If I were to tell you that The Clash are the only band that ever mattered, and you weren't very familiar with them, you'd be rightfully in disbelief. It's quite a statement. However, if you were familiar with The Clash, you would tilt your head slightly to the left and make that frowny, raised-eyebrowed "well...maybe" face.
When The Clash formed in London in 1976, the economy was stagnant, and in general the youth could choose between factory work and ... nothing. So the fundamental attitude of any good artist, which is "I don't care what you want, this is what I'm saying,"
was especially clear in punk rock, which was a direct response to this lingering apathy and the hoity-toity "let's all drink champagne" pop music on TV. It wasn't just artistic freedom, it was "This is what we think, and we're going to cram it down your throat."
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| The Clash Joe Strummer - Paul Simonon - Mick Jones - Topper Headon |
1. The Clash - "London's Burning" (1977)
From their first, self-titled album, "London's Burning" exemplifies the painful apathy felt by many Brits. It was really Joe Strummer(the lead singer)'s passion to "do something about it" that drove The Clash. You can get a sense of Strummer's dynamic, personal vocal style with his gargly work in this song. Clearly this is rock 'n roll, but you can hear evidence of reggae in the guitar during the verses. Paul Simonen, the bass player, was particularly interested in reggae, which is another sort of anti-establishment movement. Paul began as more of a painter than a musician, and initially learned his bass lines from Mick Jones, the lead guitarist and main composer. Paul was largely responsible for the outfits, posters, set design, etc. He was just too cool to not have in the band. So that was to get an idea of their original punk-rock style.
2. The Clash - "Tommy Gun" (1978)
Things began to change after their first album. Columbia Records signed The Clash for their second album, Give 'Em Enough Rope, leading to accusations of selling out despite the fact that they were still broke. "Tommy Gun" is about the hijacking of planes in the middle east. Joe Strummer had been criticized in the punk community for coming from a nice, middle class family, but without his upbringing, The Clash would not have been the same. Joe was born in Turkey and lived in several locations including Cairo and Mexico City because of his father's work in diplomacy, so from a young age he was keen on understanding conflict on an international level. This global outlook puts Strummer ahead of many of his contemporaries and is the inspiration for much of not only their lyrics, but also their music, because the way they operated, at least initially, was that Joe would write the lyrics, and then Mick would turn them into an instrumental melody and chord progression, and possibly even the vocal melodies.
Another major change took place at this time, which was arguably the most influential change to their music: after auditioning countless drummers to replace Terry Chimes, who played on their first album, The Clash finally landed on Nicky "Topper" Headon. I consider Give 'Em Enough Rope to be in effect a warm-up for their third album, London Calling, which Rolling Stone accurately places as the eighth best album of all time. I'd estimate that without Topper, it would be perhaps #20. The beauty of London Calling is that it is extraordinarily complex, diverse, and deep, and yet it's also fun, relatable, and dance-able. It's one of those rare albums where the artist almost reinvents itself for every song. It's still punk in spirit, but musically it's also reggae, ska, jazz, bossa-nova, and rockabilly, to name a few. This kind of mix-and-match, fusing so many genres to the point where almost every song on the album is a different genre, is exceedingly rare, and I don't think it's ever been done better.
3. The Clash - "London Calling" (1979)
The title track perfectly sets the tone for the album. The Clash were actually broke and at the end of their rope when they recorded this album, so the sense of urgency and the feeling of swimming to stay afloat is very real. "We ain't got no swing" at 0:45 is a bit ironic considering that the drums are swinging pretty hard (basically there is a kind of lag and they are not strictly on the beat). My favorite part is right around 2:00 where the echoed vocals and guitar go crazy. Most of the lyrics are metaphorical ("Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls") or poetic ("The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in") but there is one that is almost comically pointed - "Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust." The Clash began as part of a backlash to "pub rock" (music played at pubs) which was meant primarily to please the audience. Joe Strummer, in true punk form, disliked The Beatles and The Stones and all of the popular rockers who appeared to be sellouts. The funny thing is that after listening to their music you might expect them to be aggressive people, but they were all really soft-spoken, laid-back, and according to Strummer, pretty lazy. If you see them lounging in a documentary you can really feel the painful boredom that incited this music.
