The Clash Caricature

The Clash Caricature, illustrated here at their rehearsal studio in Chalk Farm, Camden, London in late October 1976.
Joe Strummer (guitar) age 24, Nick Topper Headon (drums) age 21, Paul Simonon (bass) age 21 and Mick Jones (guitar) age 21.

The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 as a key player in the original wave of British punk rock.

The Clash achieved commercial success in the United Kingdom with the release of their self-titled debut album, The Clash, in 1977. Their third album, London Calling, released in the UK in December 1979, earned them popularity in the United States when it was released there the following month. It was declared the best album of the 1980s a decade later by Rolling Stone.
In 1982, they reached new heights of success with the release of Combat Rock, which spawned the US top 10 hit “Rock the Casbah”, helping the album to achieve a 2× Platinum certification there. A final album, Cut the Crap, was released in 1985.

By 1977, punk had become a major media phenomenon in the UK. On 25 January 1977, the Clash signed to CBS Records for £100,000, a remarkable amount for a band that had played a total of about thirty gigs and almost none as a headliner.

After Combat Rock, the Clash began to disintegrate. Headon was asked to leave the band just before the album’s release because heroin addiction was damaging his health and drumming.
Mick Jones was fired in September, 1983.

The band finally disbanded in early 1986.

The Clash hits: “White Man (In Hammersmith Palais)”, “Clampdown”, “London Calling”, “White Riot”, “Straight To Hell”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “Lost In The Supermarket”, “Should I Stay or Should I Go”, “I Fought The Law”, “Career Opportunities” and “Rock the Casbah”.

Strummer suddenly died due to an undiagnosed congenital heart defect on December 22, 2002 at his home in Broomfield, Somerset. He was 50.

The Clash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 2003.

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