I see folks mentioning that they think that they are supposed to like The Clash, but also some that say they don’t like them.

I’m curious about both: why do you think you’re supposed to like them, and why don’t you like them?

Other than being occasionally annoyed with Mick Jones’s guitar sound, I am a big fan.

NC

They're endlessly dull. Crap.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:50 pm They're endlessly dull. Crap.

I was kinda hoping to see SHRUG.

jfv wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:38 pm I see folks mentioning that they think that they are supposed to like The Clash, but also some that say they don’t like them.

I’m curious about both: why do you think you’re supposed to like them, and why don’t you like them?

Other than being occasionally annoyed with Mick Jones’s guitar sound, I am a big fan.

NC

Supposed top like them because they are part of the punk cannon.

I don't like them because

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote:They're endlessly dull.

Sure they have some good tracks. Prefer B.A.D.

Sandinista! is an all-timer for me. I don't listen to the whole thing in one sitting that often, but when I do, it feels like a bonkers "an evening with" set at a downtown loft dance party hosted by The Clash with tons of drugs going around. I love the often derided "throwaway dub mixes" final side too, screw off haters. In my digital music library, I have "Radio One", "Stop the World", "The Magnificent Dance", and "The Cool Out" tacked on the end of the album, pushing the album's runtime even further to 2 hours and 43 minutes.

London Calling was an instant obsession for me when I finally first heard it, I recall immediately starting the album over again as soon as it ended that first time, something that I almost never do. I haven't listened to it in a long time and wore it out from overexposure, whereas I still put on Sandinista! from to time to time. I can probably still sing along to "Spanish Bombs" word for word if I had to.

I'm not as crazy about their first two straight ahead punk albums and early singles, but they're mostly good tunes and seem to hold up better for me than the majority of other punk wave stuff. Figuring out "Clash City Rockers" on rhythm guitar completely by ear was a big moment for me as a budding self-taught guitar player, as simple as that song is.

Combat Rock was the first Clash record that I (and many others in the US I'm sure) listened to, on the strength of the two big hits it had, though I never latched onto it quite like the way I did with the two preceding albums. "First Night Back in London" and "Long Time Jerk" are excellent B-sides however, check them out if you haven't before.

Never listened to Cut the Crap before, think it's time I give it a listen right now actually!

All in all, NC!

Not the best of the original crop of punk bands, and yeah, there's some dross here and there, but I'll give The Clash a Not Crap. Don't worship them, or listen to them for hours on end, but they've got several good to great, catchy songs.

Also, say what you will about the bongos, but this bassline is killer:

It took several listens for London Calling to sink in with me, I didn't see what was so great about it right away. That album and the 2-disc Essential Clash are all I own, I think it's enough.

In 1999, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros came to our town, I decided to go because "it's the dude from the Clash." I'm so glad I did, as I'm a bigger fan of the Clash now than I was back then. At the very start of the show, someone held up a long sign that said, 'THIS IS ALL ABOUT FREE SPEECH', Joe promptly took it and set it in front of the drum riser.

Not crap. I still love hearing 'Rock the Casbah' on the radio.

chexmixbreath wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 3:43 pm Sandinista! is an all-timer for me. I don't listen to the whole thing in one sitting that often, but when I do, it feels like a bonkers "an evening with" set at a downtown loft dance party hosted by The Clash with tons of drugs going around. I love the often derided "throwaway dub mixes" final side too, screw off haters. In my digital music library, I have "Stop the World", "The Magnificent Dance", and "The Cool Out" tacked on the end of the album, pushing the album's runtime even further to 2 hours and 43 minutes.

I love, love, love that album. Have some similar and some different thoughts about it:

- I usually don't bother with side six. I'd be more tempted to listen to all six sides if each respective dub mix was placed directly after the original song instead of (nearly) all of them being lumped on side six, like how "One More Dub" follows "One More Time".

- I LOVE the kids singing "Guns of Brixton" and "Career Opportunities"!

- As you implied, it could have been 4 LPs. They also had "Bankrobber", "Armagideon Time", and their respective dub mixes in the can at the time as well. (I believe "This is Radio Clash" was written a little later.) I wonder if the record label said, "You can have three. You can't have four!!"

I usually listen to it in vinyl, but it is a lot of fun to mess with the order of the album on a digital device, including additional songs from that time period, too, making a ridiculously long album.

Clumsy, clueless music. I'll give 'em a little slack w/ the early singles (which are at least frenetic and energetic), but by the second record onwards it's clear they are a bad band, lacking in basic musical ability, esp the rhythm section: one of the worst for a band of their stature. That triple record is beyond awful.

Asinine politics too, though now I'm older I like that Strummer clearly believed every word of it. He was an authentic guy.

CRAP

chexmixbreath wrote: Wed Feb 16, 2022 3:43 pm They also had "Bankrobber", "Armagideon Time", and their respective dub mixes in the can at the time as well. (I believe "This is Radio Clash" was written a little later.) I wonder if the record label said, "You can have three. You can't have four!!"

"Bankrobber", and, "Armagideon Time" were singles, and supposed to be installments of an onslaught of singles, in between London Calling and Sandinista. Which became "Black Market Clash".

I am a HUGE Clash fan. Unrepentantly so. Really the band that got me to grow out of the "only US HARDCORE IS REAL" phase of my teens. The curiosity and variety on the last 3 albums are lifeblood to me. Best musicians? Hell No. Pretty damned good songwriters, though, who I always felt had an amount of sincerity to what they did.

Extra points for B.A.D, Latino Rockabilly War, and The Mescalaros.

Honestly shocked that they've received this many NC