The Clash Albums Reviewed
SEPT 28TH, 2022
Over the next couple of weeks I am going to have a retrospective on the library of Clash LPs. As the second most influential band of 77 to arguably the most influential group from 1978 to 83 does their out put stand the test of time? What were my views at the time and have they changed in the 21st Century? To me The Clash were THE band, yes the Pistols ripped up the rule book for others to follow and we all know that Joe was still playing pub rock in the 101ers when he first saw The Sex Pistols. To me in 76 The Clash had everything, unlike the Pistols they dressed in clothes they had made themselves, whist Johnny was clad in designer Westwood. I could steal my dad’s old suits and jackets that were getting dusty from the 60’s straight leg trousers and thin lapels. All I had to do was rip the jacket add a few safety pins and write a slogan on the back …DIY punk as it should be. I did venture into Sex to buy a couple of things, it wasn’t the scary staff looking down their noses that scared me off but the prices. Their songs reflected UK youth, we were in the middle of recession and the end of manufacturing with cheaper production available from the rapidly emerging far east. Previously companies had ditched older workers to survive and kept the on fit and young, as heavy industry was the main casualty young men were the expendable…….unemployment was at it’s highest amongst 16-24 year olds with no opportunities on the horizon……this was the nectar that feed Jones-Strummer’s rich cannon in 76-77.
Joe resonated with me far more than Johnny, he did seem like a man on a mission to improve the world we lived in whereas Rotten just wanted to destroy it. It is often forgotten that punk was a huge manifestation of the entrepreneurial spirit amongst British youth. It wasn’t just a peoples musical revolution we started but a clothing revolution, a publishing revolution and a music industry revolution with the rise of the small independent label. So to many it was a great sadness that after Malcolm’s band had signed to the traditional bastion of British recording EMI, The Clash did one worse and signed a record deal with the American giant CBS. We had all expected to see them either start their own label providing music for the people supplied by the people….but no, I think Joe argued that if he was to get his message over he needed a big platform which Stiff or Rough Trade type organisations couldn’t offer.
The other thing that appealled to me was their dabbling in reggae. Whilst Mick and Paul has nurtured their love from living in multicultural West London, I had spent a couple of years in the West Indies where the only music on the radio was the sounds of The Mighty Diamonds, U Roy and Toots etc. At the Mojo awards in about 2008 I was a fellow guest with Mick Jones so I used to opportunity to lobby for a Clash disc that brought together all of their reggae out put and maybe a dub album……he seemed to quite like the idea but hurried off to speak to someone else, there was free Mount Gay rum at the after party so Mr Jones probably thought I was a drunken buffoon! But I still think it’s a great idea.
So if you fancy a read over the next few weeks welcome to the journey from The Clash to Crap……..
