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The Clash: Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
A ROW OF PARKED Vivas, Consuls and Zephyrs indicated that the ICA had an audience a little different to the usual. It was "A Night ...
Clash: The Clash; Give 'Em Enough Rope; London Calling; Sandinista!; Combat Rock; Cut The Crap
Review by Mat Snow, Q, June 1989
UNLIKE THE Sex Pistols, the other great London punk-rock group had ambitions beyond delivering the short, sharp shock to the system suggested by the sudden ...
Joe Strummer: Definitely Not Admitting Defeat Yet
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 September 1999
"I THINK GOOD manners will come back. In America, kids saw punk rock as a licence to be as rude as possible. I didn't like ...
Audio interviews
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 May 1977
The lanky plank-spanker in a wide-ranging conversation about politics, phlegm and – after Don Letts drops in – white reggae.
File format: mp3; file size: 14.3mb, interview length: 15' 37" sound quality: ****
The Clash's Joe Strummer (1978)
Interview by Howie Klein, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1978
A typically splendid Strummer interview: He explains Ska! He digs Steve Miller! He prefers the Sun to the Guardian! He's in hospital with hepatitis! Plus stuff on gobbing, politics, the upcoming 2nd Clash album etc.
File format: mp3; file size: 25mb, interview length: 27' 17" sound quality: ***
The Clash's Paul Simonon (1978)
Interview by Howie Klein, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 February 1978
The Clash's bassman talks about his life pre-Clash; the Clash's politics (personal and public); his development as a musician and a showman, and a whole lot more.
File format: mp3; file size: 53.4mb, interview length: 58' 16" sound quality: ***
The Clash's Joe Strummer (1978)
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages audio, 2 December 1978
Backstage at Newcastle Polytechnic, the Clash's frontman on the problems surrounding that night's gig; becoming part of the "rock establishment" and selling out; the production of Give 'Em Enough Rope; and Sid Vicious and the coincidence of 'Drug Stabbing Time'.
File format: mp3; file size: 5.8mb, interview length: 14' 27" sound quality: *****
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1988
The former Clash front-man on recording the soundtrack to Permanent Record; his musical and acting participation in Walker and Straight to Hell; on the Clash compilation Story of the Clash Vol. 1; how touring with the Who led to the end of the Clash; playing with the Pogues, and his hatred of being spat at onstage; on Reagan and Thatcher; his (now) dislike of drugs; on his diplomat father; forming the 101ers, and the Rude Boy movie.
File format: mp3; file size: 83.8mb, interview length: 1h 27' 20" sound quality: *** (background noise)
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 June 1999
From Tony Bennett to Tony Adams: Gavin Martin chats with the Mighty Strummer amidst liggers and drunken Finns about The Clash, The Mescaleros, Greil Marcus and why he hates Suede and the Manic Street Preachers.
File format: mp3; file sizes: 111.5mb, interview length: 1h 56' 09" sound quality: **
List of articles in the library
Special Feature by Ira Robbins, Peter Silverton, unpublished, 1976
September 21, 2021 introduction by Ira Robbins (www.trouserpress.com) ...
The Clash: Rehearsal Rehearsals, Chalk Farm, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 21 August 1976
The first band to come along who'll really frighten the Sex Pistols ...
Sex Pistols, Clash, Buzzcocks: Screen on the Green, Islington, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 11 September 1976
A STRANGE affair, this. And then some. ...
The Kursaal Flyers/Crazy Cavan/Clash: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 11 September 1976
JOE STRUMMER'S Clash — the best new band of the year? Well, some would claim as much. At least you can guarantee that any band ...
The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Buzzcocks: Screen On The Green, Islington, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
Our Islington correspondent mingles with the Sex Pistols' portable audience looking for Johnny Rotten's toof. It's incisive stuff… ...
Report by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 2 October 1976
THE 600-STRONG line, which last Monday straggled across two blocks outside London's 100 Club in Oxford Street, waiting for the Punk Rock Festival to start, ...
The Sex Pistols, The Clash et al: Punk Rock Festival, 100 Club, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 2 October 1976
High dummy count flunks punks ...
The (?) Rock Special (#5): Other Bands
Profile by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
"I don't understand why people think it's so difficult to learn to play the guitar. I found it incredibly easy. You just pick a chord ...
Welcome To The (?) Rock Special (#1): In Love With The Modern World
Overview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
Johnny Rotten, the Clash, the Damned and a committed cast of hundreds of new music makers give the finger to the old farts ...
The Clash: Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 30 October 1976
THE ICA, that home of lively experiment in London's Mall, is fast becoming the badly needed workshop-cum-watering hole for the growing number of jolly ravers ...
Roogalator/The Clash: Fulham Town Hall, London; The Vibrators: Nashville, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 6 November 1976
THIS ONE takes place in Fulham Town Hall and a glance tells you whoever designed this place had his sights firmly set on Cummerbund City. ...
The Clash, Suburban Studs: Barbarella's, Birmingham
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 13 November 1976
WEDNESDAY HAD been booked as Punk Night at Barbarellas, an excuse, if nothing else, for the club deejay to fall in love with the sound ...
