It's no mistake that the Clash were once called the only band that matters.
As the seventies were drawing to a close, and rock music was imploding onto itself from virtually all sides, the Clash were looked to by many as the band that was going to save rock and roll from itself. They were loud, they were aggressive, but they also played really well and wrote great songs. Most importantly though, like all of the best rock and roll artists, the Clash were a band who told the truth.
I was fortunate enough myself to witness the Clash in concert on three separate occasions back then, each taking place during very distinct and different periods in their all too brief career.
I have very vivid memories of each show. There was the time that Joe Strummer grabbed a fireman's axe off the wall at Seattle's Paramount on the Give Em' Enough Rope tour, and went after the security guys with it when he saw fans getting roughed up by them down in front. Then there was the time I saw the Clash essentially break up onstage at 1983's US Festival in Southern California.
But the common thread every time I saw them was that the Clash pushed themselves to the limit, giving pretty much everything they had, without much regard for the potential circumstances. It's what made them one of the most powerful live bands in the world, with not many coming close either then or since.
As their first official live album, Live At Shea Stadium captures the Clash during a peak period both commercially, and as performers with a reputation as one of rock's true "must-see" live bands.
Recorded during their stint as openers for the Who during their 1982 stadium tour, the Clash may as well have been co-headliners. They were riding high at the time on the success of the Combat Rock album, and the singles "Rock The Casbah" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go." At a time when rock was rapidly changing, the Clash were also leading the charge of that revolution. On that particular tour, there were as many fans buying tickets to see the Clash as they were for the Who.
Article comments
1 - Bob
RE:
"Recorded during their stint as openers for the Who during their 1982 stadium tour, the Clash may as well have been co-headliners. They were riding high at the time on the success of the Combat Rock album, and the singles "Rock The Casbah" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go." At a time when rock was rapidly changing, the Clash were also leading the charge of that revolution. On that particular tour, there were as many fans buying tickets to see the Clash as they were for the Who."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA no.
I saw the Clash twice in 1982, once headlining a 3,000 seat venue, and once with the Who, at 90,000 seat JFK Stadium, which sold out in a few hours, before the Clash's name was ever added to the bill. The other NY/ Philly area Clash shows in '82 were at slightly larger halls, maybe 6,000 capacity, which they sold out but not immediately. None of them were hard to get tickets to, except the Who shows.
Combat Rock may just have outsold the Who's 1982 album, based on the hit singles, but be real. The Who were one of the biggest concert draws in the world in 1982. The Clash were never, ever, close to an arena-level headliner in this country.
People forget that today, since we have punk-esque bands like Green Day and My Chem Romance headlining arenas and stadium-size festivals. That never happenned in the 1980s, not once.
Not to take anything away from your otherwise fine review but in the name of history I had to point that out.
2 - zingzing
"As the seventies were drawing to a close, and rock music was imploding onto itself from virtually all sides, the Clash were looked to by many as the band that was going to save rock and roll from itself."
first, i love the clash. they're one of those bands that once you get an itching to hear them, they're all that will do.
but!
rock music was truly at a peak in the late-70s/early-80s. punk may have started the revolution, (and disco played its part as well, but that's another story,) but it was the post-punk (that blossomed because of punk) that truly started the EXPLOSION of rock music.
in it's own way, punk was just as bloated as the prog-rock and california soft rock that it was trying to kill. it became about so much more than the music, for both good and bad. here we were, replacing light shows and drum solos with safety pins and violence. then punk died, at least as a social phenomenon.
out of that came post-punk, and while the clash were tooling around with blue oyster cult's producer in 1978, bands all over the (western) world were taking rock music apart and putting it back together again in the freakiest of combinations. all sorts of sounds were being made, and when the clash came back, almost two years later, they took note.
london calling was fairly trad (yet good at it), but sandanista was a fucking marvel of a mess, taking cues from all over (but mostly from what their english post-punk compatriots were already doing). combat rock slickened it up for mass consumption (and it did have a few stellar moments), but as a whole it was a retreat back into the familiar (for 1982).
the clash didn't save rock n roll, it was rock n roll that saved the clash. without their consistent swiping (and unerring taste), the clash would have simply been a preachy (and loud preachy) band. as it stands, they could talk about their subjects almost three times removed (the clash's interpretation of other british appropriations of various minority musics), with a proper distance and irony.
i'm not saying they weren't an important rock band. they just weren't the only ones that mattered. all they did was say it the loudest.
3 - zingzing
but, a nice review. i wish i had been old enough at the time, etc., etc.