Quote:
Originally Posted by Seltzer
I like Combat Rock... but then again, I am a flaming Clash fanboy. I'll never like it as much as Give 'Em Enough Rope but I think the amount of experimentation is just about right. The first half is fairly strong, the second half is a bit dry and Death is a Star is a pretty cool way to close the album IMO. I'll never understand all the the criticism this collects... especially the accusations of selling out.
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Interesting choice for a fave Clash album, I think if I had come to 'Give Em' first it would have been my favourite too.
As for the accusations of the Clash selling out I think I properly outgrew the Clash when I found out Joe Strummer was a private schoolboy faking the accent. And generally the lack of coherence to the left wing rhetoric he spouted... That Tom Snyder interview didn't do them any favours either.
Didn't the sellout accusations mainly come from their musically narrow-minded peers though?
The other major punk movers stayed within the confines of punk philosophy and imploded, whereas the Clash were always more politically minded (oh they loved that communist-chic) and demanded a larger audience.
Don't get me wrong though I think the Clash have been instrumental in at least opening the eyes of millions with their ham-fisted politicizing (and great music, duh) down the decades...
But maybe the purists are angry that they had a questionable image-change in the 80's, if they had carried on who knows where the greasy pinko-rocker/military-chic look could have taken them... You would hope at least a dub album and perhaps a full-blown Funkadelic freakout?
The Clash will
always get nuff respec from me still, but more for nostalgic reasons than anything else.
I still haven't downloaded 'Sandinista!' yet, so this is subject to change.