History Music / TheClash

The Clash, AKA "the only band that matters," was a member of the original British PunkRock movement of TheSeventies known as the "Class of 77". The band stands with the likes of Music/TheRamones and The Music/SexPistols in the pantheon of definitive punk rock bands. Unlike their peers at the time, however, the Clash was no firm believer of the pure ThreeChordsAndTheTruth ideology: they were not afraid of experimenting with a diverse range of musical styles, and as such were critically acclaimed musically. Though highly adept at no-nonsense, stripped-down punk rock, their eclectic tastes and experimental approach led them to frequently infuse their sound with elements of reggae, dub, ska, funk, pop-rock, New Wave, and soul, among others. They were also simultaneously the second [[RapRock rock band to release a rap]] track ("The Magnificent Seven", released a few months after Music/{{Blondie}}'s "Rapture") and the first British group to perform rap music.

The Clash, AKA "the only band that matters," was a member of the original British PunkRock movement of TheSeventies known as the "Class of 77". The band stands with the likes of Music/TheRamones and The Music/SexPistols in the pantheon of definitive punk rock bands. Unlike their peers at the time, however, the Clash was no firm believer of the pure ThreeChordsAndTheTruth ideology: they were not afraid of experimenting with a diverse range of musical styles, and as such were critically acclaimed musically. Though highly adept at no-nonsense, stripped-down punk rock, their eclectic tastes and experimental approach led them to frequently infuse their sound with elements of reggae, dub, ska, funk, pop-rock, New Wave, and soul, among others. They were also simultaneously the second [[RapRock rock band to release a rap]] track, "The Magnificent Seven" in 1981 (a few months after Music/{{Blondie}}'s "Rapture"), and the first British group to perform rap music.

-->--"The Guns of Brixton"

With politicised songs and committed lifestyles ensuring their fame amongst punk rockers, the Clash was unique for their relative musical sophistication, and thus are often thought as "a punk band with a rock-n-roll sound." The band's 1979 album ''Music/LondonCalling'' is often hailed as one of the finest punk rock records (and rock/popular music in general) ever recorded -- it is the highest-rated punk album of all time in ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] list, i.e. the popular yardstick. It was released in December 1979 in the UK and January 1980 in the USA and was separately declared to be '''best album of the 1970s''' by the British magazine ''Q'' and '''best album of the 1980s''' by Rolling Stone in the USA.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clashessential.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: The classic line-up of The Clash. From left to right: Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon, and Mick Jones.]]

The Clash, AKA "the only band that matters," was a member of the original British PunkRock movement of TheSeventies known as the "Class of 77". The band stands with the likes of Music/TheRamones and The Music/SexPistols in the pantheon of definitive punk rock bands. Unlike their peers at the time, however, the Clash was no firm believer of the pure ThreeChordsAndTheTruth ideology: they were not afraid of experimenting with a diverse range of musical styles, and as such were critically acclaimed musically. In addition to no-nonsense stripped-down punk rock, the Clash was known for their eclectic tastes and experimental approach, besides punk being influenced by and performing reggae, dub, ska, funk, pop-rock, New Wave, and soul, among others. They were also simultaneously the second [[RapRock rock band to release a rap]] track, "The Magnificent Seven" in 1981 (a few months after Music/{{Blondie}}'s "Rapture"), and the first British group to perform rap music.

* RefrainFromAssuming: The ''"Stand by me"'' chorus of "Train in Vain" got so bad that in the States the single was released as ''"Train in Vain (Stand by Me)."'' The song itself is a last-minute addition and was not featured in the track listing, which makes things worse.

The Clash, AKA "the only band that matters," was a member of the original British PunkRock movement of TheSeventies known as the "Class of 77". The band stands with the likes of Music/TheRamones and The Music/SexPistols in the pantheon of definitive punk rock bands. Unlike their peers at the time, however, the Clash was no firm believer of the pure ThreeChordsAndTheTruth ideology: they were not afraid of experimenting with a diverse range of musical styles, and as such were critically acclaimed musically. In addition to no-nonsense stripped-down punk rock, the Clash was known for their eclectic tastes and experimental approach, besides punk being influenced by and performing reggae, dub, ska, funk, pop-rock, New Wave and soul, among others. They were also simultaneously the second [[RapRock rock band to release a rap]] track, "The Magnificent Seven" in 1981 (a few months after Music/{{Blondie}}'s "Rapture"), and the first British group to perform rap music.

