THE CLASH

'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. The band went on to incorporate punk with reggae, rockabilly, dance, jazz, ska, and other styles.
The Clash's skilled musicianship and the passionate, left-wing political idealism of frontmen Joe Strummer and Mick Jones contrasted sharply with the nihilism of the Sex Pistols, the simplicity of The Ramones, and the experimental tendencies of The Talking Heads.
Although the Clash were a major success in the UK from the release of their first album in 1977, they did not become popular in the US until 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 US 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."^[1] In 2003 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[2] In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked The Clash^[3] #30 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[4]

Contents

History

(1976–1978) Formation and British success

(1978–1982) Stardom and Success in the US

(1982–1984) Tensions and disintegration

(1984–1986) ''Cut the Crap'' and demise

Post-Clash careers

Joe Strummer

Mick Jones

Paul Simonon

Topper Headon

Other members

Politics

Members

Main lineup

Other members

Discography

Studio albums

Filmography

Bibliography

See also

References and footnotes

External links

History

(1976–1978) Formation and British success

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 would rename 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 shit".^[5] Strummer agreed to join the group, which was named The Clash.
The new band had their first gig on July 4 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols, and that autumn the band was signed to CBS Records. In early September, Levene left. 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 US, 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. Mick Jones recruited Nicholas Bowen Headon, who had solid timing and excellent musical skills.
The Clash were notable for their strident leftist political outlook and distinctive clothes, self painted with Jackson Pollock-style paint splashes and revolutionary slogans, such as "Sten Guns in Knightsbridge," "Under Heavy Manners," and "Heavy Discipline". Throughout 1977, Strummer and Jones were charged with a range of minor crimes ranging from petty vandalism to minor thefts.

(1978–1982) Stardom and Success in the US

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 LP's and ended with a hidden track not noted in the song list. Called ''Train in Vain,'' it was, predictably, the song that received the most airplay on album-oriented rock (AOR) FM stations in the US.
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 inceasingly conservative environment of AOR FM radio in the US, received minimal airplay.
The band retrenched and recorded ''Combat Rock'', a single-LP album produced by Glyn Johns, who had previously worked on ''Who's Next'' and many other albums. Simpler and more straightforward than ''Sandinista!'', the album contained the single ''Should I Stay or Should I Go?'' which received heavy airplay in the US on AOR FM stations. The following single, ''Rock the Casbah,'' a disco-ish song about the Iranian clampdown on imports of Western music, was a bona fide Top 40 hit in the US, with heavy rotation on MTV.

(1982–1984) Tensions and disintegration

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.

(1984–1986) ''Cut the Crap'' and demise

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. 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 and the members went on to other projects.

Post-Clash careers

Joe Strummer

In 1986, Strummer collaborated with ex-bandmate Jones on BAD's second album, ''No. 10 Upping St.'', co-producing the album and co-writing seven of its songs. Strummer acted in a few movies, notably Alex Cox's ''Walker,'' and Jim Jarmusch's ''Mystery Train (film)'', as well as a cameo in Aki Kaurismäki's ''I hired a Contract Killer'', in which he sings "Burning Lights/Afro-Cuban Be-Bop". He did songs for movie soundtracks (notably "Love Kills" for the film ''Sid and Nancy''), and he co-produced the ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' soundtracks with John Cusack. As well, he experimented with different backing bands with limited success.
In 1989, he released the first of his solo albums, ''Earthquake Weather'', which was neither a commercial nor critical success. He toured with a new backing band, The Latino Rockabilly War, which contributed five songs to the soundtrack of the movie Permanent Record, including an instrumental and the song "Trash City", which was also released as a single. In 1991/92 Strummer joined The Pogues after their split with former frontman Shane MacGowan for a series of concerts across Europe.
In the late 1990s, Strummer formed backing band he called The Mescaleros. In 2002 Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros performed a benefit gig for the striking Firefighters of London (FBU) at the Acton Town Hall, London (later referred to as "The Last Night London Burned"). For the encores, Mick Jones joined the band. They were: "Bankrobber", "White Riot" and "London’s Burning".
His final gig was at Liverpool Academy on 22 November 2002. In December 2002, Strummer died suddenly of a congenital heart defect at the age of 50. The Mescaleros’ album he was working on at the time, ''Streetcore'', was released posthumously to critical acclaim in 2003. Jones commented in the press that, after the brief reunion on ''Westway to the World'' in 1999, the foursome were considering reuniting for a tour. A film has been made about Strummer's life, called ''The Future Is Unwritten''.