The Clash: Barbarellas, Birmingham
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 13 November 1976
WEDNESDAY HAD been booked as Punk Night at Barbarellas, an excuse, if nothing else, for the club deejay to fall in love with the sound ...
The Clash: Down And Out And Proud
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976
THREE WEEKS AGO at London's ICA, Jane and Shane, regulars on the new-wave punk rock scene, were sprawled at the edge of the stage. Blood ...
Essay by Ed Jones, The Spectator, 27 November 1976
BEWARE! WHEN Britain's biggest record company, EMI, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the citadel of the self-regarding avant-garde, unite behind a single idea within ...
The Clash: Nag's Head, High Wycombe
Live Review by Kris Needs, Sounds, 27 November 1976
THE CLASH gave the provincial nightmare of High Wycombe an electric shock it won't soon forget last Thursday night. ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, December 1976
"WE'RE ONE up the arse for the rich, established groups... There's so many useless bands around it's not even worth naming any." ...
Sex Pistols, Damned, Clash, Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Leeds Polytechnic
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 11 December 1976
Punk! On stage! ...
The Clash: Eighteen Flight Rock...
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 11 December 1976
...AND THE SOUND OF THE WESTWAY ...
Pistols, Clash etc.: What Did You Do On The Punk Tour, Daddy?
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 18 December 1976
The Sex Pistols/The Clash/The Heartbreakers /The Buzzcocks: Electric Circus, Manchester ...
Sex Pistols, The Clash, Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Electric Circus, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
THREE DANCE bands playing the Electric Circus for the second time in ten days. They're back because the Circus is one of the very few ...
The 100 Club Punk Rock Festival
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977
Monday, September 20th: The Sex Pistols, the Clash, Subway Sect, Siouxsie and the Banshees. Tuesday, September 21st: The Damned, Chris Spedding and the Vibrators, the ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977
WHEN I FIRST interviewed the Clash in their barrack like studio in Chalk Farm, they had yet to sign a record contract, although they were ...
The Clash etc: Harlesden's Burning
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 March 1977
The Clash/The Buzzcocks/The Subway Sect/The Slits: Harlesden Colosseum, London ...
The Clash/Buzzcocks/Subway Sect/The Slits: Harlesden Colosseum, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
NICK KENT comes out of hiding to offer himself as a 'punk' sacrifice to the ritualistic 'beat' of THE CLASH, THE BUZZCOCKS, THE SUBWAY SECT ...
The Clash: Coliseum, Harlesden, London
Live Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 19 March 1977
THE CLASH Somewhere west of Karachi ...
Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 19 March 1977
The Clash: there's a riot goin' on... ...
Punk Is Just Another Word for Nothin' Left To Lose
Essay by Mary Harron, The Village Voice, 28 March 1977
The worst insult in the English punks' vocabulary is "poser". These are working-class kids who resent it when the middle classes ape their style. ...
The Clash, Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: A Storm Is Coming
Interview by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, April 1977
Last week Clash jumped 60 places in the chart and Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers packed out London's Marquee. New Wave is now Big Wave. ...
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1977
AT THE MOMENT there isn't a group in the New Wave that comes within spitting distance of The Clash, live or on record. Within a ...
The Clash, Buzzcocks, Subway Sect, Slits: Coliseum, Harlesden, London
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 9 April 1977
THE GRANDLY-NAMED COLISEUM in Harlesden, London, turned out somewhat grander than most people expected. It's no fleapit, more a small local theatre — complete with ...
The Clash: The Clash (CBS 82000)
Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 9 April 1977
Clash lead black vinyl riot ...
The Clash: The Clash (CBS)*****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 9 April 1977
If You Don't Like The Clash, You Don't Like Rock 'N 'Roll ...
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1977
A monthly blindfold test by those masters of Slander Rock, Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan ...
The Clash, Subway Sect: Palais des Glaces, Paris
Live Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 7 May 1977
Beware Les Français: C'est la Guerre! The Clash return to the scene of the May 68 riots and whip up a storm. Barry Cain reports... ...
The Clash: Palais des Glaces, Paris
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 7 May 1977
THE AUDIENCE at the Palais des Glaces, a sleazy 30's flea-pit with odd nooks where Parisians indulged in the bourgeois old-wave habit of getting high ...
The Front Line: On The Road With The Clash
Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 May 1977
JOE STRUMMER says he'll smash my face in if I so much as print a syllable of what's said in the dressing room of the ...
The Clash, The Jam, The Buzzcocks: The Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 21 May 1977
Rock ‘n’ roll can be one of the few honest things left in this world.Yes.An event, a gathering of the clans.Yes.But it was all down ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
'Bilzen? more like Belsen' Clash, Damned: Bilzen Festival, Belgium ...
Belgium's Burning! The Clash in Europe
Report by Robin Banks, ZigZag, September 1977
"Be not the first by whom the new are tried/Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." ...
The Clash, Generation X: Only in ZigZag! The New Clash Single!
Review by Robin Banks, ZigZag, September 1977
THE CLASH: 'Complete Control'/'The City of the Dead' (CBS) ...
The Clash: The Clash (CBS 82000)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1977
TO PARAPHRASE (and soft-peddle) the kind of language that greeted Patti Smith's Horses, this Clash album is a tremendous debut. Of all the new wave bands ...
