(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
When the punk music scene exploded in 1976, a seemingly endless volume of bands came and went. Drawn in by DIY music-making and extreme fashion, young people across the country picked up instruments, learnt four chords, and started forming groups. Whilst some of these bands were more enduring than others, one of the few that completely transcended the punk scene and cemented themselves as one of the most iconic British bands of the century was The Clash.
Formed by guitarist Mick Jones, who soon recruited Paul Simonen on bass and scouted frontman Joe Strummer, who was fronting The 101ers at the time, The Clash made their mark on the punk scene. As opposed to contemporaries such as The Damned, who are credited with releasing the first punk single in the UK for ‘New Rose’, The Clash were a band with a strong ethos, a political message and incredible songs to boot.
Building upon the success of their first album, a perfect punk LP covering every topic from brothels to police brutality, the band started incorporating more influences into their work. Borrowing from rockabilly, dub reggae and funk, The Clash constantly evolved their sound to remain fresh and current. When the punk scene began to die down in 1977, The Clash were only just beginning. Their future albums London Calling, Sandinista!, and Combat Rock remain some of the strongest works to come from the punk and post-punk periods.
Perhaps due to their staunch political opinions and ever-changing sound, which still endures to this day, The Clash have amassed legions of fans worldwide, and countless bands have cited them as a significant influence. Pretty much every punk and alternative group to come about since the 1980s is indebted to The Clash in one form or another, and the California ska-punk band Rancid went as far as to describe themselves as “incurable Clash zealots”.
So, who influences the influencers? The Clash were often open about their inspirations, covering the likes of Vince Taylor and Junior Murvin over the course of their recording career. However, there are a few artists, in particular, that made an unmistakable impact on London punks.
Five artists who inspired The Clash:
Lee “Scratch” Perry
The Clash never tried to hide the heavy influence of Jamaican dub, reggae and ska on their material. The band would often cover artists like The Slickers and The Maytals, and the horns on ‘Wrong ‘Em Boyo’ from London Calling are clearly inspired by Rico’s ‘Sea Cruise’ – the legendary ska trombonist who later gained notoriety as an unofficial eighth member of The Specials.
In the early days, Paul Simonen was credited with bringing the reggae influence to The Clash. The bassist had grown up in Brixton, an area of London with a high population of people from the Caribbean who had come to the UK as part of the Windrush generation, and therefore grew up surrounded by Jamaican reggae music. Simonen spoke about this influence, saying, “That’s the only music that seemed to me at that time that had something to say for itself” during an interview with CNN in 2013.
When it comes to record producers, in particular reggae record producers, there are none more legendary than Lee “Scratch” Perry. The writer and producer, who also had his own band, The Upsetters, was involved in making countless albums and singles during his working life. One of his most notable works was co-writing the Junior Murvin track ‘Police and Thieves’, which was covered by The Clash on their self-titled debut album. The US version of the band’s debut also featured the single ‘Complete Control’, which was produced by none other than Lee “Scratch” Perry.
Mott the Hoople
If Simonen brought the reggae and dub influence to the band, Mick Jones brought the influence of the English glam-rock bands he loved. Jones was a huge fan of Mott the Hoople in particular, and has repeatedly spoken about how he would follow the band from gig to gig in his earlier years. “I’d go to Liverpool or Newcastle or somewhere — sleep on the Town Hall steps, and bunk the fares on the trains, hide in the toilet when the ticket inspector came around,” Jones told Gibson, “It was great times, and I always knew I wanted to be in a band and play guitar. That was it for me”.
So it may have been the influence of Mott the Hoople that set Jones on the path to musicianship in the first place, but their influence on The Clash continued throughout their own career. On their second record, Give ‘Em Enough Rope, the band played homage to Mott the Hoople through the title of the track ‘All the Young Punks’. The track references Hoople’s ‘All the Young Dudes’, the song written for them by none other than David Bowie to re-energise their career.
Continuing the ties between the two bands, The Clash drafted in Mott the Hoople’s manager Guy Stevens on the production of their seminal album London Calling. A few years later, Mick Jones co-produced a solo album by Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter, 1981’s Short Back ‘N’ Sides.