Mick Jones

After his expulsion from The Clash, Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite (often shortened to B.A.D.) in 1984 with film director Don Letts who directed various Clash videos and ''Westway to the World''. The band's debut album, ''This is Big Audio Dynamite'', was released the following year with the song "E=MC²" receiving heavy rotation in dance clubs. The next album, ''No. 10 Upping St.'', reunited Jones with Strummer. Jones released three more albums with Big Audio Dynamite before reshuffling the line-up and renaming the band Big Audio Dynamite II. The band was later renamed Big Audio in the mid-1990s because they found that it was much more suitable for the type of genre they were influenced by at that particular time. Jones featured on the two studio albums by The Libertines as producer and also produced the debut Babyshambles album. Jones is currently touring and recording with his new band, Carbon/Silicon.

Paul Simonon

Following the break-up of The Clash, Simonon formed 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 Jones' third BAD album, ''Tighten Up Vol. 88''. 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.
Simonon was quoted in ''Westway to the World'' as saying that The Clash are over and that "suits him fine". He is currently collaborating with Damon Albarn, of Blur, Simon Tong of The Verve, and Tony Allen, main founder of the afrobeat and drummer of Fela Kuti to form The Good, the Bad and the Queen. Their first gig took place on the 26 October, 2006 at the Roundhouse.

Topper Headon

Headon's contribution to The Clash included drumming and composing and performing the music for "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" (which he also sang) and "Rock the Casbah" , the latter becoming the band's biggest hit in the U.S. when it reached #8 on the Billboard charts in 1982. By this time, Headon had been dismissed by the rest of the band due to the heroin addiction. His addiction eventually landed him in jail for supplying a user who later overdosed and died.
Except for forming a short-lived R&B band (in 1986 he recorded a LP called ''Waking Up'' as well as a 12" E.P. titled ''Drumming Man''), Headon disappeared from the music business until the filming of Letts' retrospective documentary about The Clash, ''Westway to The World'', where he sincerely apologised for his addiction. Headon also attended a subsequent presentation to Strummer, Jones, Simonon, and Headon of a Lifetime Achievement British Music Award. After many years of rehabilitation, he has overcome his addiction, and is performing live again.

Other members

'Terry Chimes' played with various other bands between and after his stints with the Clash and he was Black Sabbath's drummer for a couple of years in the mid-1980s. He eventually retired from the music industry to become a chiropractor. Since 1994, he has had his own practice in London's South Woodford neighbourhood, and he lives in Elephant and Castle in Southwark, London.
'Pete Howard' was in the Fiction Records band Eat, before forming Vent 414 with Miles Hunt in 1996. He joined Queen Adreena in 2002.
'Keith Levene' co-founded Public Image Ltd (PiL) with John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten) after he left the Clash and shortly after the Sex Pistols disintegrated. His guitar work was imitated by guitarists from punk bands and post-punk pop bands, including The Edge of U2. On later PiL recordings, Levene played synthesizer. He left PiL acrimoniously in 1983 following a fall-out with Lydon.
'Nick Sheppard' collaborated with Gareth Sager (formerly of The Pop Group and Rip Rig & Panic) in Head
from 1986 to 1989, but their three albums made little impact. Sheppard next worked with Koozie Johns in Shot, which signed with I.R.S. Records in 1991, with Copeland as manager; however the band's recordings were never released. Sheppard moved to Australia in 1993, and played in the bands Heavy Smoker and the New Egyptian Kings. In July 2002, Sheppard was proposed as the guest guitarist on a Japanese tour with Johns' new band, Sinnerstar, but the tour was cancelled.
'Rob Harper' formed the power-pop group, The Dazzlers (as a guitarist - he was a multi-instrumentalist) in 1979 and they released a single entitled "Lovely Crash" which failed to make an impact in the charts. They split shortly afterwards.

