two weeks from now is the anniversary of my seeing them in '82! I was very young and impressionable. a reggae band called the Mighty Invaders opened. They played "The Prisoner". We had to drive a couple of hours to get there. The guy I got a ride with had a Bush Tetras poster on his wall.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 05:54 (fourteen years ago) link
x-post. I had missed their 1978 DC debut as high schooler at mom and Dad's me could not get a car and it was a snowy night and the show was in a kinda bad neighborhood, blah blah blah. Bo Diddley opened for them on that tour. So in September 1979 when then 18 year-old me was just starting at the U of Md outside DC and the Clash were coming (with Screaming Jay Hawkins opening). I was there. Early. I went there with friends and met others who would become my best buds to this day. The sound was horrible in that ancient 1,800 seat (?)concrete gym, but the Clash had so much energy and charisma. Joe had various stickers on his guitar. We stood up front jammed in with many on the floor. It was hot and sweaty there but that did not matter.
The show so impressed us that come December (I think) when the Clash returned for a US tour that did not include DC, we did a roadtrip to Philly to see them. There they played some of the soon to be or just released London Calling album, which aggravated some punkers there. We stuck around afterwards and met the band and Ian Dury who was touring with them. They did not want all the food spread that was there for them and told us to take some of it with us for our ride back to DC. We did (plus a bottle of rum--that we barely touched but treasured as "the Clash rum.").
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 13:44 (fourteen years ago) link
That is really cool. Great story.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 13:48 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EUVImnHr48
― flying squid attack (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 30 September 2009 13:56 (fourteen years ago) link
I've seen tons of gigs since then, I've read Simon Reynolds and others badmouth and critique the Clash for various reasons, but those 2 gigs, especially that first one I saw, still retain a mystical memorable quality to me. I remember us going back to a dorm and just sitting there on the floor drained but ecstatic. Also, context-wise, the Clash were far from being a band that would get played on the radio then.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 13:57 (fourteen years ago) link
OTM. Hard to overstate the impact of the early singles and the first album, which still sound shockingly raw to me, even when stacked up against the big names of the first wave of UK punk.
― Soukesian, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 14:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm about three feet away from being immortalized on the back cover of London Calling--that pic of them at the Agora in Atlanta. We were trying but couldn't get any closer to the stage. I've always wondered if that pic was cropped and I made the original photo. The band was like a runaway freight train. I'll always rank seeing them as a highlight.
― ellaguru, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 15:36 (fourteen years ago) link
September '79 is when I saw them, too -- St. Paul (MN) Civic Center, with David Johansen and The Undertones. 1,000 people (probably every punk and new waver in the Twin Cities at the time) in a 16,000 seat hockey arena made the sound simultaneously tinny and cavernous. I wish I had pushed up closer to the stage. I can really only remember "Bored With the USA" and "White Riot." Yeah, they were doing quite a few unfamiliar-to-me "London Calling" songs on that tour. Quite honestly I thought Johansen (doing basically the set that's on the "Live It Up" album) came across much better.
― Such A Hilbily (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 30 September 2009 16:18 (fourteen years ago) link
wow. curmudgeon and ellagru, Dan...thanks for sharing! I love hearing about that stuff. And curmudgeon, your story probably highlights one of the big reasons that Clash are so so C in my book: I never got to see them, or even Joe ever, but the stories I heard, and the stories I read from people about the way they were with their fans, those reams and reams of stories about them giving food to kids, letting them crash, giving them rides, hanging out and talking to them...that's what keeps them from being crusty punk cliches for me. Aside from the music of course. Because there's such a huge oral history that goes with those guys, because SO many people got close to them in those early years, and those people help them still feel, I dunno...real? Sorry. Waxing lyrical too much.
― VegemiteGrrrl, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 16:23 (fourteen years ago) link
worst "2001 ilx" way to start off a thread ever
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 30 September 2009 20:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Only discovered "Bankrobber" last year but MY GOD, what a song, a parallel-universe "I Fought The Law".