God, What A Bummer! Stuck Here With Joe Strummer!
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 September 1977
THE CLASH AT BELSEN... 'ALL JOURNALISTS ARE SWINE' BY CHRIS SALEWICZ, WHO DUCKS AND RUNS. ...
The Clash: Who's In Love With Janie Jones?
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 15 October 1977
DURING THE hot summer of 1976, a No. 31 bus jolts through Notting Hill Gate. On the top deck is Mick Jones, humming a riff. ...
Beyond the Dole Queue: The Politics of Punk
Essay by Simon Frith, The Village Voice, 24 October 1977
The Clash and the Pistols have established social realism as an essential part of punk ideology, but this does not make their music the "direct ...
Report and Interview by Caroline Coon, Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 29 October 1977
NO FUN IN BELFAST AND LONDONby GIOVANNI DADOMO & CAROLINE COON ...
Report by Tim Lott, Record Mirror, 12 November 1977
TIM LOTT battles with Joe Strummer's boys and comes out dazed. ...
The Clash: Clash City Rockers On Tour
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1977
DERBY KING'S HALL. The thickset geezer with the appearance of a frustrated rugby player – too short to make the scrum but just as tough ...
The Clash: Greatness from Garageland
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Trouser Press, February 1978
UNANNOUNCED, TO SAY the least, a kid in boots, suspenders and short-cropped hair clambers through the photographers' pit and up onto the stage of London's ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (Epic JE 35543)
Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 16 February 1978
THE CLASH IS A PUNK ROCK BAND and proud of it, but fans who dismiss it for that reason alone are making a mistake. This ...
Cult Figure Cuts Clash To Suit American Dream Machine
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
SANDY PEARLMAN IS A BRISK and lively talker. He can probably offer an animated dissertation of any number of irregular topics, ranging from advancements in ...
Rock Against Racism Carnival: Victoria Park, Hackney, London
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 May 1978
AS HE STOOD at the top of Whitehall at 10.35 last Sunday morning gazing impassively towards Nelson's Column, the optimism of Commander Walker of Scotland ...
Blue Oyster Cult and Sandy Pearlman
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 13 May 1978
ERIC BLOOM is adamant about the current position and status of the band he sings and plays for, the am-aaa-zing Blue Oyster Cult; they are ...
The Clash: The 'Serious In-Depth Interview' You've Been Waiting For!
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 June 1978
"AAAWOOOEEEUUUOOO, PETE...'ear you bin to the States...how wazzit?" ...
Comment by Simon Frith, Creem, July 1978
ANYBODY WHO knows anything knows that the Clash is the best band in Britain; what is difficult to decide is if, in 1978, this means ...
The Clash/The Specials: Friar's, Aylesbury
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 July 1978
FOR PEOPLE who like to put things in neat little pecking orders – and because of our conditioning there's a lot of them – the ...
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
IT'S AS IF THE Clash's 'Police And Thieves' stage backdrop has suddenly transmogrified into moving 3-D. ...
The Clash, Suicide: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Ian Birch, Melody Maker, 29 July 1978
NO TWO ways about it. All I can do is echo and re-emphasise Chris Brazier's sentiments in MM of two issues ago: the Clash are ...
The Clash, Suicide: The Music Machine, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
TIME HAS come today. Third of four Music Machine gigs and – surprise! – the ritual bottling of Suicide appears to have been omitted for ...
The Clash: Problems with The Roxy
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
I'D CALLED Mick Jones last Friday night The parsimonious Bernie Rhodes – who, though a replacement manager has yet to be found (and it is ...
The Clash: Queens University, Belfast
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
THE LAST time The Clash tried to play The Ulster Hall a combination of big business insurance moguls and local bureaucratic bullshit caused the gig ...
The Clash: Black'n White Drop Outasite
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
The Clash: Roxy Theatre, Harlesden ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (CBS 82431)
Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 11 November 1978
The Clash: War 'n' pizza ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
White Punks On Rope ...
The Clash: Town Hall, Middlesbrough
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 25 November 1978
PERSPECTIVE. THE Clash are heroes (but not mine). ...
The Clash/The Slits: Village Bowl, Bournemouth
Live Review by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1978
IT'S 5.30 in the morning and for some reason I'm stuck on a ledge halfway down a several hundred foot cliff overhanging Bournemouth beach... And ...
The Clash: Give 'em Enough Rope (CBS 82431)
Review by Robin Banks, ZigZag, December 1978
A TRIUMPHANT roar of battles won. This album is a paean to victory than demands instant recognition and then leaves one gasping for breath, exhausted ...
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
What, THEM again? Fraid so. No apologies... On The Road Fax by NICK KENT: Biro & Quiz ...
The Clash's Joe Strummer (1978) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2 December 1978
This is a transcription of Ian's audio interview with Joe. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Profile and Interview by Miles, Time Out, 15 December 1978
Will success spoil Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon and Joe Strummer? Miles chronicles the decline of a movement and the rise of a rock ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (Epic JE 35543)
Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 17 December 1978
A PUNK BAND NOT TO BE SNEERED AT ...
The Clash: Electric Ballroom/Lyceum London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 1979
CLASH GIGS these days aren't the backs–against–the wall experience they used to be. The political tensions and confrontations they once represented are now just so ...
