The Clash (album)

The cover artwork was designed by Polish artist Rosław Szaybo. The album's front cover photo, shot by Kate Simon, was taken in the alleyway directly opposite the front door of the band's 'Rehearsal Rehearsals' building in Camden Market.[2] Drummer Terry Chimes, though a full member of The Clash at the time, did not appear in the picture as he had already decided to leave the group. Another picture from the same Kate Simon photoshoot appears on the UK Special Edition DVD of Rude Boy, released in 2003. The picture of the charging police officers on the rear, shot by Rocco Macauly, was taken during the 1976 riot at the Notting Hill Carnival—the inspiration for the track "White Riot".

The subject of the opening track, "Janie Jones", was a famous brothel keeper in London during the 1970s. "Remote Control" was written by Mick Jones after the Anarchy Tour and contains pointed observations about the civic hall bureaucrats who had cancelled concerts, the police, big business and especially record companies. CBS decided to release the song as a single without consulting the band. "I'm So Bored with the USA", developed from a Mick Jones song titled "I'm So Bored with You",[3] condemns the Americanization of the UK.[4] "White Riot" was the debut single of The Clash. The song is short and intense, in a punk style of two chords played very fast (five chords are used in the whole song). Lyrically, it is about class economics and race.[5]

"Career Opportunities", the opening track of the second side of the album, attacks the political and economic situation in England at the time, citing the lack of jobs available, and the dreariness and lack of appeal of those that were available.

"Protex Blue", sung by Mick Jones, is about a 1970s brand of condom. It was inspired by the contraceptive vending machine in the Windsor Castle's toilets.[6] The song ends with the shouted phrase "Johnny Johnny!", johnny being a British slang term for a condom.

The version of "White Riot" featured on the album was not recorded for the album; the original demo (recorded at Beaconsfield Studios before the band signed to CBS) was used instead.

"Police & Thieves" was added to the album when the group realised that the track listing was too short. Another cover the band played at these sessions was The Wailers' "Dancing Shoes". "Garageland" was written in response to Charles Shaar Murray's damning review of the Clash's early appearance at the Sex Pistols Screen on the Green concert – "The Clash are the kind of garage band who should be returned to the garage immediately, preferably with the engine running".[7][8][9] It was the final track recorded for the album.

Retrospective professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Alternative Press	5/5[13]
The Baltimore Sun	[14]
Classic Rock	[15]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[16]
Q	[17]
Rolling Stone	[18]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[19]
Select	5/5[20]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10[21]

The Clash received critical acclaim and peaked at number 12 in the UK charts.[22]

When the album was released in April 1977, Tony Parsons wrote in the New Musical Express: “Jones and Strummer write with graphic perception about contemporary Great British urban reality as though it’s suffocating them … Their songs don’t lie … The Clash have made an album that consists of some of the most exciting rock’n’roll in contemporary music.”[23] Mark Perry declared in Sniffin’ Glue: “The Clash album is like a mirror. It reflects all the shit. It shows us the truth. To me, it is the most important album ever released.”[24] The review by Kris Needs in April 1977's Zigzag announced: “This is the most exciting album I’ve heard in years … it’s one of the most important records ever made.”[25][26]

In his 1979 consumer guide for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau gave the album's US release an "A" grade and stated, "Cut for cut, this may be the greatest rock and roll album (plus limited-edition bonus single) ever manufactured in the U.S. It offers 10 of the 14 titles on the band's British debut as well as 7 of the 13 available only on 45. [...] The U.K. version of The Clash is the greatest rock and roll album ever manufactured anywhere".[27] In his decade-end list for the newspaper, he ranked the UK version as the best album of the 1970s.[28]

In 1993, the New Musical Express ranked the album number 13 on its list of the greatest albums of all time.[29] NME also ranked The Clash number three on its list of the Greatest Albums of the '70s, and wrote in the review that "the speed-freaked brain of punk set to the tinniest, most frantic guitars ever trapped on vinyl. Lives were changed beyond recognition by it".

In 1999, Q magazine wrote that the Clash "would never sound so punk as they did on 1977's self-titled debut", calling it a "lyrically intricate" album that "still howled with anger".[17] In 2000, Alternative Press described The Clash as "the eternal punk album" and "a blueprint for the pantomime of 'punkier' rock acts", concluding that "for all of its forced politics and angst, The Clash continues to sound crucial."[13]

The Clash was voted number 180 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[30] Q placed The Clash at number 48 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever" in 2000,[31] and included the album in its "100 Best Punk Albums of All Time" list in 2002.[32] Spin ranked the album at number three on its 2001 list of the "50 Most Essential Punk Records", calling it "punk as alienated rage, as anticorporate blather, as joyous racial confusion, as evangelic outreach and white knuckles and haywire impulses".[33] In 2003, Mojo ranked The Clash at second place on its list of the "Top 50 Punk Albums", deeming it "the ultimate punk protest album".[34] The same year, the US version was ranked number 77 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[35][36] The album was re-ranked at number 81 in 2012,[37] and at number 102 in the 2020 update.[38] The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Noted Jamaican producer Lee Perry heard the album while in London in 1977, and played it to Bob Marley, who in turn mentioned the Clash on his own track "Punky Reggae Party".

• Joe Strummer − lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar on "48 Hours," piano and production on US version
• Mick Jones − lead guitar, backing and lead vocals, production on US version
• Paul Simonon − bass guitar, production on US version
• Terry Chimes (listed as "Tory Crimes") − drums, production on UK version
• Topper Headon − drums on side one tracks 1, 4, 6, and 8 and side two track 6 on US version, production on US version

• Mickey Foote − production, engineering on US version
• Simon Humphrey − engineering
• Kate Simon − cover art
• Rocco Macauly − back cover photo
• Lee "Scratch" Perry – production on US version
• Sandy Pearlman – production on US version
• Bill Price – production on US version