I would have given my left testicle to see the Clash!!!!
They broke up when I was 15 and I live in the States which didn't help.
I envy those privledged(sic)to see the greatest band EVER!!! (That includes the Beatles)
'I love the smell of napalm in the morning'
I completely agree with you!!! I would do the same.... only maybe give my right testicle....
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My parents went to a Clash concert in 1982 while my mom was pregnant with my sister. Now she keeps saying she "saw" The Clash as a fetus.
sharethe clash are one of the best punk bands in england...but those bastards sold themselves
shareThe Clash were THE best punk band in the UK.
The two main punk bands were the pistols ( a boy band formed by mclaren) and The clash who were around before the pistols.
Anyone else who followed was simply new wave/alternate
The clash were musically talented,joe and mick were truly artists in their poetry and from what ive seen infinately better than the pistols in concert.
I also dont quite see how they sold out - signing on to a record label? look what the pistols did with their label signing antics
yeah the sex pistols sold themselves to EMI ... and yeah the clash was better than the pistols
shareThe Clash where truly amazing, the music, the style, the lyrics, the sound is so different. even today the music of the Clash stands out and I’m just so sad that I wasn’t born in that time it would have been amazing to see the Clash live and I think every body should here this music. I find it really sad that a lot of 20 year olds have no Idea who or what the Clash where and if I was a boy I would have gladly given my left testicle to see the Clash live…
shareContinuing the testicle theme (and beyond), I'd gladly have given both balls, an arm and a leg, a bundle of tenners and my very soul just to have touched the hem of Joe's garment. OK, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point.
The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.share
We certainly do...
shareif the clash reformed without joe there would be a pile of testicles at the front door
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"selling jeans to the U.S.A"
shareBoy, I feel sorry for you guys! I saw them on every tour they ever did here in the States and I gotta tell ya...there's never been a band before or since that can compare to them in a live show. Not only did I get to see them in their prime, but I had the privilage to meet them just about every time they were here. They went out of their way to keep in touch with their fans, going so far as to have and "open backstage" policy where ever they played and I tell ya, what an honor it was to share a beer and a laugh with the likes of Joe Strummer. Brilliant, opinionated and never one to suffer fools lightly, he was probably one of the nicest people I have ever met....really breaks my heart to think he's gone.
sharei saw them on the Cut the Crap tour minus Mick Jones and i've got say that even though i'm the most enthusiastic Clash fan i know, that tour sucked and was NOT the Clash.
I wish i had seen em with Mick and i wish i had gotten the chance to see the Mescaleros. Joe Strummer is a personal hero of mine but on that Cut the Crap tour, they were falling apart. And at the time $16 was a HECK of a lot of green for a t-shirt considering they had supposedly thrown Mick Jones out of the band for being about the money!! I was quite ticked off at Joe back then.
Never sold out! PUNK sold out and so The Clash saw what a trap it was, they left it behind after the first album and that's why they are so amazing - they broke so much new ground in such little time, and every one in Briain still thinks they're a punk band.
I was lucky enough to catch Joe and the Mesceleros at Shepards Bush the year he died - great gig, great band in there own right, such a shame.
I can suffer the fact that they're gone though, all good things must come to an end, what really hurts is all the rubbish that's been around since. And I do actualy try to throttle people who even mention Greenday in the same sentence as punk, and the knives come out if there's any comparison to the Clash.
Music, Film, TV, Comedy - they've all been soul-less for a very long time now. No Punk, James Dean, Spitting Image or Bill Hicks (or Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones), we are so long overdue SOMETHING, ANYTHING!
Saw Joe Strummer when he Fronted The Pogues at Newcastle City Hall did London's Calling *beep* Superb.
Joe's version of Redemption Song class, if you like the Clash listen to Rancid "Out come the Wolves" Great CD.
The next best thing to seeing them is watching this film and reading "passion is a fashion" by pat gilbert. It goes through the members first bands and how they came together
I get a kick out of seeing this movie whenever it's shown.......funnily enough, I met Ray Gange a number of times in the early 80s. I was living at the legendary Tropicana Motel on Santa Monica Blvd. for about 10 months and he was staying there for the summer. His hair was died blue at the time, and I can remember how hysterical it was when turned green from the chlorine in the swimming pool.......he had no idea that would happen and his reaction was priceless. He ended up staying with my friend Linda and I after we moved into an apartment....she had a crush on him and they hooked up for a time. Nice guy....not all that bright, but a nice guy nonetheless.