Following the release of ''Combat Rock'' in 1982, guitarist Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon were fired, the former due to CreativeDifferences with Strummer and the latter due to a heroin addiction. Following this, the band's lineup was radically revamped, and manager Bernard Rhodes took control of their musical direction, leading to ''Music/CutTheCrap'' in 1985, an album that flopped upon release and was heavily derided by fans, critics, and Strummer himself. Strummer's dissatisfaction with the state of the Clash led him to disband it in 1986 after a ten-year career; the members later went onto other projects. Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite and Strummer embarked on a solo career (including some time fronting Music/ThePogues) before founding the Mescaleros. Paul Simonon has become pretty well-known in the London fine art scene, and contributed to the Music/{{Gorillaz}} album ''Plastic Beach''. There were sporadic collaborations and ad-hoc performances by various combinations of the original lineup but no full reunion ever came about and the death of Strummer in 2002 laid to rest any hope of a reunion.

* CanonDiscontinuity: For years, ''Cut the Crap'' was completely written out of the band's history. ''Westway to the World'', an official and otherwise comprehensive documentary on the band from 2000, stops when Mick Jones left the band in 1983. Likewise, several biographies on the band either glance over the album entirely or give it a brief, begrudging mention, and for years, none of its songs appeared on the band's hits collections. While the album still has a rock-bottom reputation, a reprieve had been given to its well-regarded lead single "This is England" by the time the new millennium rolled around. It appears on the 2003 ''The Essential Clash'' compilation, the 2006 ''Singles Box'' set and the 2007 ''The Singles'' greatest hits album.

* CoverVersion: e.g. "Brand New Cadillac", "Police On My Back", "Police and Thieves", "Every Little Bit Hurts" and "I Fought the Law."

* DullSurprise: "One Emotion" was inspired by watching Creator/RogerMoore on television (either a Film/JamesBond film a rerun of ''Series/TheSaint'') and the guys noting that he only had one emotion.

* GarageBand: Referenced in, appropiately enough, "Garageland" ("We're a garage band/We come from Garageland")

* NewSoundAlbum: ''Music/LondonCalling'' had some tentative steps beyond the punk/rock sphere, but ''Music/{{Sandinista}}'' was a full-blown GenreRoulette album experimenting with dub, rap, reggae, disco, twee pop, gospel and soul influences. Later, ''Cut The Crap'' was intended as a NewSoundAlbum taking them ''back'' to their original punk sound, but it was a [[CanonDiscontinuity dismal failure.]]

* RapRock: "The Maginificent Seven" made them TropeMakers along with Music/{{Blondie}}'s "Rapture". Also see "This Is Radio Clash".
* RefrainFromAssuming: The ''"Stand by me"'' chorus of "Train in Vain" got so bad that in the States the single was released as ''"Train in Vain (Stand by Me)."'' The song itself is a last-minute addition and was not featured at the track listing, which makes things worse.
* TheRival: The press tended to pit them against the Music/SexPistols (mostly due to the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, with The Clash being seen towards idealism and the Pistols towards cynicism), until the latter broke up in early 1978.

** In the very beginning of their cover of "Police and Thieves", Joe Strummer can be heard shouting "Goin' through a tight wind!", quoting "Blitzkrieg Bop" by Music/TheRamones. Interestingly, this was only a year after the song had came out.

---> "You owe me a move say the bells of St. Groove\\

* SopranoAndGravel: Two-male variant. Strummer was a baritone and, especially on the early records, sang his lines in a rough, growly manner. Jones lies on the border of tenor and countertenor, and his vocals were much cleaner as a rule.

* WhiteDwarfStarlet: "The Right Profile" is a tragi-comical version of this with regards of Creator/MontgomeryClift.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** ''Sandinista!'' is completely different from the rest of their albums, including various songs in [[GenreRoulette different genres:]]
*** "Hitsville U.K.", a sweet love-letter to the then new independent label music scene which name checks a couple of the big players (Rough Trade, Creator/{{Factory|Records}}, Small Wonder and Fast Product) and features lead vocals by Mick and his then-girlfriend, American actress Ellen Foley. The song's style is completely different from their other work and is often considered to be a forebearer to the twee pop genre.
*** "Lose This Skin" was written by, sung by, and prominently featured the violin playing of Tymon Dogg, with The Clash acting as his backing band.

* AbsenteeActor: Paul Simonon did not work on ''Cut the Crap'', despite being a member at the time of its release.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Most of the straightforward PunkRock tunes that make up their first two albums (and show up occasionally thereafter) are in the 5-6 range. The rest of their work covers the entire bottom half of the spectrum- they could (and did) play in a ''huge'' variety of genres.