4. The Clash - "Lost In The Supermarket" (1979)
Everything clicks immediately - the guitar provides the nostalgia, the bass makes it sound important, and Topper chugs along with his hi-hat to maintain the momentum throughout the song. Interestingly, the song was written by Strummer but sung mainly by Mick, and is about "feelings of disillusionment," but you don't need to know the lyrics to get the feeling from this one. The lead guitar at 1:56 has so enough feeling for two songs, as does Mick's vulnerable vocals, especially with the melody on lines like "long distance callers make long distance calls" (1:38). This song almost puts you to sleep on the couch with its "I just keep getting scammed, what's the point" attitude and Topper's intoxicating beats, but don't be fooled - it's a classic.
5. The Clash - "Train In Vain" (1979)
Topper adds so much energy with the drums. This beat is one of the most recognizable and influential in rock music, and this song simply would not exist in this form without him. In perfect counter-balance to the soft, sweet, vulnerable vocals from Strummer, the drums are really the kick-ass attitude that you feel. He makes it sound simple but almost everything he plays is subtly very complex. Topper was influenced largely by jazz and soul music, so he brought a new, funky, jazzy element to the group. He and Mick Jones, who wrote and sang this song, were constant sources of brilliant music. Rewind to the beginning: there are four excellent bass lines in this song, and they define a remarkably unorthodox structure. Usually songs are structured verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, etc, where each part is relatively homogeneous. This song is different. It starts out with the drums and a funky two-note bass line, and then drops into the first verse, but it's more than just a verse. It's probably going to take a few listens to catch all this, but it's music history so it's worth it.
- "You say you stand by your man" marks the beginning of the first verse. This second bass line has a very low rumble sound, that seems to end abruptly every measure, and if you were dancing (and I would seriously consider it), it would be this bass line that would make you want to freeze in place every few seconds. "Tell me something I don't understand" repeats the structure of the first line.
- On the third line, "You said you love me, and that's a fact," Mick Jones creates something I've never heard elsewhere, at least to this degree - he uses what sounds like a one-line chorus within the verse, which has a new, third bass line. So each verse in "Train In Vain" is like its own complete short story. The fourth lyric, "And then you left me, said you felt trapped" finishes the verse in the same style as the first two lines.
- And then there is a sort of bridge, or whatever you want to call it, with a fourth bass line, for "Well some things you can explain away, but the heartache's in me till this day."
- What comes next sounds like a chorus lyrically ("Did you stand by me, no not at all...") but is almost identical musically to the 1st, 2nd, and 4th lines of the verses, so much so that it doesn't sound like anything changes as the second verse starts with "All the times..."
So (in the spirit of punk rock) Mick Jones shredded what most songwriters think of as structure, and blurred all the lines, which really keeps you on your toes. This, along with the drums and every other element, is made to sound so deceptively simple that it's almost hidden. This is grandmaster-level songwriting and production. I always knew I loved this song but only after writing this did I realize why. Unbelievably, Mick Jones wrote this song in one night, and it was recorded the following day, just in time to be included in the album (but too late to be listed on the cover). It became one of their biggest singles. The name "Train In Vain," by the way, reflects Mick's repeated experience of riding a train across town to visit his girlfriend only to leave rejected.
6. The Clash - "Revolution Rock" (1979)
Are you feeling the drums yet? I think this is about as reggae as punk can get. The deep, flat bass line, echoed guitars and vocals, the cadence of the vocals, and the organ/keyboard combine to reflect the upbeat side of reggae, while the strained, emotional singing and distorted guitar represent punk. And again with the drums, I don't think any drummer in the world would have been better for this band. He can play anything.
