History YMMV / TheClash

* FaceOfTheBand: Strummer, and to a lesser extent Jones. Except if you're a groupie, then you'd want to go after Simonon. Topper is... less fortunate, despite having an excellent reputation on his drumming abilities.

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* 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.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The one-two punch of ''Music/LondonCalling'' and ''Music/{{Sandinista}}'' is generally considered the absolute apex of The Clash as a group. .

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The one-two punch of ''Music/LondonCalling'' and ''Music/{{Sandinista}}!'' is generally considered the absolute apex of The Clash as a group. .

** "I Fought the Law" was originally by Bobby Fuller in 1964, but The Clash's version is more well known.

* EpicRiff: The famous "London Calling" bassline, or the "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" riff are probably the best-known.

* GrowingTheBeard: Some American critics - including [[http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:m7xvad5kv8wn Allmusic Guide]] - believe that the band grew their beard in a case of ExecutiveMeddling GoneHorriblyRight, the US version of their self-titled debut album which replaced five album tracks with singles such as "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" and "Complete Control".

** The album ''Music/{{Sandinista}}'' features children [[note]]the sons and daughter of Mickey Gallagher, who contributed keyboards to various tracks on the album[[/note]] singing musically LighterAndSofter versions of two of their earlier songs, "Guns of Brixton" and "Career Opportunities". At the time the joke was just the novelty of children singing about [[AgeInappropriateArt non-child-friendly subject matter]] - nowadays this sounds like a parody of Music/KidzBop, a series of compilation where children sing cover versions of top 40 hits (many of which also have age inappropriate themes).

** And another hit song "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" was used by the Army to drive Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega out of the Vatican embassy he was hiding in during the 1989 invasion of Panama.
* OlderThanTheyThink: "Jail Guitar Doors" is a rewritten version of "Lonely Mother's Son" by Joe's previous band The 101'ers, with which he also covered "Junco Partner" which The Clash recorded too. Also, "1-2 Crush On You" not only was performed at The Clash's earliest gigs in 1976, but was written by Mick Jones as a teenager and played with his previous band. A minor example is also the cover of "Pressure Drop", the group recorded it for the "Complete Control" single though it did not appear until "English Civil War", four singles later.

* SampledUp: How many millennials can hear the chorus from "Straight To Hell" and not immediately get Music/{{MIA}}'s "Paper Planes" stuck in their head?
* SophomoreSlump: ''Give 'Em Enough Rope'' isn't bad, it just fails to deliver. This is because it contains a cover version of a well known song ("English Civil War"), a song with the same riff as a previous single ("Guns On The Roof", the single in question being "Clash City Rockers"), and "Drug Stabbing Time", which may be the worst thing (lyrically) the band ever recorded. The "commercial" production touches of Sandy Pearlman (best known for his work with Music/BlueOysterCult) also pissed off a lot of punk purists. However, the album's variety did pave the way for ''Music/LondonCalling'', their most popular album.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" was quite obviously inspired by the GarageRock standard "Little Latin Lupe Lu" (first recorded by The Righteous Brothers, but the version by The Kingsmen is the best-known).
* ToughActToFollow: ''Music/LondonCalling'' was hailed almost immediately as one of the greatest rock albums ever, which put them in a tight spot for the follow-up. They responded with ''Music/{{Sandinista}}'', which, while not as well-reviewed, was regarded as a noble attempt to expand their musical palette. But having produced what amounted to five albums-worth of notable music over the course of two years left them struggling to maintain that level of creativity, and ''Music/CombatRock'' and ''Music/CutTheCrap'' were doomed to live in their shadows.

** "Ivan Meets G.I Joe" is very obviously about the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, and is therefore dated. But nowadays, it's best known as the only song Topper Headon sang vocals on.

* MisaimedFandom: "Rock the Casbah" was popular among US Armed Forces operating in Iraq (both wars), much to the horror of the band.

* MemeticMutation: The {{mondegreen}} of [[http://dagobah.net/flash/taskbah.swf Lock the Taskbar]]

%%* ToughActToFollow: The ''Music/LondonCalling''/''Music/{{Sandinista}}'' double-whammy, or just ''London Calling''.

* GrowingTheBeard: Some American critics - including [[http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:m7xvad5kv8wn Allmusic Guide]] - believe that the band grew their beard in a case of ExecutiveMeddling GoneHorriblyRight, the US version of their self-titled debut album which replaced five album tracks with singles such as "White Man in Hammersmith Palias" and "Complete Control".

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The one-two punch of ''Music/LondonCalling'' and ''Music/{{Sandinista}}!'' are generally considered the absolute apex of The Clash as a group. .

%%* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
%%** ''Music/LondonCalling''.
%%** ''Music/{{Sandinista}}!''.
%%** Hell, the Clash are so good that even their rubbish albums have classic songs. See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROj_1R36lX0 "This Is England"]].

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** ''Music/LondonCalling''.
** ''Music/{{Sandinista}}!''.
** Hell, the Clash are so good that even their rubbish albums have classic songs. See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROj_1R36lX0 "This Is England"]].

* EarWorm:
** Shareef don't like it! Rockin' the casbah, rock the casbah...
** Girl, you've got to let me know, Should I stay or should I go?
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ertt3o1x65c Spanish Bombs]]! Yo te quiero y finito, yo te querda, o mi corazón ...
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUrNedh5Lqs WHITE, RIOT! I WANNA RIOT! WHITE, RIOT! A RIOT OF MY OWN.]]
** London Calling, to the UNDERWORRRRLD!
** You didn't stand by me... no not at all... you didn't stand by me... no way!
** 'Cause I'm running Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday... What have I done?
** I'm all lost in the supermarket, I can no longer shop happily...
** THIS IS ENGLAAAAND! THIS KNIFE OF SHEFFIELD STEEL!
** Somebody... GOT MURDEEEREEDDD, somebody's... DEAD FOREVEEERRRR

* ToughActToFollow: The ''Music/LondonCalling''/''Music/{{Sandinista}}'' double-whammy, or just ''London Calling''.

* FanonDiscontinuity: ''Cut the Crap''. Except for "This is England".

** THIS IS ENGLAAAAND! THIS KNIFE OF SHFFIELD STEEL!

** "Rock the Casbah" (Or Mustapha Dance) and "Should I Stay or Should I Go".
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ertt3o1x65c Spanish Bombs]]! Yo te quiero, oh mi corazón ...

* 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.

* GrowingTheBeard: Many critics - including [[http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:m7xvad5kv8wn Allmusic Guide]] - believe that the band grew their beard in a case of ExecutiveMeddling GoneHorriblyRight, the US version of their self-titled debut album which replaced five filler album tracks with singles such as "White Man in Hammersmith Palias" and "Complete Control".

** "Complete Control" has the line, "You're my [[VideoGame/GuitarHero guitar hero]]!" Funny enough as it is, but the song is also included in ''Guitar Hero: Aerosmith'', and is also downloadable for ''VideoGame/RockBand'', whose creators created the original ''Guitar Hero''.