― Tantrum The Cat, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 21:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Classic, easy. What I find most funny about this band is how my opinion has pretty much flip-flopped on the various sides of their work since I first heard 'em. When I got really into the Clash at age 14, I could only be bothered with the first three albums and couldn't stand Sandinista in the least. Now I tend to shy away from the more classic "punk" stuff (though its good at times) and really like the dubbier experiments. Listening to "Mustapha Dance" right now and loving it.
― rendezvous then i'm through with HOOS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 23 February 2011 17:55 (thirteen years ago) link
And as I understand it, "Sandinista!" was written almost entirely in the studio, as the members filtered in and out between NYC distractions. Talk about a band at the peak of its powers, spilling over with ideas. Rarely get credit for being early (white, British) hip-hop adopters, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 23 February 2011 18:20 (thirteen years ago) link
revisiting the first album...this will sound mega-goofball of me but it gives me goosebumps. It's just so 'turn everything up, go for broke'. Love it.
― VegemiteGrrl, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 05:48 (thirteen years ago) link
ugh at all the 'strummer can't sing' comments on this thread.
i mean give me 20 hours of joe barking the phone book over two seconds of jeff fuckin' buckley.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 09:45 (thirteen years ago) link
joe would have loved jeff tho
― Mark G, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 09:52 (thirteen years ago) link
classic! (ecxept cut the crap obv)
― nakamura, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 11:00 (thirteen years ago) link
It's better than its rep.
― Mark G, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 11:08 (thirteen years ago) link
So my 17-year-old son likes The Clash's London Calling cd but this slightly older NPR intern is lukewarm about it (see below). They should get rid of this kid:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2011/02/11/133631581/youve-never-heard-london-calling
here's part of his review:
Ultimately, London Calling feels like a time-and-place album. If I'd been a teenager when this record dropped, I probably would sing its praises like so many others have. It's definitely a great entry point to one of the most important bands and periods in the last 30 years, and I plan on checking out the rest of the group's discography. I'm not giving up on the band, but I've come to love the subsequent bands London Calling inspired more than the album itself.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Um, that reads OK to me.
That's a bit like my take on "Big Star"...
― Mark G, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:15 (thirteen years ago) link
What bands did it inspire? I preferred the Clash when they were a punk band personally. Coupla later singles aside.
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:18 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, you have yer Alarm, yer Manics, oh god...
― Mark G, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, I'd be curious to hear who he likes that were inspired by The Clash. If his only answer is Green Day, then I know to not take him seriously.
― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Exactly, I don't think it inspired anyone good
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:22 (thirteen years ago) link
It also inspired a lot of good bands that sound nothing like that album, so hey
― Mark G, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:25 (thirteen years ago) link
No Doubt, sorry, no doubt
― Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Rancid?
― You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. (hugo), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 16:17 (thirteen years ago) link
What about stuff like the Angelic Upstarts? Though maybe that's not what this kid is talking about. I'm thinking there were a ton of bands that sprang up in 77 from the Clash/Pistols emergence?
― VegemiteGrrl, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 16:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I hear The Replacements in "Four Horsemen" and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists in "Lost in the Supermarket." Other songs sound like they're laying the groundwork for the influx of pop-punk acts that spent the last two decades on the extreme-sports and music Warped Tour.
― kkvgz, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:14 (thirteen years ago) link
Grr at "if I'd been a teenager when this record dropped..."
(...unless he means "dropped onto my old-fashioned turntable", I guess)
― I was bored/trolling one day (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:19 (thirteen years ago) link
The amount of music in London Calling is staggering, but the songs aren't all winners. For every "Spanish Bombs" or "Death or Glory," there's a "Rudie Can't Fail" or "Jimmy Jazz."
RIGHT THAT'S IT
― VegemiteGrrl, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:35 (thirteen years ago) link
I think I want to kill him. Not because he's not enthused, but...maybe it's the tone? agh.
