The Clash - I Fought the Law but the Law Won..

15th July - Saturday Morning. I'm writing this on kewlpad (click for more on that) to be published on Monday when I get back to the office cos i got no Internet in the house. Don't really think I need to install it at home anyway cos I'm never home long enough to use it! So in the morning, i wus busy making cucur udang (prawn fritters) for breakfast while wifey told me she was going outside to hang out the clothes. While i was busy mixing up the batter I suddenly heard some music from the front of the house. "Oh.. wifey must have turned on some cd for us to listen to". What took me by surprise was the music itself.. I thought I was dreaming when I heard the wailing Guitars of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones as they launched full force into the opening bars of "Complete Control". The Clash were in the house! Yes, wifey explained later that this was the only CD she could find. It was my precious copy of The Clash: From Here to Eternity - Live.

I remember my first encounter with the Clash. It was years ago and Channel V was airing a Clash advertisement for a special on the band that they were going to air soon. Intrigued as to who they were, I did my research and ended up buying that album wifey had just put on.(I also bought the "Super Black Market Clash" Album but some bastard borrowed it and never returned it!). I never got to watch the Channel V special. But I had discovered a brilliant, brilliant punk+reggae band that looked good, played well, sang reasonably well and wrote sensitive songs that brought an acute awareness to the changing socio-political landscape of UK in the late 70's and early 80's.

This CD featured the line up of the previously mentioned Joe Strummer and Mick Jones who featured on guitars and vocals. Joining them was Paul Simonon on Bass and vocals. Last but not least was Topper Headon on drums. Here's a couple of mentions of the band from the CD Liner notes:

"Masonic Auditorium. Detroit 1978. A packed house. Lights go down, band goes on. After the first number, an empty whiskey bottle crashes near Joe's (Strummer) feet. He laughs. 'Is that the best you got?' In an instant, hundreds of bottles rain down on the stage....whizzing past Mick's ear, smashing into Topper's kit. Amazingly, the band played on undettered. This band will do nicely, I thought."
    -David

I would have loved to be there!

"The Clash's second visit to the Boston Orpheum. The bouncers weren't letting people dance. Joe saw this and said. 'Lets do a test and find out how smart everyone is. We're going to turn out the lights for 30 seconds '. Out went the lights, and when they they came on there were bodies jumping from the balcony and bodies climbing over chairs and fighting with security to get closer to the stage. And 100 feet in the MIDDLE of the crowd -Mr Joe Strummer himself!. No other band backed their words with action like The Clash."
    - Brian

Last one,

"The Clash were the greatest rock 'n' roll band there ever has been. They had three frontmen. Most groups don't even have one. They had the greatest singer who was your best mate, the best guitar player with the best moves and the coolest, most handsome bass player in punk rock. Live, The Clash were the most exciting band you could ever see. They made a joke out of modern rock bands. They had a conscience. They never sold out . Respect."
    - Alan

So that was how fans felt about The Clash. I loved every song they ever made. But not every thing was rosy, go read the wiki. Peace.

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