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. 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. In the song "Tommy Gun" his stance was ambiguous. 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.
The anarcho-punk band Crass accused The Clash of being sell outs and not acting on their political message in their song "White punks on hope."

Members

Main lineup

★ Joe Strummer – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1976–1986)

★ Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals (1976–1983)

★ Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals (1976–1986)

★ Topper Headon – drums, percussion (1977–1982)

Other members

★ Terry Chimes – drums, percussion (1976, 1977, 1982-1983)

★ Keith Levene – guitar (1976)

★ Rob Harper – drums, percussion (1976–1977)
Appeared in "New Clash" or "Cut the Crap Clash", after Jones and Headon left the band:

★ Nick Sheppard – guitar, backing vocals (1983–1986)

★ Vince White – guitar (1983–1986)

★ Pete Howard – drums, percussion (1983–1986)

Discography

Main articles: The Clash discography

Studio albums

# ''The Clash'' - (April 8, 1977) #12 UK, #126 U.S.^[6][7]
# ''Give 'Em Enough Rope'' - (November 10, 1978) #2 UK, #128 U.S. #79 AUS
# ''London Calling'' (2LP) - (December 14, 1979) #9 UK, #27 U.S. #16 AUS
# ''Sandinista!'' (3LP) - (December 12 1980) #19 UK, #24 U.S.
# ''Combat Rock'' - (May 14, 1982) #2 UK, #7 U.S.
# ''Cut the Crap'' - (November 4, 1985) #16 UK, #88 U.S.

Filmography

★ ''Rude Boy'' (1980) (directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay)

★ ''The Clash: Westway to the World'' (2000) (directed by Don Letts)

Bibliography

★ Gilbert, Pat. 2004. ''Passion is a Fashion: The Real Story of The Clash'', Aurum Press Ltd. Hardback: ISBN 1-84513-017-0. Paperback: ISBN 1-84513-113-4. US Paperback: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81434-X.

★ Gray, Marcus. 2001 ''Return of The Last Gang In Town'', Helter Skelter Publishing. ISBN 1-900924-16-1.

★ Gray, Marcus. 1995. ''Last Gang In Town: The Story and Myth of The Clash'', Fourth Estate Limited. ISBN 1-85702-146-0.

★ Green, Johnny; Barker, Garry; & Lowry, Ray (Ill.). 1999. ''A Riot of Our Own: Night and Day with The Clash'', Indigo. ISBN 0-575-40080-3.

★ Smith, Pennie. 1980. ''The Clash: Before and After / photographs by Pennie Smith ; with passing comments by Joe Strummer...[et al.]'', Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-31680-169-0

★ Yewdall, John Leonard. 1992. ''Joe Strummer with the 101'ers and the Clash, 1974-1976'', Image Direct. ISBN 0-9519216-0-6

See also

★ Blackhill Enterprises (Peter Jenner and Andrew King)

★ Live At Bond's Casino

★ The Vanilla Tapes

References and footnotes

1. Epic Records' Director of A&R, Bruce Harris, came up with the phrase. He is credited with convincing the company to release The Clash in the USA. His wife, Marion(Bernstein) Harris, was the product manager. She is credited with convincing Joe Strummer to include lyrics in the sleeve.
2. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-clash
3. The Clash by The Edge
4. The Immortals: The First Fifty
5. http://trakmarx.com/2003_01/09.htm
6. The 1979 USA release of the debut album was significantly different from the original 1977 UK release. See ''The Clash'' for a discussion of those differences.
7. All of The Clash's albums and singles were originally issued on CBS Records; subsequent re-issues and CD releases have been through Epic.

External links

★ Blackmarketclash.com

★ Clash Photo Rockers

★ Revolution Rock: A Punk History of the Clash

★ The Clash Online

★ Vince White Homepage