The Clash: Difference between revisions

Dubbed by their fans "the only band that mattered," the Clash was a punk rock group that extended the style of their chosen form to a prodigious extent. They were one of the most influential bands of the last thirty years.

Comprised of Joe Strummer (vocals, guitar), Mick Jones (vocals, guitar), Paul Simonon (bass), and Topper Headon (drums), the Clash formed in London in 1976 during the first wave of British punk. The Clash were at first a straight-forward act, notable only for a strident leftist political outlook. They got their start opening for The Sex Pistols in 1976, and were soon signed to CBS Records. In 1977, they released their first single ("White Riot") and first album ("The Clash") to considerable success in the UK, though their label declined to release either in the United States.

This was a pattern that would repeat itself for some time. Their next album "Give 'Em Enough Rope" was released in 1978 and debuted at number two on the British charts, but failed to crack the top 100 in the United States.

In response, the Clash went on their first tour of the United States, and their first album was released there at more or less the same time, but in a drastically different form than the first album that was released in Canada and the UK.

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

Amazingly, the Clash followed "London Calling" with a triple album, entitled "Sandanista!" The results were mixed, as the band expanded their experimentation with other musical styles and production techniques that included reggae "dub", jazz and even vocals by keyboard player Micky Gallagher's young son. Fans were confused and sales were down, though they were better in the United States than before.

After that album, the Clash began to slowly disintegrate. Topper Headon left first, battling drug abuse. 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.

Despite the success, The Clash had nearly reached the end of the line. Topper Headon was fired - his addiction to heroin had had a deleterious effect on his drumming. Strummer and Simonon ousted Mick Jones from the band towards the end of the year (Jones went on to found Big Audio Dynamite). With a new lineup, The Clash released their last album in 1985. Its unfortunate title "Cut the Crap" supplied an obvious opening to displeased critics and fans, and while the album did poorly, the tour of North America was huge. The remaining two original members officially disbanded the Clash in 1986.

Joe Strummer suffered a somewhat similar fate. He 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. 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 The Mescaleros in the middle of 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 Sandinista! album. 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's Burning", "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' "Blitzkreig Bop."

Following the break up of The Clash, Paul Simonon joined a group called Havana at 3 A.M., 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 the Mick Jones' third BAD album, which was, coincidentally, co-produced by Joe Strummer. Simonon's reticence to play music again has largely been cited as the reason why The Clash is one of the few 1970s British punk bands that has not reformed to cash in on the punk-nostalgia craze of the late 1990s.

Sadly, 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, "From 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 ace drumming behind the only band that mattered between 1977 and 1982 - Topper composed the piano riff for "Rock The Casbah."