#102 The Clash, 'The Clash' (1977)
Previously #81
The self-titled debut album by The Clash is a short fast loud affair of 14 songs clocking in at a mere 35 minutes, with only a small handful of tracks exceeding two and a half minutes long. The album that would go on to be seminal in punk rock was written and recorded over the course of three weeks and cost £4,000 to make. Most of it was conceived in a council flat in London, where Mick Jones lived with his grandmother. His grandmother was an early supporter of the band and would often attend their live shows. The thought of a little old Jewish Grandmother at a punk gig fills me with so much joy. In fact, all of the above is just the epitome of Punk.
The music on the album is in line with the Punk ethos too. The album opens with ‘Janie Jones,’ a song about a famous London brothel madam from the ‘70s. ‘Remote Control’ was written after the problem-ridden ‘Anarchy’ tour and is filled with criticisms of bureaucrats that cancelled concerts, the police, big business, greedy record labels; sound familiar? This is a song that could have been written in 2021. Their label, CBS, released the song without fully realising what it was about and without consulting the band. ‘White Riot’ was the first single released from the record, a song about classism and race and proved to be a controversial single at the time. The song features mostly two chords throughout, but five in total and would become the blueprint for the Punk song. ‘Career Opportunities,’ or rather the lack thereof; ‘Protex Blue’ about condoms from a vending machine in the Windsor Castle toilet. The longest track on the record is ‘Police and Thieves,’ which is also the only cover on the album; a song originally by Junior Murvin. This was an early example of the band’s foray into Reggae/Ska music and foreshadowed what was to come for them. Lee “Scratch” Perry, the co-writer of the song, felt, at the time, that the band had destroyed the song. Their version inspired Bob Marley to write the song ‘Punk Reggae Party’ and said about The Clash’s version "It is different, but me like how him feel it." The album would go on to inspire many a young Punk heralding the second wave of Punk Rock.
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