When I am fitter, say the bells of Gary [=Glitter=]\\

* TheSouthpaw: Joe Strummer is a lefty but played guitar right-handed for the simple reason that he was taught that way. However, he did later claim that playing right-handed probably caused him to be 'underdeveloped as a guitarist'.[[note]]There's actually no basis for the idea that lefties who play right-handed are in any way handicapped: Mark Knopfler, Gary Moore, Robert Fripp, Joe Perry and Duane Allman are all lefties who play right-handed, and are considered great players.[[/note]]

*** "Hitsville U.K.", a sweet love-letter to the then new independent label music scene which name checks a couple of the big players (Rough Trade, Factory, Small Wonder and Fast Product) and features lead vocals by Mick and his then-girlfriend, American actress Ellen Foley. The song's style is completely different from their other work and is often considered to be a forebearer to the twee pop genre.

With politicised songs and committed lifestyles ensuring their fame amongst punk rockers, the Clash was unique for their relative musical sophistication, and thus are often thought as "a punk band with a rock-n-roll sound." The band's 1979 album ''Music/LondonCalling'' is often hailed as one of the finest punk rock records (and rock/popular music in general) ever recorded -- it is the highest-rated punk album of all time in ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] list, i.e. the popular yardstick. It was released in December 1979 in the UK and January 1980 in the USA and was separately declared to be '''best album of the 1970s''' by the British magazine ''Q'' and '''best album of the 1980s''' by Rolling Stone in the USA. The band's reputation of not being total assholes in interviews and their strong respect for their audience only adds to the vast amount of richly deserved respect directed at the group.

* RapRock: "The Maginificent Seven" made them TropeMakers along with Music/{{Blondie}}'s "Rapture".

* TheSouthpaw: Joe Strummer is a lefty but played guitar right-handed for the simple reason that he was taught that way. However, he did later admit that playing right-handed probably caused him to be 'underdeveloped as a guitarist'.

* The Southpaw: Joe Strummer is a lefty but played guitar right-handed for the simple reason that he was taught that way. However, he did later admit that playing right-handed probably caused him to be 'underdeveloped as a guitarist'.

* 1977 - '''''Music/TheClashAlbum'''''

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: After all, they were part of the punk rock movement. By the time of ''London Calling'', they had largely ditched the "Three Chords" aspect in favour of wide-ranging genre experimentation but maintained the commitment to everyday life and political engagement.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: After all, they were part of the punk rock movement. By the time of ''London Calling'', they had largely ditched this aesthetic.

* TheNewRockAndRoll: "Rock the Casbah" is about a Shareef who tries to outlaw rock and roll, even resorting to armed combat. It doesn't work.

Following the release of ''Combat Rock'' in 1982, guitarist Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon were fired, the former due to CreativeDifferences with Strummer and the latter due to a heroin addiction. Following this, the band's lineup was radically revamped, and manager Bernard Rhodes took control of their musical direction, leading to ''Cut the Crap'' in 1985, an album that flopped upon release and was heavily derided by fans, critics, and Strummer himself. Strummer's dissatisfaction with the state of the Clash led him to disband it in 1986 after a ten-year career; the members later went onto other projects. Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite and Strummer embarked on a solo career (including some time fronting Music/ThePogues) before founding the Mescaleros. Paul Simonon has become pretty well-known in the London fine art scene, and contributed to the Music/{{Gorillaz}} album ''Plastic Beach''. There were sporadic collaborations and ad-hoc performances by various combinations of the original lineup but no full reunion ever came about and the death of Strummer in 2002 laid to rest any hope of a reunion.

!!Principal Members (Founding members in '''bold'''):

!!Studio and Live Discography:

* 1977 - ''Music/TheClashAlbum''

* 1978 - ''Give 'Em Enough Rope''

* 1979 - ''Music/LondonCalling''
* 1980 - ''Music/{{Sandinista}}''
* 1982 - ''Combat Rock''
* 1985 - ''Music/{{Cut the Crap}}''

* StageNames: John Mellor is Joe Strummer. Original drummer Terry Chimes was credited in the liner notes for ''The Clash'' as "Tory Crimes", [[TakeThat a shot at]] [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem the Conservative Party in Britain]], who are also known as the Tories.

* 1985 - ''Cut the Crap''

* 1979 - ''The Cost Of Living''

* 1980 - ''[[Music/{{Sandinista}} Sandinista!]]''

* 1985 - ''Cut The Crap''

* AbsenteeActor: Paul Simonon did not work on ''Cut The Crap'', despite being a member at the time of its release.
* AddledAddict: This sadly happened to Headon by the time ''Combat Rock'' was released. This was the main reason why he left the band in 1982.

