The Clash
"Are you taking over/ or are you taking orders?/ Are you going backwards/ Or are you going forwards?" (The Clash - "White Riot")
From their 1977 debut single onwards, The Clash stood for the white-hot, politically-driven heart of British punk rock. Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Terry Chimes (later replaced by Topper Headon) formed the group in 1976, and quickly rose in name recognition and popularity, being signed to CBS Records later that year. The release of the single White Riot and the album The Clash in 1977 brought the band worldwide recognition, and spread their pugnacious left-wing revolutionary message beyond the confines of Merrie Olde England. Over the next five years, the band's successes continued, including the ska and reggae influenced albums London Calling (1979) and Sandinista! (1980), and - unusual for such a strongly political act - a Top-40 hit in the song "Rock the Casbah". Later years saw internal turmoil in the band: Headon left due to a heroin addiction, and in 1983 Jones was fired, largely due to personality conflicts with Bernard Rhodes, the band's manager. While The Clash continued to exist in varying configurations until 1986, the band never recaptured its earlier success. However, The Clash's legacy of powerful, politically committed rock lives on.
