The Genius Of The Clash

Long time no see huh...

So, it’s now the 6th of September as I write this and if you have eyes you will see that the last post before this one is from, well, the 10th of May...bad form.

But anyway, back to business, today I'd like to ramble on about The Clash.

You may have heard about the Clash, they wrote that 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' song, ya know? Or maybe just your Dad moans on about them every time you put your 'ace' new Lady GaGa record on because they were a 'real' band not like people these days...

Well sorry, but Dad has a point. He'll probably go as far as saying that the Clash were the 'only band that ever mattered'. I wouldn't go that far, mainly because they were over before I was born so I have no idea, but they defiantly did 'matter'.

See the point about the Clash was (and is) that they were (and are) punk, but not the nihilistic, shock rock punk of the Pistols et al who were in it for the riot and the booze, but something with at least a little more brains. They had a political stance (a socialist one at that), clever lyrics and musical variety. On their seminal 'London Calling' album, there’s song on topics ranging from police brutality and gang warfare ('Guns of Brixton') to the Spanish Civil War ('Spanish Bomb'). And the musical style of these songs is as varied, from straight up punk through to dub and reggae. You can easily see why they were labelled the 'thinking man’s' punk band.

I'm not going to dissect every Clash album to try and prove my point. For one, they're not all good albums. Their final studio EP 'Cut The Crap' did exactly the opposite, being full of crap and featuring only two of the band original members. Hell the ‘only’ made three really class albums, though that’s a country mile more than most bands manage. The albums aren't the only think that makes the Clash godly.

They were also, easily, the coolest punk band around. Their front man (the late Joe Strummer) may have come from a stable, public school background, but put him in front of a mic (on or off stage) and he fumed with righteous political rage more befitting a flag waving revolutionary. He, along with the rest of the band, were champions of the early 'Rock Against Fascism' movement that still exists today as 'Love Music Hate Racism'. It doesn't end there, there isn't the time or screen space to cover it all, but take my word for it, they were fucking cool.

They inspired a generation of artists. The Libertines once covered 'Guns of Brixton' (the aforementioned song dealing with police brutality) while a gig was being closed down my the police while you know that M.I.A. song Paper Planes? The music is samples almost entirely from a Clash song.

In short, I probably haven’t done them justice, but screw it, The Clash really are a touch of genius, listen to Dad, and listen to some real music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcPvHkXfqoc


(Oh and next time, I'm gona try and review Reading..ha ha!)