The Clash: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Sounds, 1979
The Clash: Live At The Roxy, Los Angeles A CLASH TREAT for their fans this, a five dollar ticket and a smaller setting than bands ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1979
THE CLASH HAVE been through a lot since they last released an album, almost 19 months ago, and so has the scene that they emerged ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (Epic)
Review by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, January 1979
OKAY, SO I'M supposed to write this treatise on the new, long-delayed, Clash album — a task I'm quite looking forward to since I reckon ...
The Clash, The Slits: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 6 January 1979
A love that burns ...
The Clash: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
LIKE THE few other rock bands that occasionally verge on genius – such at The Rolling Stones and the original Roxy Music – The Clash ...
The Clashmen Meet The Pearlman
Report and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1979
"It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever I done, that's for sure." I had Sandy Pearlman, Record Producer, on the phone from some unnamed restaurant ...
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 February 1979
"SO YOU think we lost the battle — then go home and weep about it. Sometimes you’ve got to wake up in the morning and ...
The Clash In L.A.: Just The Best
Live Review by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 23 February 1979
THE ARRIVAL in LA of The Clash, the hot English rock band, had been eagerly anticipated by local hard-core rockers ever since the release of ...
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Sweet Potato, March 1979
"I don't understand every lyric on the album, I doubt that Mick or Topper or Paul understands what every single word is. But if you ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (Epic)
Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, March 1979
FUTURE SHOCK NOW (If You Want It) ...
The Clash, Bo Diddley,Pearl Harbor & The Explosions: Community Theater, Berkeley CA
Live Review by Howie Klein, New York Rocker, April 1979
EXCEPT FOR the fact that they're probably the best performing band around, there's something almost superfluous to Clashness about the band's shows. Wait a minute ...
The Clash, Bo Diddley: The Palladium, New York NY
Live Review by Roy Trakin, New York Rocker, April 1979
DON'T EXPECT the back-Clash to start here. Since the Clash's smashingly successful Palladium debut, I have had some second thoughts, but none of these contradict ...
The Clash: The Fillmore, San Francisco
Live Review by Howie Klein, New York Rocker, April 1979
EXCEPT FOR THE fact that they're probably the best performing band around, there's something almost superfluous to Clashness about the band's shows. Wait a minute ...
Report and Interview by Stephen Demorest, Creem, May 1979
DURING THE ten days between February 7 and 17, 1979, the people of Iran toppled the Shah; the American ambassador was assassinated in Afghanistan; President ...
Clash City Talkers: New York Meets Jones And Co.
Report and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1979
There's nothing quite as frustrating to watch as the hypocrisy of press, radio, and record companies rushing to get behind some new band that has ...
The Clash: Yes It's Strummer In The City
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
HOT TOWN! Strummer in the city: walks into the Kings Road pub that serves as his temporary local while he's staying in Fulham dead on ...
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, July 1979
IT WAS OUR party... the day ZigZag came OUT. An erratic monthly "fanzine" (not owned by IPC or any other gardening clubs) celebrated ten years ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Dave McCullough, Sounds, 14 July 1979
"Punk was about change. We don't want to belong to any tradition... we don't walk around with green hair and bondage trousers anymore. We just ...
Report by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
WHEN THE CLASH is in Chicago, there's enough people there to suggest America is waking up, even if the band still fall the wrong side ...
The Clash, Sam and Dave, the Undertones: Orpheum Theater, Boston
Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 22 September 1979
Clash makes the sparks fly. ...
Live Review by Van Gosse, Melody Maker, 29 September 1979
FIRST time here, in February, the Clash were merely grand. The energy was awesome but the music was more volume than anything else; in the ...
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 29 September 1979
TUESDAY LUNCHTIME: Cleveland Airport. With a couple of hours to kill before my one-stop-only flight to Minneapolis and the first date on the Clash’s second ...
The Clash, Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Ritchie Coliseum, College Park MD
Live Review by Joe Sasfy, The Washington Post, 1 October 1979
ENGLAND'S CLASH brought their version of rock's civil war to Ritchie Coliseum Saturday night. By the time they ended their second encore, a hypersonic invitation ...
Clash in NYC - Waiting for Ivan
Report and Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 6 October 1979
ACCORDING TO reports, it was a hot, dead, airless summer in New York City. With nothing much happening on the local music scene, excitement centred ...
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 October 1979
Details: The Scene ...
The Clash: The Fastest Gang In The West
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
DETAILS: THE FIFTH MEMBER Micky Gallagher turned up in Boston. Four or five dates into the Clash itinerary and The Blockheads' jumpy Irish keyboardist slips ...
The Clash/Undertones/Sam & Dave: The Palladium, NYC
Live Review by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, November 1979
THIS REVIEW is being turned in weeks late, and I know why. After all these years and all these bands, all the disappointing second albums ...
Rash Clash Mash In Motor City Bash
Report and Interview by Dave DiMartino, Creem, December 1979
JOE STRUMMER and I are sitting in a bar, talking about his band. I ask him about ‘I Fought the Law’ and its relatively unexpected ...
