The Rock Against Racism movement has attempted to separate the rock ‘n’ roll community from the growing numbers of neo-Nazis. Ironically the rock ‘n’ roll bands had a much clearer vision of the coming trouble than anyone in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government. There’s little doubt that the Clash are slated to be the new bad boys of rock ’n’ roll. They are neither Talking Heads nor PiL. In a lot of ways they are an old-fashioned hoodlum rock ‘n’ roll band. Their main motivation is simply to survive in rock ‘n’ roll, to keep on keeping on.
The Clash released their self-titled debut album on April 8, 1977. To commemorate the anniversary of this momentous event in rock history, we’re republishing Mick Farren’s story about the seminal British punk band, first published in the October, 1981 issue of High Times.
“There are plenty of love songs in the world already.”
This is Joe Strummer’s laconic and deliberately oblique explanation of why he and the rest of the Clash prefer to write and play songs about ghettos, guerrillas, and Third World...
Read the full article @ High Times