* {{Angrish}}: Near the end of "The Right Profile"

* TheBandMinusTheFace: Jones, who was the Face Of The Band along with Strummer, got sacked in the mid-'80s.

* BourgeoisBohemian: The band got some flack for this once they became superstars since their lyrics about the WorkingClassHero (or satire thereof) didn't reflect their circumstances. Notably, when the band's manager Bernie Rhodes bought a huge white mansion, some fans parodied the lyrics to "White Riot": "''White mansion, I wanna mansion/White mansion, a mansion of my own''"

* BritishTeeth: Jones is infamous for, and has a healthy sense of humor about, his absolutely horrid teeth.
** In concert with his current band Carbon/Silicon, Jones will often tell the story of a childhood accident that led to the discovery that all (not some, ''all'') of his baby teeth were rotten and had to be pulled lest he contract a blood infection. He cites this as the reason his permanent teeth grew in the way they did.
** Joe Strummer's teeth were....not exactly the nicest, either.
* [[TheCameo Celebrity Cameo]]: Creator/AllenGinsberg on "Ghetto Defendant."

* CherubicChoir: The ''Sandinista!'' version of "Career Opportunities."
** Also the version of "The Guns of Brixton" at the end of the ''Sandinista!'' song "Broadway"

* DespairEventHorizon: Ultimately the firing of Topper Headon and Mick Jones after ''Combat Rock'' effectively split the group, and whilst Strummer and Simonon did recruit replacements to record a final LP, they were not happy with the recordings yet these were manipulated by their manager Bernie Rhodes whilst Strummer was on holiday, and they were put out under the uncommercial title of ''Cut The Crap'' (The group wanted to call it ''Out Of Control''). Ultimately, the death of Strummer's parents during this recording period made Strummer lose interest in the group and they quietly fizzled out. Mick Jones' contemporary group Big Audio Dynamite was more successful, however.
* DownerEnding: The band itself had one.

* EasterEgg: An accidental one. "Train in Vain" was meant to be released as a promo for NME magazine. When that fell through, they quickly added it to ''London Calling'' after the packaging had already been printed. As a result, "Train in Vain" wasn't listed on the album cover. This didn't stop it from becoming one of the band's best-known and well-loved songs.

* [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Everything Sounds Sexier In Spanish]]: "Spanish Bombs" includes "''yo te quiero y finito/Yo te quierda, oh mi corazón''"[[note]]This seems to translate to "I love you and forever/I've left you, oh my heart," [[/note]]
** Don't forget "Should I Stay or Should I Go"...
* {{Foreshadowing}}: That Mick Jones was on his way out should have been made obvious by how his face is covered for the majority of the video for "Rock The Casbah."

* "We're a GarageBand/We come from Garageland"
* GenreRoulette: ''London Calling'', ''Sandinista!'' and ''Combat Rock'': Reggae, PunkRap, proto-Twee Pop, Alternative Dance, Rockabilly, Funk, Ska, Dub, Calypso, Gospel, Acoustic rock, and even some experimental tracks full of random noises...
** ''Sandinista'', especially: not only is it a triple album, giving much more room, but it pushes the envelope even further than ''London Calling'', switching between genres every three minutes. It's also the only album to feature all four members on lead vocals at some point: Topper on "Ivan Meets G.I Joe" and Paul on "The Crooked Beat".

* GratuitousSpanish: "Spanish Bombs"; "Should I Stay or Should I Go".

* HonorAmongThieves: The premise of the single 'Bankrobber'

* {{Jerkass}}: Averted for an early punk rock band, usually seen as more authentic and violent in their rebelliousness. A good example would be to compare [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVygiX0KEEw their Tom Snyder appearance]] (in which the band has time to be goofy ''and'' give serious and thoughtful answers to Snyder's questions) and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OirTyITUJ1Y John Lydon's]] (who was antagonistic to the host, resulting in one of the most awkward interviews ever taped).
** The were known for being very devoted to their fans, from their attempts to get albums released with extra tracks so it'd stay cheap to their efforts to keep the bouncers off their fans at their 1978 Glasgow gig (culminating in the arrest of Strummer and Simonon) to trying to keep the situation under control in Belfast in 1977 after a show was cancelled to helping fans sneak into gigs.
* LastSecondWordSwap: "Cheat's" line "You're a fool if you don't know that, so hit the road you stupid fool" would probably have ended with 'twat' but it was changed.