The Kinks
When the punk scene erupted in 1976, there was a feeling of rebellion against the ‘old’. Punk music wanted to burn down the musical establishment and start over again, with self-penned DIY tracks discussing topics previously unexplored in popular music. One of the groups that, by the mid-1970s, represented a certain aspect of the musical establishment were The Kinks. However, it has been said that a lot of early punk music was heavily influenced by Kinks songs from the previous decade.
The London rock and beat group pioneered the use of simple, fast chord progressions and distorted guitars in the 1960s. Many of the musical techniques that later categorised the punk movement could be traced back to the music of The Kinks, and The Clash are no different. Guitarist Mick Jones has spoken about The Kinks as a part of “the big five” alongside The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Small Faces and The Who. You can hear the influence of all “the big five” within The Clash’s music, but The Kinks are especially present.
Just as The Kinks had influenced The Clash and punk music, the same is true in reverse. It is said that The Kinks were motivated by the punk and new wave scene to return to making more visceral rock music, as opposed to the arena rock they had drifted into in the mid-1970s.
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
In 1980, The Clash headed to New York City to record their fourth album, Sandinista. Whilst spending time in the city, the band became entranced with the blossoming hip-hop and graffiti scenes. One of the acts that caught their attention was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The influence of the early hip-hop scene on the band can be heard best on their track ‘The Magnificent Seven’, which is one of the earliest examples of rapping in rock music – predating Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ by six months.
Such was The Clash’s love for Grandmaster Flash that, when they returned to New York in 1981 for a run of shows to promote Sandinista, they invited the early hip-hop star to play a support slot. Famously, this tour was fraught with problems. The band were due to play eight nights at Bonds in Manhattan but, due to the wide publicity and over-promotion, the gigs were oversold. The New York City Fire Department were sent to shut the show down, and a small-scale riot ensued. Never one to disappoint their fans, The Clash vowed to play 17 shows over a three-week period to ensure everybody who wanted to see them could do so. Unfortunately, the gratitude of the audience did not extend to the support acts. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were reportedly hated by the predominantly white audience of The Clash, and a hail of beer cans and heckles directed at the act ended their time performing with The Clash.
Mick Jones later expanded on the hip-hop influence the group had been exposed to in New York on his post-Clash project Big Audio Dynamite with the ‘Rebel Dread’ Don Letts, who was present at the Bonds riot in 1981. The Clash themselves had an influence on what would later become hip-hop too, with Chuck D of the legendary rap group Public Enemy telling NBC, “They talked about important subjects, so therefore journalists printed what they said, which was very pointed”. The frontman, who was exposed to The Clash through their ‘Magnificent Seven’ single, continues, “we took that from the Clash, because we were very similar in that regard. Public Enemy just did it 10 years later”.
Bo Diddley
Just as The Clash had influenced the transition from 1970s stadium rock to punk rock and new wave, Bo Diddley had influenced the transition from blues to rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s. The Clash, Joe Strummer in particular, were huge fans of the guitarist; idolising him for his innovative and constantly evolving style.
On their first tour of the USA in 1979, the punk band invited Diddley to open for them at a few gigs. Predictably, just as Grandmaster Flash would be booed off stage in New York two years later, Diddley was not viewed favourably by audiences who had come to see The Clash. For Strummer, though, this did not seem to bother him much. At the time, he told the press, “I can’t look at him without my mouth falling open,” carrying on, “In the flesh, he was more awe-inspiring than we could possibly imagine. He dressed like he was ready to fight. He always had his huge sheriff’s hat on and a giant belt buckle, and you were unmistakably in the presence of someone who gave no quarter”.
The rockabilly and blues style that Diddley pioneered is clearly evident in the sound of The Clash, particularly their earlier work, and it seemed like the band viewed it as a great honour to be able to tour with the icon. Diddley, on the other hand, remembers the shows a little less fondly. Speaking in 2002, the guitarist said, “My ears are hurting, still, from listening to that crap”, explaining, “You don’t need 12 amplifiers stacked upside the wall for a bass fiddle”. So, although he played a big role in influencing it, perhaps the raucous punk sound was too much for Bo.
