The Essential Clash

A perfect storm of power and fury, the 1977 debut from The Clash was the 35-minute Molotov that launched political punk as we know it. A raw, unfiltered dispatch from the first generation of UK punk rock, <i>The Clash</i> called for revolution in three-minute bursts, shouting barbed screeds about class disparity, unemployment and racism over chain-saw guitars—a weaponised attitude that would inspire generation upon generation of outspoken musicians like U2, Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine and Rise Against. Just one year earlier, future Clash leader Joe Strummer was a struggling, zoot-suit-clad pub-rocker who found his true calling after seeing a Sex Pistols gig in London. Snatched by manager Bernie Rhodes to join guitarist Mick Jones and bassist Paul Simonon—and later, drummer Terry Chimes—he and the group would rehearse and scheme seven days a week, choosing their name from a word that recurred in <i>Evening Standard</i> headlines. Pushed by Rhodes to lean into politically pointed lyrics, The Clash became ambitious, idealistic fire starters fighting against the forces that create oppression. The band’s first single, “White Riot”, was written after witnessing a conflict between Black youth and police at the Notting Hill Carnival. Why, Strummer posits, can’t poor white kids have a riot of their own? “All the power’s in the hands/Of the people rich enough to buy it,” he sings. “While we walk the street/Too chicken to even try it.” With their trademark rasp-and-roar, The Clash take a stand against the powers that be (“Remote Control”), American imperialism (“I’m So Bored With the U.S.A.”), the dismal state of their hometown (“London’s Burning”), conformity (“Career Opportunities”) and the music industry (“Garageland”). A cover of Junior Murvin’s incendiary reggae song “Police & Thieves” confronts police brutality in the lyrics and points forward to the band’s many experiments with stylistic cross-pollination. The Clash would have more critical and commercial success after fully embracing their role as genre-blurring roots-rockers and New Wavers, but the gnashing, undiluted rage of their debut may be their most important line in the sand.