly disowned the record,[citation needed] and to this day most fans disregard
its existence as a legitimate release by The Clash. Other songs played on the tour remain unreleased to this day: "Jericho",
"Glue Zombie", and "In the Pouring Rain". Although Howard was an adept drummer, virtually all of the percussion tracks were
produced by drum machines. The Clash was effectively disbanded in early 1986, and the members went on to other projects.
Politics
Like many early punk bands, The Clash protested against monarchy and aristocracy. However, unlike many early punk bands, The Clash rejected the overall sentiment of
nihilism. Instead, they found solidarity with a number of contemporary liberation movements.
The Clash's political views, especially those of Joe Strummer, were very leftist. Their
politics were expressed explicitly in their lyrics, in early recordings such as "White Riot," which encouraged disaffected white
youths to become politically active like their black counterparts, "Career
Opportunities," which expressed discontent about the alienation of low-paid, production line style employment and the lack
of alternatives, and "London's Burning," about political complacency.
In 1978 at a Rock Against Racism show organized by the Anti-Nazi League, 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 terrorist factions in Germany and Italy, but
to bring attention to their existence. Caroline Coon stood up for what The Clash were
doing during this period: "Those tough, militaristic songs were what we needed as we went into Thatcherism". (Passion is a
Fashion: The Real Story of The Clash, p. 190)
The group also supported other musicians' charity concerts, most notably at the December 1979 Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, presented by Paul McCartney. The benefit
album released from the concerts features one song by The Clash, "Armagideon Time." The Clash offered some support to the
Sandinista and other Marxist movements in Latin America
(hence the title of their 1980 album, Sandinista!). They were also involved directly with the Anti-Nazi League and Rock
Against Racism. By the time of the December 1979 album London Calling, the Clash
were trying to maintain punk energy while developing musically. They were especially wary of their own emerging stardom: they
always welcomed fans backstage after shows and showed open-mindedness, genuine interest and compassion in their relationships
with them.
The title of London Calling evokes American radio newsman Edward R. Murrow's
catchphrase during World War II, and the title song announces that "...war is declared and
battle come down..." It warns against expecting them to be saviours — "... now don't look to us / Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust..." — draws a bleak picture of the times — "The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in / Engines stop running, the wheat is
growing thin" — but calls on their listeners to come out of their drugged stupor and take up the fight without constantly looking
to London, or to The Clash themselves, for cues — "Forget it, brother, we can go it alone... Quit holding out and draw another
breath... I don't want to shout / But while we were talking I saw you nodding out..." — finally asking, "After all this, won't
you give me a smile?"
The Clash are generally credited with pioneering the advocacy of radical politics in punk rock, and were known as the
"Thinking Man's Yobs" by many simply for voicing a political slant other than anarchism. They were never driven entirely by
money; even at their peak, tickets to shows and souvenirs were reasonably priced. The group
insisted that CBS sell their double and triple album sets London Calling and Sandinista! for the price of a single
album each (then £5), succeeding with the former and compromising with the latter by agreeing to sell it for £5.99 and forfeit
all their royalties on its first 200,000 sales. These "VFM" (Value For Money) principles meant
that they were constantly in debt to CBS, and only started to break even around 1982.
Members
Classic lineup
This is the lineup from what is generally considered the band's peak, and was the lineup inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame.
Other Members
- Nick Sheppard – guitar, backing vocals (1983–1986)
- Vince White – guitar (1983–1986)
- Pete Howard – drums, percussion (1983–1986)
Discography
-
- The Clash - (April 8, 1977) #12 UK, #126 U.S.[11][12]
- Give 'Em Enough Rope - (November
10, 1978) #2 UK, #128 U.S. #79 AUS
