The Clash Takes on the World: Transnational Perspectives on The Only Band that Matters

Description

On their debut, The Clash famously claimed to be "bored with the USA," but The Clash wasn't a parochial record. Mick Jones' licks on songs such as "Hate and War" were heavily influenced by classic American rock and roll, and the cover of Junior Murvin's reggae hit "Police and Thieves" showed that the band's musical influences were already wide-ranging. Later albums such as Sandinista! and Combat Rock saw them experimenting with a huge range of musical genres, lyrical themes and visual aesthetics. The Clash Takes on the World explores the transnational aspects of The Clash's music, lyrics and politics, and it does so from a truly transnational perspective. It brings together literary scholars, historians, media theorists, musicologists, social activists and geographers from Europe and the US, and applies a range of critical approaches to The Clash's work in order to tackle a number of key questions: How should we interpret their negotiations with reggae music and culture? How did The Clash respond to the specific socio-political issues of their time, such as the economic recession, the Reagan-Thatcher era and burgeoning neoliberalism, and international conflicts in Nicaragua and the Falkland Islands? How did they reconcile their anti-capitalist stance with their own success and status as a global commodity? And how did their avowedly inclusive, multicultural stance, reflected in their musical diversity, square with the experience of watching the band in performance? The Clash Takes on the World is essential reading for scholars, students and general readers interested in a band whose popularity endures.

Samuel Cohen is Associate Professor of English at the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA. James Peacock is Senior Lecturer in English and American Literatures at Keele University, UK.

A world of "takes" on The Clash awaits the reader of The Clash Takes on the World. Not satisfied with the the facile dismissal of The Clash's real political commitments that permeates so much of the criticism, these writers take seriously the band's engagement on the transnational stage, and do so from an impressive array of disciplinary positions. The best of the essays combine meticulous close analysis with ambitious theoretical bravado to produce a collection both admirably deep and dazzlingly wide. What's more, The Clash is always a band in these analyses, not merely odd jobbers propping up charismatic frontman Joe Strummer. The Clash Takes on the World remaps our understanding of "the only band that matters" in productive, exciting, and often surprising ways. An American reader, at least, must put down the volume in a mood of real desperation: "Where are they now when we need them most?" * Kevin Dettmar, W. M. Keck Professor of English, Pomona College, USA * At a time when British popular music might be regarded as inward-looking, even parochial, The Clash Takes on the World reminds us of a band and a time when UK rock moved confidently beyond the confines of these islands, transmitted a transatlantic imperative, and spread its vision across several continents. The shock troops of London's punk scene, the Clash quickly became more than that, their ideological impetus embracing the International left with vigour, energy and wit. Post-colonial, anti-imperial, pro- underdog, Strummer, Jones and co. absorbed sounds and styles from the US, the Caribbean, South America and further afield. Transnational in scope and cross-disciplinary in voice, Peacock and Cohen's book reminds us that punk may have had local beginnings, but the Clash gave it global purpose. This essay collection, penned by an international cast of academics, embraces issues of culture, ideology, class and race, and considers the band's reputation in the great cities of London, New York and Paris. It utilises various prisms to read the band and its activities - war and reggae, journalism and art, for example - and unwraps the group legend from a number of key positions: as a live act, as touring posse, as DIY practitioners and studio operatives. The Clash have long been mythologised as the authentic standard bearers of that mid-1970s musical revolution. This book analyses multiple aspects of that mythology to provide an insightful and rounded deconstruction of the meanings behind this punk phenomenon. * Simon Warner, Visiting Research Fellow Popular Music Studies, University of Leeds, UK * More than any other band The Clash felt the spirit - positive or negative - of the planet's unconscious. Through the magic of their lyrical and musical poetry the four musicians conveyed this wherever they were heard or seen. Without losing their balance they existed in the gap between art and life. The Clash really were The Only Band That Mattered. Samuel Cohen and James Peacock comprehensively explore these esoteric qualities with depth and understanding. * Chris Salewicz, author of Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer *