Episode #160 | 2.13.24
The Clash: Guns on the Roof, Chased out of Kingston, and a Riot in Times Square
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In this episode
The Clash were once described by their manager as a news organization first, and entertainers second. They were, as their record label put it, “the only band that matters.” They were on the front lines at the dawn of punk rock, but were adventurous enough to quickly branch out into reggae, dub, and hip-hop. They were arrested on suspicion of terrorism in London. Chased out of Jamaica by local drug lords armed to the teeth. Caused a near riot in Times Square when their week-long takeover of a disco was shut down by the city after night one. For Joe Strummer, one of the Clash’s two songwriters and the group’s political avatar, all this insanity came with the territory when you were disrupting the status quo. But the weight of it all, the importance of the only band that mattered, became too much to bear, and at the height of the band’s commercial success…their frontman went missing.
Sources
Westway to the World (2002, dir. Don Letts)
Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer, by Chris Salewicz
In the Fascist Bathroom: Writings on Punk 1977-1992, by Greil Marcus
The Clash on Stage / Blackmarketclash
Garageland (Salon.com)
CLASH MELEE POINTS UP DANGER OF OVERSELLING (NY Times)
It's The 40th Anniversary Of The Clash's Legendary Times Square Concerts (Gothamist)
The Bow-Ties that Bond (It’s All the Streets You Crossed Not So Long Ago)
The Clash in New York: "De Niro took us out clubbing" (Uncut)
The Clash: Tough but Tender, They’re Taking America (Rolling Stone)
A MAN THAT MATTERED: Joe Strummer, remembered (and interviewed) (Arthur)
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Additional writing by Bob Proehl.
Copy edited by James Sullivan.
Scored and mixed by Matt Beaudoin.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
DISGRACELAND theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie,” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak