The Last Real Rock Band ?

It is always silly to make absolutist statements and calling the Clash the last real rock band is obviously an absolutist statement. Open to all sorts of challenges of course and there has been rock music made since that I have enjoyed but it is a statement that reflects my basic feeling. Punk rock really did blow away a lot of the pretensions of rock music and create a new year zero, so it is ironic that the Clash's finest moment is a subsequent album that had nothing to do with punk, London Calling. On vinyl in those days and released as a double album, therefore being criticised for being sprawling and unfocused, it now fits happily on a single cd and doesn't feel in any way overlong. As with any album, some tracks are more essential than others but there are no real weaknesses. There are some damn good tunes and singalongs and lyrically it hits hard at the emerging Thatcherite ethos. Influences range from rockabilly to reggae but remain dinstinctly local, this is a London band that has yet to go global as it later would. One reason for describing the Clash as the last real rock band is the way in which the four members all contributed hugely to the group sound and in their own way were each indispensable. Topper Headon drove the rhythms with a ferocity and precision that few matched, while also being able to supply the subtlety required of the band's forays into reggae. Paul Simonon completed a fine rhythm section and began to supply songwriting and vocal asides too, while the core of the band remained the tensions between the Lennon / McCartney dichotomy of Mick Jones and Joe Strummer. The one supplied the musical chops and the other the street cred and outlaw chic. Naive, heart on sleeve, contradictory; the Clash were all of these things but remained a beacon for an under represented section of British youth and have left a lasting legacy and sense of loyalty.