The Clash: London Calling (Epic)
Review by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, December 1979
A DOUBLE album from the Clash, two discs for the price of one — but that's not the only surprise. Because the speed-rush buzzsaw roar ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 December 1979
"...the wit of the city's urchins is as sharp as the finest conversation of the rural lord; the vulgar speech of the street arabs is ...
The Clash: London Calling (CBS) **
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 15 December 1979
Give 'em enough rope... and watch 'em turn into the Rolling Stones ...
Guy Stevens: “There Are Only Two Phil Spectors In The World And I Am One Of Them”
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979
Selected tableaux from The Guy Stevens Story. ...
Interview by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 29 December 1979
INSIDE THE CLASH'S new rehearsal studio, under a railway bridge somewhere in South London, Joe Strummer is singing a slow country blues about rolling boxcars, ...
Ian Dury & The Blockheads, The Clash and Matumbi: A Concert for the People of Kampuchea
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
It could only be cold comfort to them, but this isn’t the first time rock ‘n’ roll has played a distant part in the lives ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 January 1980
LONDON CALLING? It hardly covers the situation. Every is-or-was punk fan in the country must be quietly slavering to see the Clash film and apprehensive ...
The Clash: London Calling (Epic Records)
Review by Michael Goldberg, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 January 1980
SINCE THIS English foursome first emerged in London in 1976, they have been at the very forefront of rock and roll. Their debut album, The ...
The Clash, Joe Ely, Mikey Dread: Electric Ballroom/Lyceum, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 23 February 1980
Fings ain't what they used to be ...
The Clash Play Revolution Rock
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, Trouser Press, March 1980
IT'S FOUR days before Christmas. A dark, early evening damp with snow and rain. Immediately south of the Thames, in the inappropriately genteel Victorian suburb ...
The Clash: Six Days On The Road And 16 Tons Of Fun…
Report by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1980
THE QUEST GOES ON, HIT THE DECK! ...
Rude Boy: Directed by Jack Hazan; Starring Ray Gange and The Clash; Cert X
Film/DVD/TV Review by Robin Banks, ZigZag, April 1980
RUDE BOY CAN FAIL ...
The Clash Clamp Down on Detroit
Report and Interview by Susan Whitall, Creem, June 1980
Or: Give 'Em Enough Wisniowka ...
The Clash, Holly & the Italians: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 28 June 1980
Myth Man In The Hammersmith Palais ...
Interview by Richard Grabel, New York Rocker, July 1980
OUTSIDE ON Eighth Street, among the pizza parlors and shoe stores, it's early evening. Inside Electric Lady studios, the house that Jimi built, it could ...
Rude Boy Produced and directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay (Atlantic Releasing Corp.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Toby Goldstein, Creem, November 1980
Booed, Rude And Tattooed ...
The Clash: Joe Strummer Answers The Call-Up
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, Melody Maker, 13 December 1980
WORKING ON THE theory that if you give him enough rope he'll either hang or save himself, the following pages are left basically for the ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 December 1980
OK, OK, they're a jolly prolific bunch always about to give their audience more than their money's worth, but – Christ, let's not mince words ...
The Clash: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Interview by David Hepworth, Smash Hits, 25 December 1980
Joe Strummer don't. Neither do The Clash. They just wanna make triple albums. David Hepworth raps (ouch!) ...
Review by Van Gosse, The Village Voice, 14 January 1981
CONFRONTING THE Clash's epic monstrosity Sandinista! is like being a teacher (which I once was) and having one of your favorite little buggers show up ...
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, February 1981
PAUL SIMONON lives in a modest two-room Notting Hill basement flat just north of Ladbroke Grove tube station. ...
Review by Roy Trakin, Musician, April 1981
The slapstick guerilla politics have never sounded more outlandishly unfashionable. Gone are the triple-front-line punk harmonics & amphetamine raw power. Ditto for the crunching metallic ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1981
THE FIRST TIME the Clash ventured into a recording studio they emerged with a concise blockbuster 45 ('White Riot') that deliv-ered the goods in under ...
Heart & Mind: The Paul Simonon Interview
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1981
WHATEVER YOU think of the Clash — and I haven't much cared for them since 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais' — a couple of things ...
The Clash: Safe in a European home
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, Melody Maker, 6 June 1981
STANDING BY the toilet door, the kid recognised him instantly. The hair piled up in a scraggy mess. The white leather jacket. The beautiful punkette ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
The winner of NME's Flatter The Clash competition checks out the ramifications when an English band's world is at Bonds. ...
Report and Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 25 June 1981
THE LIGHTS dimmed. Dramatic Spanish bolero music from Clint Eastwood's For a Few Dollars More came on over the speakers, and the spotlights roamed from ...
The Clash: The Return of Native Paranoia
Report by Chris Salewicz, The Face, August 1981
IN HOT humid New York City, the eight Clash dates at Bonds discotheque had their number doubled following a first night raid by the Fire ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 October 1981
YES, IT'S TIME ONCE AGAIN TO REACH INSIDE THE NME CLOSET, BLOW THE DUST OFF THE OLD CLASH RULER, AND SEE HOW THE LADS ARE ...
The Clash and Stimulin at The Lyceum: The Parody Lingers On
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 24 October 1981
THE PATH of Joe Strummer is, as we know, lined with well-intentioned, golden-hearted errors, and the first of tonight's was Stimulin, whose sound mix was ...
