In the right frame of mind... with the music loud enough.... there are days when I think the Clash were the best band in history. Yes, of course, I can't divorce what they meant to me at the time. They did seem like the "next annointed ones" to carry a very important torch. (This is also why I'll never be objective about U2). I saw the live twice, once in LA in 1980 (my memory is that it was at the Roxy, but that can't be possible) and several years later in Berkeley. They made a sound that burned up the air and filled my soul. They were the last band that were so desparately political... and as you all may remember (not) rock for me was in part about changing the whole fucking world... changing everything.

But in fact it wound up being the Mats and passing out and Nirvana and not even having the class to OD... brain dripping from the wimped out bourgeois carriage house.... the revolution will not be televised because it certainly will never happen...

Marat/Sade: "The only true revolution is of the human cell, everything else is a prison revolt."

And in the end, the love you make is lost in the supermarket.

Their music just never seemed that interesting to me. I've wanted to pick up London Calling a few times, as maybe I might get it if I heard more songs, but I'm not really that motivated to do it.

And Strummer's voice is annoying.

It's slipped my mind who at Columbia came up with "the only band that matters" phrase, but he went on to be a prominent musician himself (and also came up with a bunch of other catchphrases).

I'll probably remember in the middle of the night.

We'll be here waiting.

Like Bob Dylan's voice is annoying.

Way before my time, but still my favorite band. London Calling is perfect from beginning to end, including Jimmy Jazz, Lover's Rock, AND Train in Vain.

like em, don't love em.

Until I heard London Calling from start to finish, I had no idea it was the Clash. Part of me is thankful that I never got to listen to some music nor had any friends who influenced what I listened to, as I think I got spared from a lot of the negative penumbra that surrounds the Clash and so many others artists that a lot of people really go off on.

What the hell is wrong with you people? They're THE CLASH, folks. A little worship is in order.

Joe was the Jimmy Carter of punk - even when he's wrong, he's oh so right. Fuck the stones.

Same. I own "The Essential Clash." None of their proper studio albums though.

after watching that punk doc that's been playing ifc you really get the idea that joe strummer was, as bono realized after him, that you have all of these young mind listening to your every word and rather than just blather on about anarchy in the uk and all that shite he used it as a pulpit and "kicked down the door" as was said earlier. in my mind that's what separated the clash from most of their contemporaries. i never much got into them but i think i'm about 5 years too young to "really get" it anyway.

you all need to listen to some "White Man In Hammersmith Palais"

And the Clash are still well respected - everyone my age likes them, even those who dont listen to that much music

Love them. Like the Replacements, I think the Clash are one of those bands that you had to discover at precisely the right time in your young life. I don't think it works going backwards to "figure out" why they were great. Like the Stones for some, the Clash just do it for me in a lot of ways - if only for the S/T and London Calling. And even now that I understand a lot of the posturing and marketing, it doesn't matter. Can't explain it. And overhyped as it is, London Calling is a super pivotal record for me.

Check out the Westway to the World DVD. Nice documentary with great footage and some cool Strummer interviews.

But if you hate 'em, that's cool, too.

Get over yourself and realize that without the Stones, there is no Clash.

People who ask about why The Clash are so good/why they matter are the musical equivalent of people shopping on Rodeo Drive who ask how much stuff costs.

If you have to ask, you'll never get it and that sucks for you.

They took the energy and abandon of punk and told provocative stories that furthered ideas instead of being about just visceral release with no point to the lyrics. Listen to the debut album especially, and the songs are folky, like Billy Bragg on speed with the volume at 11. They lost some of the that raw edge when they got more sophisticated, but it was a necessary and genius trade in the end. With "London Calling" you got great protest songs like "Clampdown" and "The Guns of Brixton" mixed with admittedly frivolous but still awesome rock songs like "Train In Vain" and "The Card Cheat."

It was downhill after that (how could it not be?) but there were still great keepers ("Magnificent Seven," "Radio Clash," "Should I Stay...") mixed in there to remind how necessary they were.

They're a top-five all-time band for me and I fail to see how anyone could straight-facedly call them less than vital. After all, "The only band that matters" might've been just a marketing line, but there's a reason it stuck for so many years and is still the quote that comes to mind whenever their name is mentioned. For a while at least, they lived up to the billing and that's more than 99% of any bands in history can say.

It goes without saying that you can't argue taste but I just don't understand how anyone could like the Clash and still think there's nothing exceptional on the debut. White Man in Hammersmith Palais is easily their best song imho. I think if I made a top 10 clash songs which I'm not going to do, at least five would be from the debut.

Maybe so...but I don't know that we'd agree on the reasons WHY.

Yeah, always ironic to me that those punk bands who decried "Corporate Rock" were all obsessed with being Keith Richards.

Oh, that and how they basically acted like corporate rock stars at every opportunity.

I call bullshit throwaway statement. You sure they all didn't want to be Caetano Veloso? I mean I have as much support for that as you've presented for your Keith Richards emulation theory which is exactly none.

Pardon me that I don't have my Complete History of Punk Rock (I'm assuming you wrote the Forward or was that the Complete Guide To A Bunch of Music That Nobody Gives A Fuck About?) with me at work, but suffice to say that I've read enough interviews and have a big enough set of eyes and ears to feel comfortable in my assesment.

Yeah...I gotta ask for specific details here, too.

When I listen to The Clash, Keef's about the last thing that comes to mind.

Awww, c'mon. Richards IS the prototype for every freakin' guitarist and it's been well documented in many bios that Mick Jones was borderline obsessed with the guy.

Just look at the pics of Mick. It's all there in the style, hair and attitude.

Yep, Keef is the original punk, and still is. You guys might try to deny it, but you only look silly doing so.