MELODY MAKER, JUNE 4, 1977—PAGE 3

Local censors out in force to ban punk rock groups

by Brian Harrigan

PUNK paranoia is sweeping the nation again, with the Sex Pistols , the Damned , The Clash , the Jam and the Stranglers all being banned from playing in the wake of controversy surrounding THE CLASH'S London Rainbow concert three weeks ago.

Local councils across the country have reacted in protest against new wave with the same vigour that reduced the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK" tour to ruins last December .

In London , the attitude towards punk has become even more confused after the recent elections which switched control of the Greater London Council from Labour to the Tories . In addition, the GLC's controversial and as-yet-unready code of practice for rock shows instituted a near ban on war for MM's review in May . This has been postponed because of the local elections, and the Tories have set no fix date to discuss the code.

Local councils outside London have been reacting strongly against new wave, with the Stranglers suffering most at the moment. Seven dates on their current tour have been scrapped— Torquay , Town Hall ( June 9 ), Southend Kursaal ( 11 ), Leeds Polytechnic ( 13 ), Blackpool Imperial Hotel ( 18 ), Blackburn King George's Hall and Nottingham Playhouse ( 19 ) and St Alban's Civic Hall ( 25 ).

All of these concerts, except Blackpool , have been banned by the local councils, according to Stranglers' spokesmen Alan Edwards . The Blackburn date was set up to replace the Nottingham cancellation, and that, in turn, was cancelled. The Blackpool show was scrapped because of a booking mix-up.

A spokesman for Torquay council stated: "The type of entertainment which is associated with this type of group is not in keeping with the council's policy of entertainment in any of its theatres or public halls under its control."

In Ireland , Burnel , Stranglers bass guitarist, dismissed the bans as "an over-reaction." He added: "It shows how insecure these people are." Albion Agency are attempting to reschedule all cancelled dates.

The Sex Pistols , recently signed with Virgin and attempting to get back into action after almost six months of inactivity, have immediately run into problems in the very first stage of attempting to set up a tour.

They approached Bristol City Council with an application to stage a concert at the council-run Colston Hall during this month and were rejected out of hand.

Mr Ray Muir , the town's Director of Entertainments , told Melody Maker : "The application was placed before Bristol City Council in its entirety and it was just rejected. No reasons were given—it was a straightforward decision."

Pistols' manager, Malcolm McLaren , was unavailable for comment at press time, but Clash manager Bernard Rhodes told MM that he and McLaren were discussing plans to stage their own two-day festival in the Bristol area at the end of this month, with the Pistols and the Clash headlining one night each.

In addition, Rhodes said that the Clash have been experiencing problems during their entire tour, which got off to a bad start when the Jam pulled out, as reported in last week's Melody Maker .

The Clash planned a return date at London's Rainbow —the scene of their controversial "White Riot" concert on May 9 —towards the end of June .

"We wanted to do another show there but the insurance company, who would meet the claims for damages if there were any, said they couldn't take on the job of insuring the Rainbow for the Clash . I think they wanted £10,000 up-front before we even went on. But a deposit like that would just disappear. We couldn't do it."

Allen Schaverien , director of Strutworth who lease the Rainbow for rock concerts, denied Rhodes' claim, however.

He told MM : "The dates they wanted were already booked. I would not comment on any question about insurance." Asked if Strutworth had changed their policy toward punk bands since the Clash concert, he said: "We have never had any definite policy on punk, so there cannot be any change."

"We do not wish to make an issue out of this, and I really do not want to say anything that will go into a newspaper about this subject."

Rhodes , however, stuck to his side of the story and added: "It's a restrictive policy and it's working. It's the English way of doing things, making it difficult for you to do anything."

Rhodes claimed that "most councils" had raised difficulties on the Clash tour.

"They see us as far more of a threat than they ought to, although I wouldn't say it's all clean thinking from the record company says it is."

"What we've seen happen is that the council will cut down on the maximum number of people allowed into a concert according to the fire regulations. If it's a 1,500 seater they'll cut it down to 1,200."

"Then when people are actually going into the concert hall they'll cut it down again to a 1,000. Then at the last minute they'll suddenly say that instead of having 30 bouncers we should have 45."

"What can you do? It's an incredible situation. At Cheltenham ( Town Hall ) on Sunday ( May 29 ) they closed all the bars and closed the local pubs down early. So you're in a situation where no-one can even get a drink anywhere, inside the hall or outside."

You talk about getting banned from places and if that actually happened it would make everything simple. You either play or you don't. But in situations like this you don't even know what's going on. You're being allowed to play but you still get problems, you still get harassed.

"With what's going on, the whole industry is going to suffer. If you have a restrictive policy all the creative people will disappear."

"Bands like the Clash are like a sort of research department and it's true in any industry that if you don't have a research department you don't have new ideas and if you don't have new ideas it's all going to stand still—there'll be no progress."

Like the Clash , the Stranglers and the Sex Pistols , the Damned have also been banned. According to island press officer Brian Blevins the concert planned for the Stafford Top Of The World on May 16 was scrapped four hours before the doors were due to open.

"The band's road managers were refused access with equipment," he stated, "and the venue was changed to North Staffs Polytechnic ."

The May 20 show at Southampton University suffered a strike by porters and bar staff in protest against the booking, while the May 26 show at Tiffany's in Newcastle-under-Lyme was cancelled because Mecca refused use of the venue to the Damned .