Report by Robin Banks, ZigZag, November 1981
"We're just waiting to be melted down .... have you ever seen a burning puma?" (Joe Strummer. 'Clampdown'. Paris. September '81.) ...
The Clash: Combat Rock (CBS FMLN 2) *****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 15 May 1982
Fight to the finish ...
The Clash: Combat Rock (CBS) ***
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 15 May 1982
Gonna write a Clashic ...
The Clash: Up The Hill Backwards
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
HALF PAST ONE on Portobello Road. Past the chippy, opposite the bookshop, within earshot of a man with an amplified mouth-harp honking and scything through ...
The Clash: Combat Rock (Epic FE 37689)
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 1982
CLASH ON THE BATTLEFIELD ...
Highways To Hell: Clash Clampdown U.S.A.
Report by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 7 July 1982
IT'S SUMMER and the Clash are back, not on Broadway but on the radio. 'Rock the Casbah' is blaring out of car windows not just ...
Three Convictions on the Road From Hell
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 July 1982
The Clash: Fair Deal, Brixton, London ...
The Clash: Doubt and desperation on the edge of town
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 24 July 1982
From Garageland to hell with Joe Strummer of the Clash ...
Review by Roy Trakin, Musician, August 1982
IF YOU THOUGHT Sandinistal's epic sprawl would be edited down to a solid, filler-free album this time, guess again. Combat Rock reflects that triple-record set's ...
The Clash: Still Scruffy, But Now Rock Heroes
Profile by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 5 September 1982
NEW YORK — Four musicians sauntered onto New York's Pier 84 Tuesday. Tall, gangly, ragtag and scarred, they looked like the scruffy street fighters they ...
Profile and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Downbeat, December 1982
IT'S AN ugly voice. Gruff, guttural, uncouth, barbaric at times. Joe Strummer can't sing, not like an Al Jarreau or a Joni Mitchell, anyway. Lyrics ...
Profile by Penny Valentine, The History of Rock, 1983
IF THERE WAS one band that successfully rose above punk’s swift and premature decline, it was the Clash. Although historically the Sex Pistols remain the ...
Essay by Chris Salewicz, The History of Rock, 1983
AS A REBEL MUSIC, punk rock had close affinities with reggae. When the punk movement found a focal point and place of worship in the ...
The Clash’s Greatest Hits: Clash City Rockers
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1983
"In 1977 I hope I go to heaven'Cos I been too long on the doleAnd I can't work at allDanger stranger — you better paint ...
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 1983
WHEN THE Clash decided it wanted "the voice of God" in its last album, the group turned to Allen Ginsberg. The 56-year-old poet with the ...
US Festival ’83: No More In ‘84
Report by John Mendelsohn, Record, Summer 1983
AFTER PUNK, audiences weren’t supposed to pay large amounts of money anymore for the privilege of watching superstars from the length of a football field ...
The Clash: Long Beach Arena, Long Beach CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 26 January 1984
CLASH LEAVES A LOT OF QUESTIONS UNANSWERED ...
The Clash: Pop Will Die... And Rebel Rock Will Rule
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 February 1984
"YOU DON'T TREAT your enemies better than you treat your friends." ...
A Fired-up Joe Strummer Brings his New Clash to America
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 1 March 1984
Group gets back to its punk roots ...
The Clash: The Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 17 March 1984
ONCE UPON a time when we were a little more naive than we like to admit, The Clash seemed pretty important, like they were the ...
I Call On Joe Strummer — And Live to Tell About It!
Interview by Jon Young, Boston Rock, 16 April 1984
WHAT BECOMES a legend most? In the case of the Clash, overcoming the obstacles and carrying on, head held high. If you've followed their inconstant ...
The Mouth That Roared: The Return of The Clash
Report and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Record, June 1984
Joe Strummer announces the Clash’s comeback in no uncertain terms. ...
The Clash: They Want To Spoil The Party So They'll Stay
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1984
CREEM CONTRIBUTOR Mark Norton and I were talking several days before the Clash "invaded" Detroit, and we began discussing the concept of "armchair activism" and ...
Overview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1986
TO PUT EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE, AS TO WHERE THE ORIGINALS FROM '76 HAVE GONE; BE IT A WAYSIDE DITCH OR A MAJOR RECORD COMPANY WATER ...
The Clash: Cut The Crap (Epic); Big Audio Dynamite: This Is Big Audio Dynamite (Columbia)
Review by Jon Young, Musician, January 1986
OUT OF THE ASHES: JOE STRUMMER ROCKS, MICK JONES SWINGS ...
Review by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, March 1986
Great Expectations ...
Strummer on Man, God, Law – and the Clash
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 31 January 1988
HAS JOE STRUMMER lost his ambition and drive? It was strange last month to see one of rock's all-time most involving performers serving simply as ...
Interview by Jon Savage, unpublished, 30 May 1988
This interview was for Jon Savage's classic punk book England's Dreaming, and is published here in its entirity for the first time. ...
Big Audio Dynamite: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll...
Interview by William Shaw, Blitz, July 1988
...but Mick Jones likes it. Jones has an old-fashioned attitude towards music which began long before his days as guitar hero with The Clash. His current band, Big Audio Dynamite, release ...