Rudie and Jimmy aren't winners? GTFO.
― Hardcore Bangage (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Light your torches, people
― VegemiteGrrl, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:43 (thirteen years ago) link
Nah, I just clicked the link and read the whole thing. He's basically alright.
― Hardcore Bangage (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm okay with him being lukewarm
but Rudie Can't Fail...
I just can't
― VegemiteGrrl, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Tom's recent "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" is worth a read for the intelligent anti-Clash sentiments in the comments.
― Hey Look More Than Five Years Has Passed And You Have A C (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 17:52 (thirteen years ago) link
if only he'd lived long enough to hear him :(
― side splitting genital based username (vdgna) (sic), Thursday, 14 April 2011 02:37 (thirteen years ago) link
i hope this kid gives 'london calling' a few more spins. i mean, i didn't love it all the first time i heard it either.
i'm sure the clash have had all sorts of influence on bands that don't actually sound like them, but most of the ones who actually tried to act and look like the clash were indeed pretty shitty, yes.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 14 April 2011 03:12 (thirteen years ago) link
― Hardcore Bangage (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, April 13, 2011 1:41 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― ENBB, Thursday, 14 April 2011 03:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm still reeling over Rudie
It's just so sad, I want to help him...or beat him senseless, i can't decide
― VegemiteGrrl, Thursday, 14 April 2011 03:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Tom's piece is fantastic and the comments cover the waterfront nicely. As someone who came to the Clash late and not wholeheartedly, I always felt that having reservations was crucial to liking them, and that the band themselves (or at least Strummer) would probably concur. They're a band who tried so many things that they were bound to fuck up some of them, but that gave their failures a certain nobility. People who profess to hate them seem to hate the myth more than the music.
― Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Thursday, 14 April 2011 07:50 (thirteen years ago) link
watching clash live on youtube - they really seemed to not care how they sounded that much and it was still awesome - how inspiring
― The Cheerfull Turtle (Latham Green), Thursday, 9 August 2012 19:14 (eleven years ago) link
I love the way they look like they're going to leap into the crowd and start whaling on them, esp Joe
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 9 August 2012 20:13 (eleven years ago) link
The Clash are probably my favorite live band ever, but is there any doubt that they did too many drugs in the studio?
― Everything You Like Sucks, Thursday, 9 August 2012 20:27 (eleven years ago) link
As someone who came to the Clash late and not wholeheartedly, I always felt that having reservations was crucial to liking them, and that the band themselves (or at least Strummer) would probably concur. They're a band who tried so many things that they were bound to fuck up some of them, but that gave their failures a certain nobility. People who profess to hate them seem to hate the myth more than the music.― Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Thursday, April 14, 2011 7:50 AM (1 year ago)
― Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Thursday, April 14, 2011 7:50 AM (1 year ago)
this really sums it up nicely!
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 9 August 2012 20:46 (eleven years ago) link
I've been learning all of "London Calling" with my guitar teacher, track by track, which has forced a closer listen. Remarkable how much chorus effect is on almost all the guitars, also how so many of the simple chord progressions support some awesome arrangements (organ, horns, percussion, etc.). Also amazed to discover that, for some inexplicable reason, "Lost in the Supermarket" seems to be in open E tuning, which is weird and relatively rare outside of the Allman Bros. and, I dunno, "She Talks to Angels" by the Black Crowes.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 9 August 2012 20:59 (eleven years ago) link
Ooh Ooh Ooh, Complete CLASH POLL (that's a laugh) - ILX Artist Poll #41 (?) - Voting Ends July 9th at Midnight (EST)
― Gukbe, Thursday, 27 June 2013 02:19 (ten years ago) link
super-mad to be travelling during Clash poll and disco poll and Neptunes results
― pink, fleshy, and gleeful (sic), Thursday, 27 June 2013 14:43 (ten years ago) link
Spanish bums
― calstars, Saturday, 25 July 2015 10:53 (eight years ago) link