Whenever you mention the name The Clash, the eyes of people may open up, and straight away come out and say ‘Rock the casbah!’ or ‘London calling!’ but overall, certainly in this day and age, there may not be a lot of recognition of the name of the band. And yet they became one of the most influential leaders of the punk movement in the UK in the mid-to-late 1970’s. Indeed, it is amazing just how quickly everything seemed to come together for the band, and band that didn’t play its first live gig until July 1976, as support to the rising force that was the Sex Pistols. The band had multiple revolving doors of musicians coming in and out of the group, but once Joe Strummer came on board to perform lead vocals the group seemed to settle. In fact, they even eschewed live gigs for some time in order to practice themselves to the point of exhaustion, to make sure that they were as tight as they could be before returning to the stage.
Over the course of that six months, the band played a total of under 30 gigs, but each one seemed to be drawing wide fame. Indeed, by January 1977 they had been signed by CBS Records for 100,000 pounds - a remarkable amount of money, considering that to that point in time, they had never headlined their own show, they had always been the support act. It was later revealed that the deal still meant they had to pay for their own gigs, their own recordings, their own gear, so the money invested was not as extravagant to the band as people may believe. It did however allow them to get together and write and record what would be their debut album, one that somewhat amazingly predated the Sex Pistols album, a band that had been on the scene much longer than The Clash had been. The subject matter of the songs on the album would be pretty much as you would expect from a band in those days of 1977. From a famous brothel owner in “Janie Jones”, to raging against bureaucrats and the police in “Remote Control”, and the political and economic situation ravaging the UK, The Clash delved into their own lives and situation to come up with songs that spoke from their hearts. And while they were classified as a punk band at the beginning of that era, they were of a wider genre and influence than that. Not always for the better, but it was still the case.
“Janie Jones” opens the album well, while “Remote Control” was released by the record company as the second single without consulting the band, something they were furious about. Joe Strummer indeed thought it was one of the weakest songs on the album. I love how “I’m So Bored with the USA” was developed, given it was originally a song by Mick Jones called “I’m so Bored with You” about his then girlfriend, but Joe misheard the title and felt it was the USA, at which point the song was changed to reference what they felt was the Americanisation of the UK. The best song on the album is still the first single, “White Riot”, the perfect exemplification of a punk rock song. Short, sharp, fast, angry. Awesome.
The slower songs on the album (which I can only assume were played much faster at their live gigs) still come across great, with lyrics that spit and sting but without the real fast pace that for me makes the best punk songs. “Hate & War” certainly fits this description. Then there is “London’s Burning”, sung in full cockney mode chanting away, preaching in fact to the listener, and followed by “Career Opportunities” in a similar vein. Great stuff.
Still, the faster songs are the ones that I love the best. “What’s My name?”, “Deny”, “Cheat”, “Protex Blue”, “48 Hours” and “Garageland”. “Garageland” came from when a journalist wrote a review of a gig that The Clash played, and suggested, and I quote “The Clash are the kind of garage band who should be returned to the garage immediately, preferably with the engine running". And from that the song comes. Excellent.
However.... and here is the one bone of contention I have... I have never understood the fascination that many punk or punk-inspired bands from the UK had with reggae, and not only covering reggae songs in their live sets and on their albums, but then writing songs that were infused with reggae overtones as well. To me it has always been a difficult thing to come to terms with – probably because I generally like early punk music but have almost zero love for reggae music! Case in point is here on their debut album. The band realised that their album was quite short in length and they needed to find a way to increase that. So instead of coming up with a whole new slew of songs, they decided to cover “Police & Thieves”. Originally written by Junior Murvin, the song became an anthem in the UK in 1976 as the Notting Hill Carnival erupted into a riot. Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon were involved in the rioting, which inspired them to cover the song on the album, in a style that they called 'punk reggae', not 'white reggae'. I just call it ’crap reggae’. It goes for six minutes which is twice as long as the next longest song on the album. And given the amount of time I have spent on this, I guess you know where I stand.
My first experience with The Clash was when the radio single “Rock the Casbah” made the airwaves in Australia and was played incessantly for a six month period. From here a few of my friends became obsessed with the band, got all of their material, and began to share it around. And for me, I enjoyed parts of their music, and then not so much with other parts. Towards the end of 1985 I was passed on a copy of a punk mixed tape, collated by the older brother of one of my mates, that became a rite of passage for our group, introducing us to so many brilliant bands and songs. Far out I wish I still had it, or could at least remember all of the songs on it. I know for a fact “White Riot” was one of them, and that Stiff Little Fingers “Go For It” immediately followed it. Even now, I still expect “Go For It” to come on every time I hear “White Riot” play.
In regards to this album though, I honestly only listened to it the whole way through for the first time during the covid lockdowns that started two years ago. Now that may seem like madness, but for years and years the only Clash I had was a best of CD, and I listened to that a fair bit, and never really felt the urge to go out and check out the albums themselves. And then came lockdown, and with time to burn, I went back and checked them out. And this is the one that I have actually played the most of all of them. We even had a ‘vinyl listening day’ with my mates at the end of that first lockdown at my house, and one of my best mates brought his vinyl copy of this album to put on – and it made it just all the better hearing it on vinyl, and holding that cover in my hands. It felt right then.
And what I have discovered is just how good this album is. Perhaps if I HAD discovered it earlier, I may not have thought that. Right album for the right time – the world falling into chaos, political strife everywhere, corruption in politics, rioters and protestors in the street... maybe this album is the perfect soundtrack for the Covid pandemic after all.
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