* LyricalDissonance: Is there a jollier-sounding song about hardcore drug addiction than "Hateful"?
** They tended to enjoy this trope, especially on ''London Calling'': "Death Or Glory" is an upbeat little number about, uh, how even the toughest rebels eventually sell out.

** "Somebody Got Murdered" from Sandinista is the record's most commercial track from a musical standpoint. From a lyrical standpoint, however, it is definitely not.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Most of the straightforward PunkRock tunes that make up their first two albums(and show up occasionally thereafter) are in the 5-6 range. The rest of their work covers the entire bottom half of the spectrum- they could (and did) play in a ''huge'' variety of genres.
* MusicIsPolitics: "Complete Control"

* NewSoundAlbum: ''Music/LondonCalling'' had some tentative steps beyond the punk/rock sphere, but ''[[Music/{{Sandinista}} Sandinista!]]'' was a full-blown GenreRoulette album experimenting with dub, rap, reggae, disco, twee pop, gospel and soul influences. Later, ''Cut The Crap'' was intended as a NewSoundAlbum taking them ''back'' to their original punk sound, but it was a [[CanonDiscontinuity dismal failure.]]

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: A schoolboy turned pub rocker, (Joe) a young man whose ambition in life is to be a rock star, (Mick) a handsome art student who had never picked up any instrument until he joined the band, (Paul) and a prodigal jazz, funk and soul drummer (Topper) form a punk rock band. Surprisingly, it works ''perfectly.''
* RapRock: TropeMakers along with {{Music/Blondie}}.

* TheRival: The Music/SexPistols, until they broke up in early 1978.
* RockersSmashGuitars: On the album cover of Music/LondonCalling. Of course, the hilarity is that ''London Calling'''s cover is actually of Paul Simonon smashing his bass.

* ShoutOut: At about 2:37 in "Remote Control", you can hear Strummer saying "I am a [[Series/DoctorWho Dalek]]!", followed by "I am a robot!" and "I O-BEY!", all in the Dalek's usual speech patterns.
** In the very beginning of their cover of "Police And Thieves", Joe Strummer can be heard shouting [[Music/TheRamones "Goin' through a tight wind!"]]. Interestingly, this was only a year after "Blitzkrieg Bop" from ''Music/TheRamones (1976)'' itself came out.
** "The Right Profile", about Creator/MontgomeryClift, starts "Say, where did I see this guy? In ''Film/RedRiver''. Or ''Film/APlaceInTheSun''. Maybe ''Film/TheMisfits''. Or ''Film/FromHereToEternity''."
** The cover of ''London Calling'' was a direct reference to the cover of Music/ElvisPresley's debut album ''[[Music/ElvisPresleyTheAlbum Elvis Presley]]'' (1956).

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: "Hitsville U.K.", a sweet love-letter to the then new independent label music scene which name checks a couple of the big players (Rough Trade, Factory, Small Wonder and Fast Product) and features lead vocals by Mick and his then-girlfriend, American actress Ellen Foley. The song's style is completely different from their other work and is often considered to be a forebearer to the twee pop genre.
** ''Sandinista!'', the album "Hitsville U.K." is on, is itself completely different from the rest of their albums, including various songs in [[GenreRoulette different genres.]]
*** Of particular note on ''Sandinista!'' is the song "Lose This Skin," which was written by, sung by, and prominently featured the violin playing of Tymon Dogg, with The Clash acting as his backing band.

* UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar: The song "Spanish Bombs", from ''London Calling'', was dedicated to the Republican side of the conflict.

* VocalTagTeam: Joe Strummer and Mick Jones went on a song-by-song basis on every album (except their final album ''Cut The Crap'', which was entirely Strummer due to Jones' firing). Although Strummer got the majority of songs, Jones sang lead on some of their most recognizable tunes (notably "Train in Vain" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?").
* [[AWildRapperAppears A Wild Poet Appears]]: Creator/AllenGinsberg on "Ghetto Defendant". This probably would be a proto-version of the trope if Music/{{Blondie}} and The Clash themselves weren't already on that
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: "The Right Profile" is a tragi-comical version of this.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Joe and Mick eventually. Apparently, by the end Mick hated talking to Joe so much he'd just post his lyrics through Joe's letterbox and then walk home again.
** Happily, the two reconnected after Joe broke up the Clash in 1986 and they sporadically collaborated with one another over the years. Joe produced Big Audio Dynamite's ''No. 10 Upping St'' album and co-wrote several of its songs. They even performed together at a benefit concert in November 2002 just before Joe's death as a warm-up for the planned Clash reunion that sadly never happened.