Peter Jenner Journeys Through The Minefields Of The Rock World
Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 9 January 1990
IN HIS 46 years, Peter Jenner has seen a lot of rock 'n' roll, and a lot of rock 'n' rollers, come and go. He's ...
Jon Savage: "I Remember Punk Rock..."
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
He was a bored public schoolboy, then JON SAVAGE heard the Pistols and the Clash and the strings of his heart went ping. He's now ...
Overview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 22 May 1993
From The Kinks to Carter, Bowie to Blur, the Small Faces to Suede, British pop groups have eulogised, mythologised, criticised, glamorised, immortalised, romanticised and agonised ...
RAR! RAR! Disputin'! The History of Rock Against Racism
Retrospective by John Harris, New Musical Express, 16 October 1993
ON APRIL 16, 1990, a proud man who'd spent 27 years in the custody of a vicious racist regime arrived in London. He'd come to ...
Book Excerpt by Ira Robbins, The Big Takeover, 1994
Even if the basic impetus for punk rock was just traditional teen needs like pissing off parents and claiming a cultural identity, some of the ...
The Clash: Clash on Broadway (Legacy)
Review by Tom Hibbert, Q, June 1994
DID YOU know that The Clash's song, 'Career Opportunities', was written whilst the band feasted on potato croquettes from Kentucky Fried Chicken? ...
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, August 1994
IF THERE WAS ONE PIVOTAL EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE Clash's assault on the USA it was the season of 17 shows they played ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, August 1994
Joe Strummer talks to Chris Salewicz ...
Clash/Subway Sect/Slits/Prefects: Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford
Retrospective by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, October 1994
BORED TEENAGERS – SUBURBAN HICKS with soap-stiffened Sid Vicious barnets and bleeding earlobes gape in awestruck, whey-faced wonder. Chelmsford, anonymous epicentre of NOWHERE is playing ...
Retrospective by Johnny Black, Q, July 1995
Summer, 1976. Punk, live punk, is about to explode in the capital. Tap rooms, Poly bars and sweaty clubs will host its unwashed greats. Johnny Black looks ...
Sid Vicious: Disgusting of Tunbridge Wells
Essay by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 23 June 1996
Pete Silverton was busy celebrating his 21st with aunties and uncles, and the promise of a pewter mug. Then who should turn up but Sid ...
The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Heartbreakers, The Buzzcocks: Destination Nowhere
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, December 1996
Twenty years ago this month, the Sex Pistols, Clash, Damned, Heartbreakers and Buzzcocks embarked upon the Anarchy Tour. What followed more than lived up to ...
Overview by Ian Fortnam, music365.com, June 1999
IN 1977, ROCK'N'ROLL WASN'T merely a peripheral diversion to take your mind off of the mortgage on a Saturday night, it was a matter of ...
The Clash: From Here to Eternity
Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 19 October 1999
ON PAPER, the October 1982 pairing of the Clash and the Who at Shea Stadium in New York should have been historic. And maybe it ...
Essay by Simon Reynolds, The Wire, September 2000
According to the remixologists' gospel, the dub virus was so successful, it took out the word and eradicated its reggae song hosts. Simon Reynolds rediscovers ...
Various Artists: Cash From Chaos: The Complete Punk Collection
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, February 2002
Perverse selection – from New York Dolls to Gonads, Buzzcocks to Toy Dolls — misses chance to be definitive summary ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, May 2002
Song title: 'Train In Vain' Artist: The Clash Label: CBS Performers: Mick Jones – guitar/vocals Joe Strummer – guitar Paul Simenon – bass Topper ...
Joe Strummer is Dead; Long Live the Clash!
Obituary by Gavin Martin, CounterPunch, 24 December 2002
THE CHRISTMAS CARD from Joe Strummer and family arrived by email on Sunday night, a seasonal greeting accompanied by Joe's colourful illustration of a fantasy ...
Less Rotten Than Reasonable: Joe Strummer and My Punk Damascus
Memoir by Simon Warner, PopMatters, 27 December 2002
ALTHOUGH I saw Joe Strummer in action many times, I only met him once and, embarrassingly, confused him with someone else. ...
Up In Heaven: Joe Strummer, 1952-2002
Obituary by Fred Mills, Seattle Weekly, 8 January 2003
Why should we assume people get worse [with age]? I think you should just get on with it. Look at Paul Newman. And the Sufis ...
Joe Strummer: Comrade, Goodbye
Memoir by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, March 2003
SOMETIME IN 1979, I WAS interviewing Joe Strummer for the NME in the Worlds End pub on the King's Road. As well as giving me ...
Joe Strummer: Tougher Than Tough
Obituary by Vivien Goldman, Spin, April 2003
Joe Strummer was the soul-rebel idealist who gave punk a cause ...
The Clash: London Calling (25th Anniversary Legacy Edition)
Review by Pat Blashill, Rolling Stone, 22 September 2004
IN 1979, London Calling was sold with a sticker declaring that the Clash were the only band that matters, and they acted as if they ...
Band at their Best: The Clash's London Calling
Retrospective and Interview by James Medd, Esquire, October 2004
In 1979, with punk reeling from the death of Sid Vicious, the Clash holed up in a small London studio under pressure to reignite the ...
