The Music That Made Me #2-The Clash

The Clash were a Brit-Punk band formed in 1976 in London by Joe Strummer,Paul Simonon,Mick Jones,and Terry Chimes(who would be replaced by Nicky Topper Headon). They recorded 6 albums during their career and created classics like Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay or Should I Go.In 1986 The Clash disbanded but would have a few reunions.In 2002 Joe Strummer died at the age of 50 due to a heart attack.

The Clash released 6 albums during their 6 year stint the albums being The Clash(1977) Give Em' Enough Rope(1978) London Calling(1979) Sandista(1980) Combat Rock(1982) Cut the Crap(1985).In this blog I will talk about their 1977,1979,and 1982 albums.

The Clash released their self-titled debut album on April 8th 1977. It includes two sides on side one is the tracks Clash City Rockers,I'm so bored with the USA,Remote Control,Complete Control,White Riot,(White Man)In Hammersmith Palais,London's Burning,and I Fought the Law. Side two has the tracks Janie Jones,Career Opportunities,What's My Name,Hate & War,Police & Thieves,Jail Guitar Doors,and Garageland. My first experience with this album was in 2010 when I was just on YouTube binging rock albums from the 60's and 70's(mainly the Beatles and the Monkees) and came across this album and decided to listen to it and thought it was pretty decent.

The Clash released their 3rd album London Calling on December 14th 1979. The album has four sides and side one has the songs London Calling,Brand New Cadillac,Jimmy Jazz,Hateful,and Rudie Can't Fail.Side two has Spanish Bombs,The Right Profile,Lost in the Supermarket,Clampdown,and The Guns of Brixton. Side Three has the tracks Wrong 'Em Boyo,Death or Glory,Kola Kola,and The  Card Cheat. Side Four has Lover's Rock,Four Horsemen,I'm Not Down,Revolution Rock,and Train in Vain. The album is very long due to how many sides it has and it takes around an hour to fully listen to so if you are gonna listen to it in full in one sitting you should probably get some snacks ready. I first listened to this album in like 2014 or 2015 and thought it was pretty average but now it is my favorite album The Clash had made just because of all the songs and the fact that almost every single one is good so yeah.

The Clash released their 5th album Combat Rock on May 14th 1982. It includes two sides. Side One has the tracks Know Your Rights,Car Jamming,Should I Stay or Should I Go,Rock The Casbah,Red Angel Dragnet,and Straight to Hell. Side Two includes the tracks Overpowered by Funk,Atom Tan,Sean Flynn,Ghetto Defendant,Inoculated City, and Death is a Star. I first heard a song from Combat Rock in 2006 and it was Know Your Rights and it was pretty good overall and that was the song that got me into The Clash. The most popular songs from the album tend to be Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay or Should I Go but songs like Sean Flynn and Death is a Star are also pretty good(In my opinion).

For this blog I listened to all 3 albums in full(in one sitting) and I am now gonna rate them based off of the songs and quality of the music.

The Clash(1977) 8.6/10-The band's debut album was a solid beginning to their career and is definitely something you should listen to.

London Calling(1979) 9.2/10-Personally London Calling is my favorite album the The Clash ever made mainly because it has a lot more content than the other albums considering it has 4 sides instead of 2.

Combat Rock(1982) 8.1/10-Combat Rock is a good album and in general it is very good but I just can't put it at number one due to the albums that came before it.

Quick notes:For this blog I had to fully listen to the 3 albums I talked about which took like 4 hours and in between albums I had to listen to like pop and rap to cleanse my musical palate.

Usually when I play music it is rock and stuff like that but The Clash got me into Brit-Punk and punk in general so when I play my guitar I sometimes use a much rougher style. It also helped me come with lyric ideas involving my country(Tanzania but also Ethiopia) which was good.