X-Nico

11 unusual facts about the Clash


Cut the Crap

Cut the Crap was not mentioned in the Clash documentary The Clash: Westway to the World (2000) and was acknowledged only briefly in the official 2008 book The Clash, pointedly not receiving an overview as the first five albums did.

Dawn Wirth

She is was one of the first LA Photographers to shoot The Clash in London.

Down in Albion

The influence of The Clash has been noted on songs such as "À rebours" and "The 32nd of December".

Guerrilla librarian

In more recent history, the term “guerrilla librarian” has been used to refer to Mick Jones of The Clash.

Kasba, Kolkata

(Incidentally, the word 'kasba', which means the same in Hindi and Bengali, also means the same as the Arabic 'casbah'. It is however, not recorded whether The Clash had South Calcutta in mind when they wrote 'Rock the Casbah'.)

London Rollergirls

The London Rollergirls have an all-star travel team called London Brawling, whose name is inspired by the song London Calling by U.K. punk rock band The Clash.

Real Rock

It is significant for giving rise to perhaps the most popular reggae riddim of all time, having been versioned hundreds of times by artists ranging from The Clash to KRS-One to 311.

The Clash: Westway to the World

The documentary implies that The Clash broke up in 1983 when Mick Jones left the band, and makes no mention of the post-Jones version of the band that existed between 1983 and 1986, nor the album that iteration produced (Cut the Crap).

Trouser Press

The magazine provided in-depth articles on bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Boomtown Rats, The Clash, The Damned, the Ramones, Television, and many other similar groups, long before other U.S. music publications did.

White Riot

The Clash: Westway to the World.

Within a Mile of Home

The review referred to the opening track "Screaming at the Wailing Wall" as a "toe-tapping, arm-in-arm Celtic boogie tune" and the following song "The Seven Deadly Sins" as a "kitchen-party Celtic assault." The review also noted that the song “To Youth (My Sweet Roisin Dubh)” sounds like a "Dublin-ized Mike Ness of Social Distortion" and that “The Wanderlust” as a combination of The Clash and The Pogues.


4 Out of 5 Doctors

According to band member Jeff Severson, the Doctors toured with Hall & Oates, Ritchie Blackmore, and Pat Travers, and opened for The Clash, The Cars, Cyndi Lauper, Steppenwolf, Jim Carroll, and others.

A Drop in the Gray

Phillips recruited other band members including Scottish guitarist Colin Campbell, whose influences included the Clash and Fleetwood Mac.

Allen Lanier

In addition to his work with Blue Öyster Cult, he also contributed to music by Patti Smith, Jim Carroll, The Dictators and The Clash, among others.

Amanda Shaw

Shaw has recorded two independently released albums, Little Black Dog (2001) and I'm Not a Bubble Gum Pop Princess (2004) -- the latter including traditional Cajun melodies as well as eclectic choices like The Clash's Should I Stay or Should I Go and The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (changed to "Girlfriend").

Anna Webber

Webber studied in Florence, Italy in 2005, under Jill Furmanovsky, the British rock photographer best known for her photos of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Blondie, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, and others on display in the National Portrait Gallery in London, England.

Bob Gruen

Other notable celebrities and rock bands photographed by Gruen include the New York Dolls, The Clash, Ramones, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, Led Zeppelin, The Who, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elton John, Aerosmith, Kiss, Alice Cooper and Green Day.

Cornwall Coliseum

Through the 1970s and 1980s, various major acts of the era would perform at the venue, including The Clash, The Jam, The Who, Black Sabbath, Cliff Richard, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Slade, Bon Jovi, Simple Minds, Deborah Harry, T'Pau and Glen Campbell who recorded a live album there in 1981, as well as many comedy and light entertainment acts.

Daphna Dove

It was on the third week when Daphna performed "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash that Daphna was placed in the Bottom 3 by the American public.

Every Little Bit Hurts

The Clash have also made their own version, released in the 1991 3-disc compilation Clash On Broadway.

Gary Myrick

Paul Simonon (former bassist of The Clash), Nigel Dixon (former lead singer of Whirlwind) and Myrick united to form Havana 3AM.

Jill Furmanovsky

She has photographed many of the biggest names in rock music, including: Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, The Ramones, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Blondie, The Police, The Plea, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Pretenders and Oasis.

KST Live 31.08.'95

The album features cover versions of KUD Idijoti "Pisma o ribaru Marinu, Mari i moru" and "Minijatura", Ramones "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Commando" and a version of The Clash cover of "I Fought the Law", with lyrics in Serbian language entitled "Ne mogu više".

Life Won't Wait

The album branches out from Rancid's punk and ska roots to explore roots reggae and rockabilly, and dabbles in elements of dub, hip-hop, funk and other forms of music as The Clash did with Sandinista!.

London Buses route 19

The route is also referenced in the first line of "Rudie Can't Fail" by The Clash.

Mayfair Ballroom

Artists that played the venue, early in their career, include AC/DC, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Police, The Prodigy, The Cross, Kylie Minogue, Tin Machine, U2, The Clash, Iron Maiden, Faith No More, Judas Priest and Nirvana, among others.