Going overground — The Clash: London Calling 25th Anniversary Edition
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, October 2004
Last album of the '70s or first album of the '80s? The Clash's meisterwerk still sounds scarily fresh, says Charles Shaar Murray ...
The Clash: London Calling 25th Anniversary
Retrospective by Ben Myers, Record Collector, October 2004
BY EARLY 1979, to the outside world The Clash were coasting. In their three short years of existence they had signed to Sony for a ...
The iJamming! Interview: Mick Jones
Interview by Tony Fletcher, iJamming.net, October 2004
I'VE SAID IT before and I'll say it again: I don't like doing phone interviews. But often times, it's the choice between talking long distance ...
Paul Simonon: London's Most Handsome Man
Interview by Ben Myers, 3ammagazine.com, November 2004
IT'S ALL ABOUT poise. If you don't have poise – definition "balance; a dignified and self-assured manner" – in rock 'n' roll, you're nothing. Paul ...
Report and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, November 2004
THE VANILLA material is clearly aimed at Clash collectors who routinely snap up underground recordings of the band. As Simonon himself freely volunteered, he’s not ...
Flogging A Dead Horse: The Clash's Cut the Crap
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO Collectors' Series, 2005
Mick and Topper are gone. Bernie Rhodes is producing and penning songs. This was never going to be the sign-off the Clash deserved. ...
Joe Strummer: The Man Who Would Be King
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, 2005
The 101'ers were about to hit the big time. But then Joe Strummer found punk. ...
We're the daddies: Ladies and Gentlemen, We're the Fabulous Stains
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, Spring 2005
Anyone remember the legendary "lost" film featuring the Clash, Pistols and, erm, Ray Winstone? ...
Chris Salewicz: Redemption Song – the Definitive Biography of Joe Strummer (Harper Collins)
Book Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, May 2006
IN 1980 – following the triumphant release of the London Calling album and during the recording of what would become Sandinista! – the Clash had ...
Punk File #1: The First Anarchic Year
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, June 2006
'76 WAS PRETTY hairy. The anniversary headlines might read "1976, The Year Of Punk", but for most kids flares and long hair (still a sign ...
Clash member will be the last white man in Hammersmith Palais
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, The Evening Standard, 30 March 2007
A look back at the history of a London landmark, as a bandmate of Joe Strummer prepares for the final concert there before the bulldozers ...
Punks, Nazis, Skins and the Clash's Finest Hour
Retrospective and Interview by Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock, August 2007
Rock Against Racism: Tom Robinson thinks of it as "the punk Woodstock" and it was the moment that punk went overground and people's band the ...
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 25 March 2008
A pioneering reggae artist and broadcaster, he worked with the Clash and UB40 ...
Spotlight On The Clash — London Calling
Memoir by Kris Needs, Clash, December 2009
IT DOESN'T seem 30 years since that night at Wessex Studios when The Clash were putting the finishing touches on London Calling. We'd been sitting ...
30 Years Ago Today... Sandinista!
Retrospective by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 13 December 2010
IN ALL THE hoopla over the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's murder another significant 30th anniversary seemed to slip by. The Clash released Sandinista! 30 ...
Interview by Paul Gorman, Paul Gorman Is, 18 February 2011
THERE IS A portrait of David Bowie taken by Kate Simon at Olympic recording studios in Barnes, west London, on January 14, 1974. The photograph ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, May 2011
UNUSUALLY, FOR AN ALBUM awarded Vinyl Icon status, the "fi" of The Clash's eponymous debut is not of the highest. It is, however, an album ...
Don Letts on the legacy of the Clash and the girl Joe Strummer Stole Away
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 29 August 2013
FILM AND VIDEO director Don Letts has a lengthy and varied resumé, but is most associated with the Clash. The new all-compassing band box set, ...
Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2013
WITH A WHIFF of revisionism about it, Sound System collects the Clash's output up tothe departure of guitarist Mick Jones,ignoring 1985's Cut The Crap but ...
Never mind the swastikas: the secret history of the UK's "punky Jews"
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, The Guardian, 27 February 2014
Punk Svengalis Malcolm McLaren and Bernie Rhodes were Jewish, and the faith had an influence on UK labels and journalists. For Jewish kids, meanwhile, the ...
Paul Simonon: The Clash's Ace of Bass
Retrospective and Interview by James Medd, The Rake, August 2017
Without him, The Clash would still have been a great band, but with him they became iconic. Paul Simonon was built for rock 'n' roll and ...
Casbah Rock: A Death Threat against the Clash
Book Excerpt by Stuart Bailie, 'Trouble Songs' (Bloomfield), May 2018
Excerpted from Trouble Songs: Music and Conflict in Northern Ireland ...
Jon Savage: A Conversation about England's Dreaming
Interview by Irina Shtreis, Louder Than War, 14 July 2021
The new edition of England's Dreaming is out now via Faber & Faber and Rough Trade as part of the bundle including two other pivotal ...
see also 101'ers, The
see also Big Audio Dynamite
see also Good, The Bad & The Queen, The
see also Joe Strummer
see also Carbon/Silicon
see also Keith Levene
see also Havana 3am
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