History Trivia / TheClash

* CreatorCouple: Mick Jones once had a relationship with Ellen Foley, who sang backing vocals on "Hitsville U.K." and their turbulent relationship inspired Jones to write the very popular "Should I Stay or Should I Go". Thanks to the relationship, all four members of The Clash (along with members of Music/IanDuryAndThe Blockheads) appeared on Foley's album The Spirit of St. Louis and Jones produced it, credited as "my boyfriend".

* 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.

* CutAndPasteTranslation / ExecutiveMeddling: Upon hearing their debut self-titled album, the suits at their American record label decided that some of the songs would inspire people to rebel, and decided to remove 5 songs and replace them with some of the band's British singles like "Complete Control" and "White Man in Hammersmith Palais". Some critics think this is better, but they are CompletelyMissingThePoint as you could easily make another album of all the singles and B-Sides from this period.

* CanonDiscontinuity: For years, ''Cut the Crap'' was completely written out of the band's history following is disastrous reception when it was released in 1985. ''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.

* CanonDiscontinuity: For years, ''Cut the Crap'' was completely written out of the band's history following is disastrous reception when it was released in 1985. ''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 for 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.

* CanonDiscontinuity: For years, ''Cut the Crap'' was completely written out of the band's history following is disastrous reception when it was released in 1985. ''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 for 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.

* CanonDiscontinuity: For years, ''Cut the Crap'' was completely written out of the band's history following is disastrous reception when it was released in 1985. ''Westway to the World'' an otherwise comprehensive documentary on the band, stops when Mick Jones left the band in 1983, several biographies either glance it over entirely or give it a brief, begrudging mention and 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 for 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.

** After Mick Jones left the band, he joined the band General Public (but left shortly after they recorded their first album) and then formed Big Audio Dynamite, one of the more notable early AlternativeRock artists.

* HeAlsoDid: After Mick Jones left the band, he joined the band General Public (but left shortly after they recorded their first album) and then formed Big Audio Dynamite, one of the more notable early AlternativeRock artists.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: In late 2002, The Clash were announced as an inductee for the 2003 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The members of the band were planning to perform at the ceremony, and there were rumbling that the reunion wouldn't be a one-off, and that they were planning to get back together for a tour or an album. Unfortunately, Strummer suddenly died a little over a month after the induction announcement and ended any possibility of a reunion.

* DoingItForTheArt: The band wanted to provide more music for the fan's money, so they asked the CBS record label to sell the double LP ''Music/LondonCalling'' and the triple LP ''Music/{{Sandinista}}!'' for the price of just one LP. In both cases, CBS balked, but the Clash managed to make the low price happen anyway. In the case of ''London Calling'', they talked CBS into letting them release an LP with a free 12 inch single included--then, they pressed an entire second LP instead of the single before CBS realized what they were doing. There are conflicting accounts of ''Sandinista!'''s pressing: some sources say they repeated the ''London Calling'' trick, but others (including Joe Strummer himself) say the Clash simply compromised with CBS and surrendered the royalties from the first 200,000 copies sold.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Tim Curry does the chanting on "The Sound of Sinners."

* CutAndPasteTranslation / ExecutiveMeddling: Upon hearing their debut self-titled album, the suits at their American record label decided it had too much filler, and decided to remove 5 songs and replace them with some of the band's British singles like "Complete Control" and "White Man in Hammersmith Palais". It is almost universally agreed by critics that this actually vastly improved the album, though some also note that adding in the mostly mid-tempo and more polished singles dilutes the UK version's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth feel a bit.
** What makes this hugely ironic is that the song "Complete Control" is about just that kind of record company nonsense, something that the label clearly missed.

* RevivalByCommercialisation: The band used to hold a record for having the most UK hit singles without reaching the Top Ten, which [[ItsPopularNowItSucks many fans were proud of]]. Then "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" was used in a TV advert for Levis, released, and reached Number One.

** Paul Simonon joined up with [[Music/{{Gorillaz}} Damon Albarn]] and other musicians to form the supergroup TheGoodTheBadAndTheQueen.

* CutAndPasteTranslation / ExecutiveMeddling: Upon hearing their debut self-titled album, the suits at their American record label decided it had too much filler, and decided to remove 5 songs and replace them with some of the band's British singles like "Complete Control" and "White Man in Hammersmith Palias". It is almost universally agreed by critics that this actually vastly improved the album, though some also note that adding in the mostly mid-tempo and more polished singles dilutes the UK version's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth feel a bit.

* DoingItForTheArt: The band wanted to provide more music for the fan's money, so they asked the CBS record label to sell the double LP ''London Calling'' and the triple LP ''Sandinista!'' for the price of just one LP. In both cases, CBS balked, but the Clash managed to make the low price happen anyway. In the case of ''London Calling'', they talked CBS into letting them release an LP with a free 12 inch single included--then, they pressed an entire second LP instead of the single before CBS realized what they were doing. There are conflicting accounts of ''Sandinista!'''s pressing: some sources say they repeated the ''London Calling'' trick, but others (including Joe Strummer himself) say the Clash simply compromised with CBS and surrendered the royalties from the first 200,000 copies sold.

** Paul Simonon joined up with [[{{Gorillaz}} Damon Albarn]] and other musicians to form the supergroup TheGoodTheBadAndTheQueen.

* NamesTheSame: Mick Jones was also a guitarist in Foreigner.

** This is why a watch alarm can be heard in the second verse of "Rock The Casbah". Topper Headon's ''[[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard Dukes of Hazzard]]'' watch had accidentally went off, but the digitized version of the General Lee's horn matched the beat nicely, so they kept it in.

** This is why a watch alarm can be heard in the second verse of "Rock The Casbah". Topper Headon's ''DukesOfHazzard'' watch had accidentally went off, but the digitized version of the General Lee's horn matched the beat nicely, so they kept it in.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Upon hearing their debut self-titled album, the suits at their American record label decided it had too much filler, and decided to remove 5 songs and replace them with some of the band's British singles like "Complete Control" and "White Man in Hammersmith Palias". It is almost universally agreed by critics that this actually vastly improved the album, though some also note that adding in the mostly mid-tempo and more polished singles dilutes the UK version's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth feel a bit.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Upon hearing their debut self-titled album, the suits at their American record label decided it had too much filler, and decided to remove 5 songs and replace them with some of the band's British singles like "Remote Control" and "White Man in Hammersmith Palias". It is almost universally agreed by critics that this actually vastly improved the album, though some also note that adding in the mostly mid-tempo and more polished singles dilutes the UK version's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth feel a bit.