We Are the Clash

April 15, 2018

This work focuses on the lesser-known last act of The Clash, their post-Combat Rock period that was not embraced by many fans or critics. It was a historically political period, and the flexing and forces of America's Ronald Reagan and Britain's Margaret Thatcher figure largely in the discussion of one of the most politically motivated bands to become commercially successful. Coverage is specialized, extending considerably beyond mere behind-the-scenes reportage and deeply explores the sociopolitical context in which the band operated; as such, the tone can be intense (read: punk) and professorial. In all, Andersen (coauthor, Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital) and Heibutzki's (Unfinished Business: The Life & Times of Danny Gatton) examination of the band's proletarian stance in light of its commercial striving is immensely satisfying. VERDICT Fans and musos will thoroughly enjoy this book, which is most appropriate for libraries with large music collections. For a chronicle of the band's life on the road, try Randal Doane's Stealing All Transmissions: A Secret History of the Clash; for an overview of all things Clash, Marcus Gray's Last Gang in Town: The Story and Myth of The Clash sets the standard.--Douglas C. Lord, Connecticut State Lib., Middletown

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 14, 2018
In an ambitious look at the last days of the Clash, music writers Andersen and Heibutzki examine Clash front man Joe Strummer’s struggle for relevance beginning in 1984, nearly a decade after the band was formed. Dazed by stardom, family trouble, and the machinations of manager Bernard Rhodes, Strummer dismissed his guitarist and collaborator Mick Jones from the band (drummer Topper Headon had already been kicked out for his heroin addiction). Without Jones, Strummer worked to combine his R&B roots with his interest in world music; at the same time he was trying to juggle his commitments to political causes, his recording label, and his family. Meanwhile, the authors write, Thatcher and Reagan were attacking workers’ rights and social welfare. During this time, the Clash disintegrated while producing the controversial 1986 album Cut the Crap, which consisted of unfinished songs and was reviewed harshly in the British press. Andersen and Heibutzki’s enlightening reevaluation of this period highlights the band’s final, rabble-rousing 1985 busking tour of Britain, which saw the band play acoustic sets in parking lots, parks, and on street corners, as a remarkable act of defiance against Thatcher’s policies. This is an inspiring take on the rock-band bio format, as much a political history of the 1980s as it is a look at an influential band in its final years.

May 1, 2018
When did the Clash quit being "the only band that matters"?This fascinating book faces a challenge: documenting the final years of the British band that its record label had promoted with that slogan. It's a period the band has disavowed and that critics have generally reviled, resulting in one album released after this version of the band had effectively disbanded and which the Clash has omitted from its authorized anthology. The best that Andersen (co-author: Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital, 2009) and Heibutzki (Unfinished Business-The Life and Times of Danny Gatton, 2003) can say about the album, "Cut the Crap," recorded with only two original members, is that it was "indeed unique, if also sometimes a bit of a car wreck." As much as the Clash as a band, the authors focus on the Clash as an idea, an interchange of rebellious fervor between artist and audience and perhaps more timely than ever with the ascent of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. The authors risk oversimplifying what led the Clash to this juncture: a split between Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, whose more commercial-sounding hits were at odds with the band's activist urgency. There's also a bigger tension at work: how rock can possibly fight the system from within the system--recording for a huge conglomerate--and how it can become popular enough to wield significant influence without succumbing to the temptations of rock stardom. Following a large festival payday, Strummer and the band sacked Jones (after their drummer had already been sidelined by heroin addiction) and recruited a new lineup under the old name. However, they could never agree on what the new Clash was supposed to be, and Strummer and his manager ultimately found themselves at irreparable odds. The band may no longer have mattered, but its legacy mattered to the authors, who make it matter to the readers.More than a footnote to the rise and fall of one of the last great rock bands.

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