Best Songs

The members of the Clash were drawn together in 1976, at which point ìthe insurgent spirit of '60s rock was well and truly dead,' as Gilbert writes. The explosion of the punk scene in England that year gave rise to a rash of bands, 'who channeled the anger and frustration on the streets of gloomy mid-'70s Britain into a new kind of cauterising, anti-establishment rock ín roll.' The first indictments served by the Clash came in the form of their debut single (on CBS Records/UK), 'White Riot,' issued March 1977, inspired by Strummer and Simononís attendance at the riot during that yearís Notting Hill Carnival, Londonís annual Afro-Caribbean Festival. 'White Riot' set the pattern for the Clash ñ biting, politically charged lyrics underpinned by a musical bed that owed as much of a debt to the minimalist garage-punk ethic of the Stooges and MC5 as it did to Lee Perry and Londonís transplanted ska and reggae roots rockers. This sound that dominated their self-titled British debut LP of early, 1977, The Clash ('White Riot,' 'Londonís Burning,''ìIím So Bored With the USA,' 'Career Opportunities,' 'Hate & War,''Cheat,' 'Janie Jones,' 'ìGarageland,' and the cover of Junior Murvinís 'Police & Thieves'). Recorded over the course of three weeks, the LP quickly reached ..12 on the UK national chart. The Clash was established as a headline act in Great Britain and Europe from their very first tours. True to British form, the Clash began recording and releasing new non-LP singles in mid <b>...</b>