Trivia / Cut the Crap

• Alan Smithee: For some reason, Bernie Rhodes is credited as "Jose Unidos" on the final product. Many at the time of the album's release mistakenly believed that the name referred to Joe Strummer.
• Colbert Bump: At one point practically erased from history by fans and historians tripping over themselves to pretend it never happened, the album and its sordid backstory were introduced to many modern audiences by Todd in the Shadows's Trainwreckords internet video show, who had to do a fair bit of detective work to scrounge up footage and background materials for the episode.
• Creator Backlash: A more extreme example: Joe Strummer not only regretted making this album, but thoroughly hated making it, constantly fighting with the band's manager (and at that point, producer), Bernie Rhodes, over how the final product should sound. Unfortunately, Bernie won in the end.
• Creator Killer: The album not only killed the band but marked the last death rattle of the first wave of Punk Rock, at least as a mainstream force in popular music. The band was in turmoil by this point: drummer Topper Headon left due to drug problems and more importantly, lead guitarist and co-vocalist Mick Jones was fired due to both his attitude and his more eclectic musical influences clashing with the rest of the band, particularly their manager Bernie Rhodes and lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer. They were replaced with a trio of unknown musicians who contributed little, such that fans refer to this lineup as "The Clash Mk. II". The resulting album was more or less entirely the product of Rhodes (who produced it under the name "Jose Unidos," had little production experience, and co-wrote it with Strummer), and it sounded like a half-baked, poorly-produced ripoff of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Genesis, or any number of other synth-driven rock bands playing on MTV around that time. Even Strummer detests it, saying that he should never have let Rhodes fire Jones and that he stopped caring partway through recording the album. The Clash broke up for good shortly after, and while Strummer and Jones eventually reconciled, Strummer's death shortly afterwards ensured the band never reunited.
• Executive Meddling: Much of the end product can be attributed to this, specifically co-producer Bernard Rhodes (under the pseudonym "Jose Unidos") stuffing the album with drum machines and synthesizer hits in post-production in an attempt to modernize the album's sound and make it more commercial. Firsthand accounts state that the songs on the record were much better in their initial, more stripped-down live performances, which in combination with the final product renders the album a prime example of how bad production at the hands of nosey suits can hurt good songwriting as well as a significant example of What Could Have Been.
• Fan Edit: One of the rare musical examples: ''Mohawk Revenge'', also known as Cut The Crap Rebooted, is a completely redone version of the album by German musician Gerald Manns. It mixes Joe Strummer's original vocals with brand new arrangements based on the demo versions and live recordings (including painstakingly recreating the original live drums)
• Hostility on the Set:
  • The title was chosen because it fit the statement Joe Strummer was trying to make about getting back to the Three Chords and the Truth roots of punk, but it or some variant thereof was probably said at least a few times a day during the sessions, which began with Strummer and Paul Simonon kicking Mick Jones out of the band because he was getting to be too much of a rock star, followed by Topper Headon, who couldn't kick heroin long enough to record. Simonon might as well have left or been forced out as well, given his minimal contribution to what, on the face of things, looked like a Strummer solo album — most of the other instruments were played by unknown musicians the band had hired through anonymous ads in Melody Maker for a hundred pounds a week.
  • However, Strummer and manager Bernie Rhodes fought bitterly, with Rhodes as determined to make a more contemporary Clash that could keep riding the musical tides for another several years as Strummer was to get back to where they once belonged. Rhodes was able to win and record the album his way by stealing the master tapes and adding plenty of synthesizers and effects to most of them; Strummer was so disgusted that, late in production, he tried to get Jones to come back.
  • The result was an undignified end to a once-great band as bitter as The Beatles with Let It Be, Velvet Underground with Squeeze (1973), or The Allman Brothers Band with Win, Lose or Draw.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: For many years, the album was out of print due to it being a critical and commercial disaster which led to it being disowned by the band. The only way to listen to it was tracking down a physical copy or downloading off the internet. This was finally averted in 2020 when the album was made available for streaming.
• Troubled Production: The album was made after a troubled tour which resulted in the sacking of both Topper Headon for drug problems and Mick Jones for his prima donna attitude. With two major slots replaced, the band's sound drastically changed and the album was made with very little direction. It was actually Bernie Rhoades who bizarrely took over the musical direction, with the sound being more electronic than previous albums. The new members bumped heads with Rhoades' antics and band politics were so frail that by the end of production, The Clash was no more. It's often regarded as the worst in the band's discography, even if it's looked at as ahead of its time in some circles.
• What Could Have Been:
  • When discussing Cut the Crap, there lies the ever-present question of how the album might've turned out had Joe Strummer been allowed to go through with his Revisiting the Roots approach. The fact that the demos for the album are floating around online and are generally considered to be far better than the final versions of the songs only amplifies this. Or if the band actually had a competent producer. Midnight Oil had already shown that it was possible to mix cutting-edge production and political lyrics.
  • "This is England" was planned to feature a music video to tie in with its release as a single. However, this plan was thrown out when the band failed to show up.
• Working Title: Out of Control.

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