shareYours is the first confirmed sighting of Ray Gange I've heard about in years. Ray Gange just seemed to drop off the radar screen entirely post-RUDE BOY. A friend who worked on the film told me he left the economically depressed, strike-riven UK even before RUDE BOY was released and settled in California to work in construction (not before beating the hell out of at least one of the filmmakers involved in the project). He told me Ray took two suitcases with him -- one for his clothes, the other filled with bottles of English beer (couldn't abide the taste of watered-down American varities, apparently). Another story I've heard suggests he headed to California to launch a career in music journalism and to start his own band. Do you have any idea what he was doing in LA when you met him? And any clue as to what he might be up to these days?
shareJust sort of bumming around and living off his "Rude Boy" laurels for awhile......as said, my friend Linda and I met him when we were living at one of the bungalows behind the Tropicana Hotel on Santa Monica Blvd (950 Rear to be exact, which was originally the servants' quarters for the main house connected to it and the same unit that Tom Waits lived in during his time at the Trop.)...talk about Rock n' Roll central! The place was legendary for all the bands and musos that stayed there, and needless to say it was pretty amazing. Ray seemed to enjoy the noteriety that the movie'd given him and as said managed to live off of it for quite some time. Nice guy but not too bright in the brain department...he seemed more like a great big kid than anything else, and as said my friend Linda hooked up with him for a short time, dragging him with us when we moved to a place up in Glendale's Little Armenia. I did'nt stay much longer than a couple of months, and by the time I'd left, Ray'd already moved onto somebody else that had a bit of money..he was'nt working in ANYTHING, much less construction when I knew him, but that might've changed after his "fame" diminished somewhat. Don't know what became of him after that, and I can't seem to find out anything from anyone else that knew him from that time...indeed, it's like he dropped off the face of the
Earth. Would like to know, though.
Thanks so much for the ultra-prompt response! Very much appreciated! No, Ray wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier by all accounts (my friend who worked on RUDE BOY described him as "intuitive rather than intellectual" -- but some of his acting/storyline instincts in this no-budget, shot-on-the-run film were pretty damn impressive). The only remotely viable story I've heard about his current whereabouts placed him working in an LA gas station, circa 2000/2001. The source is a very credible, semi-faded Brit celebrity who lives in LA. Ray apparently recognised her when he was filling up the gas tank and introduced himself. She didn't have the first clue as to who he was but her daughter, a 20-something Clash fan, was in the car and apparently recognised him. Sounds like it could be true ... But in any event, it's surprising to me that he was never able to capitalise on his brief, RUDE BOY-inspired spell of fame/notoriety. He was something of a cult figure in the US when the film was released. Who knows? Maybe he should have headed for NYC rather than LA ... probably would have found a more receptive crowd in the Village/underground circuits.
shareWell at least we know he's alive and probably looks much the same if he was that recognizable. Good to hear..I always liked the guy and wondered what'd become of him. Honestly speaking, I think the reason that he never did take advantage of his cult status is because he really DID take advantage of it without parlaying it into something more than as a human party favour round the LA music scene. As I'd said, he was just bumming about when I met him, enjoying his "15 minutes of fame" and such but not doing much more than that. Unfortunately, sometimes when your 15 minutes is up, it's UP...too bad, but that's the way it goes, I guess. Whereever he is, I wish him all the best.
shareWell at least we know he's alive and probably looks much the same if he was that recognizable.
It's an unverified report -- but it sounds reasonably credible.
(Ray became) a human party favour round the LA music scene
Never heard it put that way before but that's one wicked turn of phrase. May have to borrow it!
Whereever he is, I wish him all the best.
Same here. Curious, tho', that in our nostalgia-obsessed, media-driven society, no one has ever bothered to track him down for an MTV/VH-1/E!-type documentary interview. John Lennon spent the last summer of his life living 300 yards up the road from me in Bermuda at a house where he wrote the songs on DOUBLE FANTASY. In the months leading up to the 25th anniversary of his shooting, there were international TV crews tripping up over one another in the old neighborhood trying to get interviews with anyone who might even have glimpsed him whizzing by on his rented Mobylette ... You would have thought with the recent resurgence of interest in The Clash, with Joe Strummer's sudden death and the band's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, *someone* would have wanted to talk to Ray about the unprecedented access he enjoyed to the band during its formative period.
in the rude boy special edition dvd there is quite a lenghty interview with ray gange,he comes across as being more wiser and he does look much the same tho he looks a lot more muscular and his hair has started to receed,he comes across as a funny likeable guy and he mentions that he used his small amount of cash from rude boy to start a new life abroad
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Dad wouldn't let me see them in '82 but I saw the watered down version in '84 at age 16 at the Montreal Forum. They only used half the arena for the show. Considering 95% of my school was into Michael Jackson, Prince, Van Halen or other assorted garbage, I can't complain.
