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Clash Music3/26/2021
The American division of CBS decided The Clash wasnt fit for radio play, so it decided not to release the album.Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully.Where the Pistols were nihilistic, the Clash were fiery and idealistic, charged with righteousness and a leftist political ideology.
From the outset, the band was more musically adventurous, expanding its hard rock roll with reggae, dub, and rockabilly among other roots musics. Furthermore, they were blessed with two exceptional songwriters in Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, each with a distinctive voice and style. The Clash copped heavily from classic outlaw imagery, positioning themselves as rebels with a cause. As a result, they won a passionately devoted following on both sides of the Atlantic. While they became rock roll heroes in the U.K., second only to the Jam in terms of popularity, it took the Clash several years to break into the American market, and when they finally did in 1982, they imploded several months later. Though the Clash never became the superstars they always threatened to become, they restored passion and protest to rock roll. For a while, they really did seem like the only band that mattered. Joe Strummer (born John Graham Mellor, August 21, 1952) had spent most of his childhood in boarding school. By the time he was in his early twenties, he had busked on the streets of London and had formed a pub rock band called the 101ers. Around the same time, Mick Jones (born June 26, 1955) was leading a hard rock group called the London SS. Unlike Strummer, Jones came from a working-class background in Brixton. Throughout his teens, he was fascinated with rock roll, and he had formed the London SS with the intent of replicating the hard-driving sound of Mott the Hoople and Faces. ![]() At the time, the band also featured drummer Tory Crimes (born Terry Chimes ), who had recently replaced Topper Headon (born Nicky Headon, May 30, 1955). After witnessing the Sex Pistols in concert, Joe Strummer decided to break up the 101ers in early 1976 in order to pursue a new, harder-edged musical direction. He left the band just before their first single, Keys to Your Heart, was released. Along with fellow 101er guitarist Keith Levene, Strummer joined the revamped London SS, now renamed the Clash. Hiring Bernard Rhodes -- a former business associate of Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren -- as their manager, the Clash set out on the Pistols notorious Anarchy Tour late in 1976. Though only three concerts were performed on the tour, it nevertheless raised the Clash s profile and the band secured a record contract in February of 1977 with British CBS. Over the course of three weekends, the group recorded their debut album. Once the sessions were completed, Terry Chimes left the group, and Headon came aboard as the bands drummer. In the spring, the Clash s first single, White Riot, and eponymous debut album were released to great critical acclaim and sales in the U.K., peaking at number 12 on the charts.
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