7. The Clash - "The Guns Of Brixton" (1979)
A hardcore Clash fan would probably not agree with this, because Strummer and Jones didn't write it, but I think that musically "Guns Of Brixton" is the greatest Clash song, and I'd put it among the greatest songs of all time. Blast this one. By their third album, Paul Simonon began to play guitar in addition to bass, and he wrote and sang this gem. It's a chameleon in how it progresses fluidly and never feels like it repeats due to varying levels of detail. The bass line is one of the most heavy-hitting lines I've ever heard. It's difficult to explain. All I can say is it makes me want to join the mob. The guitar pieces are truly brilliant, from a surf-rock sound at 0:08, to a reggae pattern sharpened by knife-sharpening sounds at 0:21, to a bizarre section with bent strings and boing sounds to add to the absurdity at 1:01, to clean, jazzy background chords with vibrato at 1:40, not to mention more subtle guitar parts.
The brilliant lazy lead vocals exemplify malaise on the edge of violence, and the creepy high and low-pitched backup vocals make it sound like the mob is coming. The perfect storm comes together with Topper's absolutely brilliant drumming. Right at 0:29, it sounds like he's playing his tom drums with his hands, to eerie effect. The ridiculously good one-second fill at 1:29 is Topper's way of sort of winding up the gear to kick off the second half of the song, which he punctuates at 1:40 and beyond with energizing off-beat snare hits. Notice that during the bizarre guitar part at 1:01, he refrains from playing anything to steal attention. And that's how the entire song is - there's so much detail, but at no time is it ever confusing. Every detail takes its turn. It's a masterpiece.
Simonon, by the way, was captured on camera (later used for the cover) as he was in the middle of destroying his nice Fender P-Bass. He said it felt more like destroying the stage, because these guitars are tough and it didn't break very easily. And then he had to play a not-so-good backup bass for the rest of the tour, so... at least it was photographed. The print on the London Calling album cover is identical to Elvis Presley's first album - same font, same colors.
The following Clash album, Sandinista!, had one big hit - "The Magnificent Seven," and about 35 other songs that were not quite as well received as London Calling. The most blunt comment I read was that "if this is their worst - which it is, I think they must be world's greatest rock and roll band." "Charlie don't Surf" is my favorite track on this album. The guitar is loaded with effects and creates the creepy vibe, while the bass and drums carry the energy. It feels exceptionally loose with the long intro and how it seems to fall off the map at 3:15.
9. The Clash - "Straight To Hell" (1982)
Although not rated quite as highly as London Calling, their fifth studio album, Combat Rock, was their best-selling album, largely due to the songs "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" and "Rock The Casbah." "Straight To Hell," like many of their songs, has everything. Topper's drum skills are evident throughout the song. Probably the most interesting addition is the eerie violin that has reverb and some other effects. Adding effects to a violin is not easy, but they make it sound almost natural. This is one of the most poignant Clash songs. Strummer is singing about the disillusionment at home in the UK, as he frequently does, in the first verse, but in the second verse he gets into the Vietnam War, as he cries out for the abandoned "Amerasian" children fathered by American soldiers in Vietnam. The term "papa-san" and "mama-san" were used by US troops to designate older Vietnamese people (even though 'san' comes from Japanese). Strummer uses papa-san to describe, rather, the soldiers that won't take the children home. It's something I never even thought about until looking up the lyrics for this song, which showed me the power of Strummer in particular to educate people. In case you're still wondering where you've heard this song before, it was sampled in MIA's "Paper Planes."
The bottom line is that The Clash were worldly, versatile punk rockers of the highest order. If you're interested in hearing more, just go to the London Calling album and hit play. There's also a lo-fi side of the album, which would cause a natural first reaction along the lines of "Why would I listen to that if there's a better version right there?" It's true, but the lower-quality songs are more intimate because everything is lower compared to the vocals.
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