Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Music»Artists - A to K»Artists - C
    Artists - C Music - 1970s Music - 1980s 5 Mins Read

    Clash, The

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    The Clash formed in London in 1976. After a riotous tour supporting The Sex Pistols, their manager Bernie Rhodes obtained them a deal with major label big boys, CBS.

    The band subsequently unleashed the two-minute classic White Riot – a chant-along stomp that smashed into the Top 40 and announced the arrival of a band whose impact was second only to the Pistols.

    In contrast to Mr Rotten and Co, The Clash manipulated the energy of punk as a vehicle for political protest and musical experimentation.

    Their debut LP, The Clash, (released in 1977) was a blinding statement of intent. I’m So Bored With The USA and Career Opportunities rallied against inertia while a cover of Police And Thieves was the first of many sporadic forays into dub reggae.

    The album went Top 20, lauded by many critics as the definitive punk set, while a further two classic singles (not on the album), Clash City Rockers and White Man In Hammersmith Palais made the Top 40 – the latter addressing the issue of racism, a subject never far from the band’s agenda.

    CBS (and no doubt the band themselves) were keen to break in America, subsequently enlisting the production services of Blue Öyster Cult guru Sandy Perlman for their follow-up set, Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978).

    The album’s less frenetic approach met with criticism and despite the best efforts of the label, the record failed to crack the US Top 100.

    It had, however, made #2 in Britain and spawned the band’s first Top 20 hit in Tommy Gun.

    The Clash then set out to tour the States, while British fans lapped up their The Cost Of Living EP and it’s incredible cover version of Sonny Curtis’ I Fought The Law.

    Finally, in late 1979, The Clash delivered their marathon masterwork, London Calling. Overseen by seasoned producer Guy Stevens, the double album showed The Clash at an assured creative peak.

    Britain was suffocating in crisis: soaring unemployment, racial conflict, widespread drug use. “We felt that we were struggling,” Joe Strummer said, “about to slip down a slope or something, grasping with our fingernails. And there was no one there to help us.”

    Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones channelled that trial and worry into the title song, produced with hellbent atmosphere by Guy Stevens.

    It sounded like The Clash marching into battle: Strummer and Jones punching their guitars in metallic unison with Paul Simonon’s thumping bass and Topper Headon’s rifle-crack drumming (the “nuclear error” referred to the March 1979 meltdown of a reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania).

    The songwriting partnership of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones now embraced other influences apart from punk and reggae, including rockabilly (Brand New Cadillac), pop (Lost In The Supermarket), and R&B (I’m Not Down), though Paul Simonon provided the dark anthem Guns of Brixton.

    Spanish Bombs was a genuinely stirring political hymn, while the loping bassline, slicing guitar, and throat-shredding vocals of the title track gave The Clash their biggest hit single to date. The LP was also a UK Top 10 hit and finally cracked the US, where it hit the Top 30.

    clash_444

    The cover knowingly referenced that of Elvis Presley‘s first album, though Pennie Smith’s iconic photo of Simonon on the point of smashing his bass guitar was pure punk.

    The Bankrobber and The Call-Up singles followed before the band issued the sprawling, album Sandinista in December 1980.

    The triple album (it would have made a brilliant single album) was of a highly experimental nature and earned a critical pasting with the bulk of the tracks failing to withstand repeated listening. Its relatively poor sales forced a back to basics re-think for Combat Rock (1982).

    Although this album was a healthy seller, it sounded laboured – Ironically it became the band’s biggest-selling album in America, where the Rock The Casbah single made the Top 10.

    Drummer Topper Headon was already long gone by this point and was replaced by the returning Terry Chimes (who dubbed himself Tory Crimes) who had left after the 1977 debut.

    Combat Rock was to be their last hurrah. A communiqué from the band on 10 September 1983 read, “Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon have decided that Mick Jones should leave the group.”

    clash_035

    Strummer soon blamed the sacking on manager Bernie Rhodes and unsuccessfully begged Jones to return.

    The band hired some kid off the street (we could look it up, but his name isn’t really important) because he looked and sounded a bit like Jones.

    Needless to say, the band stumbled on for only one further album, Cut The Crap, in 1985 (it was absolute dog shit) before finally calling it a day the following month.

    While Jones enjoyed mid-80’s success with Big Audio Dynamite, Joe Strummer embarked on a low-key solo career before working with his pal Shane McGowan in The Pogues.

    Clash fever gripped the UK once more in 1991 when Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (a Top 20 hit in 1983) hit the charts again after being used in an advert for Levi jeans.

    A “Best Of ” double album, The Story Of The Clash Vol 1, flew off the shelves and rumours were rife of a Clash reunion. The rumours were unceremoniously quashed by Joe Strummer.

    Joe Strummer died in London on 22 December 2002. He was just 50.

    Joe Strummer
    Vocals, guitar
    Mick Jones
    Guitar, vocals
    Paul Simonon
    Bass, vocals
    Tory Crimes (Terry Chimes)
    Drums
    Nicky ‘Topper’ Headon
    Drums
    Pete Howard
    Drums
    Nick Shepherd
    Guitar
    Vince White
    Guitar



    Related Posts

    • Buzzcocks
      Buzzcocks
      Buzzcocks was formed in Manchester in 1975 by guitarist/singer Pete Shelley (real name Peter McNeish) and singer Howard Devoto (real…
    • Subway Sect
      Subway Sect
      Although their first gig - at The 100 Club's 'Punk Fest' in September 1976 - was with The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Siouxsie…
    • Purple Hearts, The
      Purple Hearts, The
      Dropping their shady punk past as The Sockets (not 'Jack Plug & The Sockets', contrary to popular belief), this Romford…
    • Crass
      Crass
      Crass was formed in 1978 by Steve Ignorant and Penny Rimbaud, who lived a commune-type life in a farmhouse called Dial…
    • Beats International
      Beats International
      This studio team of British musicians was formed by Norman Cook after the break up of The Housemartins. The core…
    • Flaming Hands
      Flaming Hands
      Led by singer Julie Mostyn and astute songwriter/guitarist Jeff Sullivan, the Flaming Hands were one of the great inner-city Sydney…
    • Cortinas, The
      Cortinas, The
      Hailing from Bristol, The Cortinas formed in 1976 and started out as one of the dozens of post-Sex Pistols dole…
    • Pearl Harbour & The Explosions
      Pearl Harbour & The Explosions
      Pearl Gates was born in 1958 of a Filipino mother and American father and grew up in Germany, where her…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleChic
    Next Article Close Lobsters, The

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Ral Donner
      Ralph Stuart Emanuel Donner was born in Norwood Park, Chicago […]
    • Spy V Spy
      I first saw Spy V Spy in 1982 at the Governors Pleasure in The […]
    • Shogun
      1 9 8 0 (USA) 6 x 120 minute episodes Highly rated four-part […]
    • Run to Earth
      1 9 5 8 (UK) 5 x 30 minute episodes Two adventurous Glasgow boys […]
    • McConnell Story, The (1955)
      This real-life biopic portrays the unlikely rise of Captain […]
    • T-Bag
      1 9 8 5 – 1 9 9 2 (UK) 50 x 20 minute episodes First […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.