Watched Joe perform for the street at an unplugged set in Edge 102's Yonge St. Studio in Toronto. Only about 100 people watching...It was a nice way to see him for the last time.
I envy a bartender I know who saw The Clash at the O'Keefe Centre in '79. After that they banned rock acts at the venue until last year.
Great memories!
If they ever had got back together it would jump up to 140 dollar tickets
shareI wanna meet Joe
which is unfortunately impossible considering he passed away
I think it would be really cool if Mick, Topper and Paul joined together and sang a few songs in a concert (i would SO pay £100 to see that)
i know it wouldn't be the same without Joe, but Mick can sing aswell
London calling at the top of the dial, After all this, won't you give me a smile?
I was the '79 O'Keefe Centre show. What can I tell you - it was great. They were intense, the crowd was well into it, and we all jumped on the stage at the end of the show. And the Undertones opened. Sorry you missed it.
shareGot to see them in 1982 and 1983 in Vancouver and Seattle. I saw Rude Boy 3 times in 3 different independent theatres back in 1981. I was a huge Clash fan at the time and still am. They were my heroes. After seeing that film I knew what I wanted to do with my life. And I'm still playing music to this day. They were the coolest band we had ever encountered back then. They cared about their fans and were deadly serious about what they were doing. The only band that really had any idea of what was going on in the world. No Rock Star crap with those guys. God Bless The Clash. They helped a confused teenager figure out what to do with himself.
shareThe (Fabulous Demented Thrashing) 101-ers were a nifty little r n b/pub band who also occasionally played on the free festival circuit and morphed into The Clash around 1977-ish. They were all fairly decent gigging musicians, and that's why they stood out among their DIY contempooraries.
I saw the Clash a few times at various dodgy dives and a couple of Anti-Nazi League bashes. They were never less than fun, especially when they were sober.
Joe and the rest of the band didn't look or sound so good once the lifestyle had rinsed the originality out of thim, but when they were on the up, they were a breath of fresh air.
Rude Boy is a fairly accurate representation of Brixton in the late 70s when punks and dreads finally joined forces to confront entrenched racism head on in Ladbroke Grove, Hackney and Brixton. Snakebite and collyweed.
My abiding memory of Joe Strummer is of him jumping around croaking out some really top notch Chuck Berry covers at sunrise on the summer solstice at Stonehenge in 1977.
The last time I saw him he didn't look so good. All red hair and very much the worse for wear, in Wardour Street with a bunch of dubious hangers-on. That's mortality for ya.
Joe was a symbol of peace love and soul for our generation
shareI'm an old dog at this point. I was a Clash maniac since 1977...bit of a feat for a guy living in upstate NY in the middle of hippieville. Anyway, I saw them in 1982/1983 in (of all places) Asbury Park, NJ. One of the two or three best shows I've ever seen anywhere, anytime.
RIP, Joe.
Jah?
I would've too.
If I had testicles anyway.
For the record, I never met Ray, but read the following story somewhere a long time ago, so perhaps maxeythecat could confirm this??
When 'Rude Boy' opened in LA back in '80, Ray & a couple of croonies showed up at the theatre playing it (I think it was the Tiffany on Sunset Blvd.) one day during it's engagement. He goes up to the box office & tells the person behind the counter that he's Ray Gange & he's in the movie & can he & his friends "get in for free?" Of course, the B.O. person thinks he's full of sh*t (and probably tells him "Yeahh.... and I'm Joe Strummer!" - that sort of thing) & Ray's like "NO NO NO - look at the poster - THAT'S ME!" So the B.O. person contacts the manager, who then comes up to Ray & Co., and Ray sez the same thing to him - "I'm Ray Gange - that's me on the poster" - etc. The manager tells him "Ok, let me see your ID", which Ray pulls out of his pocket. But the manager is STILL NOT CONVINCED! By this time, the film has already started, so Ray tells him something like "Look, please let us inside & come in the theatre with us. When I appear on screen, I'll point myself out to you & you can judge for yourself." Sure enough, there's Ray on the screen as they walk in. The manager takes one look up there, then looks at Ray in person, shakes his head & begrudging sez something like "Oh alright!" And Ray & Co. get to see the movie for free.
"It's beyond the beyond!" - Pete Townshend