The Clash are considered to be one of the definitive punk bands and celebrated for being one of the most politically progressive bands of the punk movement. The reality is a bit more complicated than that. "White Riot" may speed by with the simplicity and velocity we expect from punk rock, but what would a mohicaned, safety-pin-nosed hooligan make of "The Magnificent Seven"? Latter-day punk Kurt Cobain was famously perplexed by Sandinista! And how does Joe Strummer's famous declaration "we're anti-violence" jibe with his tendency to punch people? Or the group's allegedly Marxist viewpoint synch-up with Mick Jones's zeal for luxury? Or the group's demand for active participation in social change synch-up with Topper Headon's druggy inertia?
That old "Only Band That Matters" sobriquet may sound a bit more pompous today than it did in 1977, but there's no denying that The Clash was one of the most literate groups in the often borderline-illiterate British punk scene. Don't get me wrong--I'd no sooner knock the primal joys of shouting "Neat! Neat! Neat!" than I would knock the thrill of crying "A-Wop-Bop-a-Loo-Bop", but such things don't exactly demand deep decoding. Joe Strummer's words are more in need of explanation than most because he tackled so many topics in his songs and because a good number of those topics are either very specifically dated or regionalized. A twenty-first century American can still easily grok the righteous rhythms and melodies The Clash laid down, but I often have no idea exactly what Strummer is shouting about.
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