Meeting Joe Strummer

They have seen a lot since they first met as teenagers watching The Clash play the Rock Against Racism rally at Victoria Park in 1978: divorce, class warfare, acid house, the bleak Thatcher years and even soap stardom, but the flame of punk idealism – what they describe as the “inner Strummer” – has never quite gone out.

Mickey the Monkey

The Clash Drummer Topper Headon, real name Nicholas Bowen Headon, earned his nickname from the band's guitarist Mick Jones due to his resemblance to Mickey the Monkey.

On Melancholy Hill

The rest of the video shows Murdoc Niccals, 2-D and Cyborg Noodle traveling through the deep ocean with a fleet of submarines, crewed by all of the collaborators that helped make the album, including Lou Reed, De La Soul, Snoop Dogg, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, 2manyDJs and Gruff Rhys.

Original Fire

It featured the band playing with images of figures that are inspirational to the band, such as Johnny Cash, Martin Luther King Jr., Che Guevara, Chuck D, The Clash, Bob Dylan, Wendy O. Williams, Peter Tosh, Jello Biafra, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce, Jim Morrison, the Million Man March, Andy Warhol, Ozzy Osbourne, Janis Joplin, Joey Ramone, Randy Rhoads, Malcolm X, Glenn Danzig, Iggy Pop and Nelson Mandela.

Pankrti

Initially they played covers of established punk bands including the Sex Pistols, The Clash and New York Dolls.

Peter Gammons

Gammons sang and played guitar on this collection of originals and covers that includes The Clash's Death or Glory and Warren Zevon's Model Citizen.

Pinkerton Thugs

The band, which initially consisted of drummer/vocalist Paul Russo, guitarist/vocalist Micah Smaldone and bassist James Whitten drew influence from punk bands such as Sham 69, the Clash, Conflict, and Crass as well as Woody Guthrie's political ballads.

Ponty Bone

With his band, Ponty has shared the stage with such artists as The Clash, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, King Flaco Jiménez, Linda Ronstadt and Ronnie Lane.

Prince Far I

He is referred to by The Clash in their single "Clash City Rockers" and also by The Mountain Goats in the song "Sept. 15th 1983", a reference to the date of his death.

Roses in the Hospital

At the end of the song James Dean Bradfield can also be heard singing the line "Rudi gonna fail", a reference to "Rudie Can't Fail", a song by The Clash from their seminal album London Calling.

Rosław Szaybo

Between 1972 and 1988 he was signed as chief artistic director in CBS Records, where he designed over 2000 album covers, mostly for the classical music, but also for the artists like Elton John, Roy Orbison, Santana, Janis Joplin, The Clash and John Williams.

Roughler

The Roughler was single-handedly produced by Ray Roughler Jones, a refugee from Swansea, and contained contributions from The Clash, Will Self, Jock Scott, Shane McGowan, Neneh Cherry, Joe Rush of Mutoid Waste, Keith and Kevin Allen plus local heroes such as Steve Underground, John The Hat and Ian Bone of Class War.

Skip Bifferty

John Turnbull and Mick Gallagher reappeared in 1977 in The Blockheads, backing Ian Dury; in 1979 Gallagher played and recorded with The Clash and The Only Ones.

Stan Stammers

During their two year existence Theatre of Hate released a number of singles and albums, most notably "Legion" the b-side to the first single "Original Sin", the Westworld album which was produced by Mick Jones of The Clash, and the "Westworld" single which went into no. 40 of the UK charts, qualifying the band for an appearance on Top of the Pops.

Steve Levine

His career began as a trainee tape-op at CBS studios in 1975, soon progressed to in house engineer, working with many now classic new wave and punk acts including The Clash, The Jags, The Vibrators, XTC as well as many of CBS Records' pop acts, including Sailor.

Tangocrisis

In different interviews 020 / Tangocrisis acknowledged several influences within and outside the music industry in their lyrical content, such as Pink Floyd, The Clash, Bob Marley, Erich Fromm, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell.

The Exploding Hearts

The band drew influences from early British punk bands such as The Undertones, Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Jam, The Boys and The Only Ones, as well as power pop acts like Nick Lowe.

The Quietus

The Quietus has featured exclusive interviews with Sex Pistols' Glen Matlock, The Clash's Mick Jones, The Smiths' Johnny Marr, The The's Matt Johnson, Oasis's Noel Gallagher, New Order's Peter Hook, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, The Killers' Brandon Flowers, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's Andy McCluskey, and La Roux's Elly Jackson, among others.

The Skunks

One of the first Austin punk bands to tour nationally, The Skunks played CBGB's in August 1979 and Max's Kansas City in 1980 and opened for such national and international acts as The Ramones, The Police, Gang Of Four, Ultravox, The Clash, John Cale, The Cramps and many others.

Tom Fun Orchestra

The band features an unconventional mix of electric and acoustic instruments, including violin, banjo, accordion, trumpet, double bass, electric guitars and drums, and have elicited comparisons to acts ranging from The Clash, Tom Waits and The Pogues to The Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene.

Willi Williams

The song was later covered by The Clash, featured in the film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack (is featured on the Reggae radio station K-JAH Radio West but not on the soundtrack album).