The clash

Joe Strummer (John Graham Mellor): vocals, guitar (date and place of birth: 21 August 1952, Ankara, Turkey)
Mick Jones: vocals, guitar (date and place of birth: 26 June 1955, London, England)
Paul Simonon: bass, vocals (date and place of birth: 15 December 1956, London, England)
Topper Headon: drums (date and place of birth: 30 May 1955, Bromley, Kent, England)

Mick Jones had a band called London S.S. with Bernard Rhodes who would become later The Clash's manager. He decided to teach Paul Simonon how to play guitar, but as Paul had never played that instrument, it was too difficult for him. So they decided he should play bass, "because it's easier and has only four strings", as Paul said once.
They got Keith Levene as another guitarist and Terry Chimes as drummer. Bernard Rhodes was becoming the band's manager.
Paul and Mick met Joe Strummer once, and Bernard asked him if he would like to join the band. Joe Strummer had another band (called The 101'ers) and was more musically experienced than the others by that time. He joined them on 31st May 1976. Terry Chimes only recorded on their first album and Keith Levene left before that.
They recorded their first album, self titled The Clash after, Nicky "Topper" Headon joined in April 1977. Their second work was Give 'em Enough Rope. Their greatest album in the opinion of The Rolling Stone Magazine (and music critics) was their third one, entitled London Calling, which was rated the best album of the 80's decade and one of the best rock 'n' roll albums of all time.

The fourth work released was Sandinista! which was a three record set album. Combat Rock came after and was the last album with Mick Jones and Topper Headon. Mick Jones started another band called Big Audio Dynamite and ’topper’ left due to his heroin addiction. After that The Clash released their last album, Cut the Crap (1985), only with Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon from the original formation.

Although they've explored more than one musical style, The Clash was rated as a punk rock band, because it started as one, and their punk ideals never died, as it can be noticed in most of their albums. There were other albums released too, which are a review of The Clash's work with some previously unreleased tracks, demos, live tracks and remixes
Joe Strummer said that their work is an attempt to show different feelings, like the union that must exist between people. He also said that The Clash was trying to teach new ways of feeling, thinking and being to their fans. The money wasn't really important to them, as they wanted to transmit their ideas. London Calling, a two record set album, and Sandinista! (three record set) were both sold by the price of a regular LP.

What can one really say about the Clash that hasn't been said before? Almost every aspect of them has been covered, from their lyrics to their look to What They Really Meant. If somone wanted a history of the Clash, it's easy to find, whether in ultra-corporate-"punk" histories to the internet. But, what about one person's perspective on what the Clash was? Those are fewer and farther between, and what I'm here to write about. Not because it was assigned, or because I want money, but because I want to. Because the Clash kicked ass. Because they always will have, and always will. Because they helped launch a whole new type of music. Because they ARE. So, without further ado, my take on The Clash.

The Clash have been marked many things, from "Utter shite, why do you listen to that?" (My mom) and "The Only Band That Matters" (T-shirts sported by many people, whether they know what the Clash was or not). Still, to me, the Clash means something special. Energy. Excitement. Breaking the mold. Taking a stand. One of the first songs to send a shiver down my spine was Complete Control. That song unleashed the furious energy that everyone has had inside them at some point or another, from the poorest street kid to the richest diplomat. Not from the lyrics, but from the feel. White Riot had it, London Calling had it, any number of their songs did. But Complete Control was the first that really fucking did it! The Clash were that feel. It still is there, whenever I turn on my CD player and listen to them. That feel was amazing, and is amazing. The Clash weren't just the feel though. Their lyrics shocked, amazed, and entranced people, depending on what camp you were from. There was a definite difference between The Clash and one of the other bands riding the storm of first-wave punk, The Sex Pistols. The Pistol's singer, Johnny Rotten, was almost cartoonishly provocative ("Food is for sissies"), which was amusing in its own way. But the Pistols, realizing their manager was only out to make money, broke up after only 18 months in the spotlight, while the Clash carried on.

The Clash also made their mark in music through their sound, absorbing reggae, funk, and even some hip-hop during their five-year career. While some younger members of the punk scene may cite Operation Ivy and Sublime as the first bands to incorporate ska and punk, that's bull****. The Clash were playing London Calling, and White Man in Hammersmith Palais about a decade before even Op. Ivy came in to the picture. The Clash's innovations were part of what made them what they were, and what has made them last so long, so that even now, nearly thirty years after their conception in 1977, kids are buying their albums and loving them. That group including me.

Maybe I'm cutting in short. Maybe you're reading this and thinking "That's it? That's all?", but you'd be right. That is it. Maybe I'll write about some other bands sometime. I probably will. But not right now.

I want to go listen to The Clash.

-Duncan