The June 3 concert at Cromer West Runton Pavilion was cancelled, the June 7 show at Lincoln Drill Hall has been postponed to June 14 and the local council have stopped the show scheduled for June 16 at Cheltenham Town Hall .

The Southend Kursaal show on June 18 has been scrapped, again by the local council, and so the band are seeking an alternative venue in either Southend or nearby Basildon . The Damned have added a date at Dunstable California Ballroom on June 20 .

The Jam are perhaps the most surprising victims of the backlash against new wave across Britain . They have appeared without problems on BBC 1's Top Of The Pops and are set to play three Silver Jubilee concerts free of charge this month—all in London —at Chelsea Football Club ( June 12 ), Tower Hamlets Popular Civic Hall ( 18 ) and Battersea Town Hall ( 27 ).

However, Leeds City Council have banned them from playing the city's Town Hall on June 16 , as well as scrapping the Stranglers show scheduled three days earlier at Leeds Polytechnic . A spokesman for London council's Estates and Developments Department said the bands were considered "unsuitable."

The decision follows a recent concert by the Clash at Leeds Polytechnic during which members of the audience broke into the barndoor and caused about £100 worth of damage, according to the council.

Mr D. Watson , the council's buildings manager, said the Tory -run council had to be particularly careful with Town Hall bookings because of the noise problem and the nearby courts complex.

About three years ago Leeds Council earned some notoriety in the rock world by imposing a decibel limit on concerts, and this year they were the only major council to impose a ban on showings of the Michael Winner occult film The Sentinel .

A spokesman for Polydor said that they were surprised at Leeds Council's decision, and emphasized that the rest of the tour remained unaffected.

Indications are that bands and promoters will have to wait for the new Tory rulers to find their feet in office before they can expect any changes in the year old pop concert code.

A spokesman for the GLC told MM : "The new council has only just formed its committees and we're still in a starting-out period."

"The pop concert code was due for review this month as it has just finished its experimental first year's run."

"When and if a review takes place all of the parties who contributed to the original code of practice will probably be asked for their views on having the pop concert promoters and so on."

The man with the ultimate responsibility for changes in the code of practice for rock concerts in London will be Mr Gordon Taylor who, as chairman of the public safety committee, takes in concert licensing under his umbrella.

The public safety committee is due to stage its first meeting on Thursday this week, but their agenda contains no reference to the pop code.

According to the GLC spokesman they are not bound to review the code in the near future or at any time. "However, from a public relations point of view," he explained, "I doubt if they will leave the subject dangling for too long."

The pop concert code ran into a storm of criticism in April last year when the GLC demanded guarantees from the Stranglers that they wouldn't wear clothes that bore offensive images or slogans. This occurred in reaction to a gig at London's Roundhouse in January when one of the band wore a tee-shirt bearing a four-letter word.

The GLC move was lashed by promoter John Curd as a decision which "reduced all bounds of triviality."

And this was at the time that the GLC told MM : "The GLC as elected representatives of the public has a duty to maintain acceptable public standards regarding the exhibition of material and words. And if the general public don't like what we're doing they needn't re-elect us."

The Labour Party was not re-elected as the majority group in the GLC and now the capital's rock fans are waiting to see how the change in the ruling party will affect them as concert-goers.

The pop code was brought into being following an incident at a David Cassidy concert at London's White City in 1974 when teenage girl Bernadette Whelan was killed in the crush.

SOUL LOSES HIGH COURT BATTLE

DAVID SOUL failed last week in an attempt to prevent the publication of a magazine which, he claimed, would have an adverse effect on his image.

This was his latest and most drastic move in a campaign against unauthorised pop merchandising which Soul launched in February , a month before his debut British tour.

Soul applied to the High Court for a temporary order to stop BPC Publishing Ltd , trading as Phoebus Publishing Company , issuing a magazine called David Soul .

Mr Richard Field , QC , representing Soul , told Mr Justice Oliver that during the singer's tour he had found poor quality and over-priced goods bearing his name were on sale.

To prevent unauthorised merchandising of goods like this, Soul had set up an organisation called Brackencrown Ltd to handle licensing and authorisation of souvenirs.

Soul was asking the High Court to "warn off" the publishing company. But Mr Richard Field , QC , for Phoebus , said that the title of the magazine was a wholly descriptive one and that it contained no suggestion that the publication had been authorised by Soul .

He also rejected "any implied slur" that the magazine was either over-priced or of poor quality.

Mr Justice Oliver refused the application for an injunction on the grounds that Phoebus had been producing similar publications for a long time and that it was a doubtful case of "passing off" —in other words attempting to deceive the public into thinking the publication was something it was not.

Soul and Brackencrown Ltd are currently negotiating with three publishers to set up a licensing deal for an official David Soul magazine.

Captions:

• JAM: surprising victims of backlash/STRANGLERS: councils ban dates/CLASH: no insurance
  

• DAVID SOUL: campaign against unauthorised merchandising
  

Bottom Bar: Raver, Crossword page 10 / Caught in the Act 18, 46 / Singles 19 / Albums 20-29 / Look Hear 35 / Charts 36-37 / Mailbag 72

---

SOURCE 2

MELODY MAKER , June 4, 1977—Page 3

Local censors out in force to ban punk rock groups

by Brian Harrigan

Photo: JAM : surprising victims of backlash/ STRANGLERS : councils ban dates/ CLASH : no insurance

You talk about getting banned from places and if that happened it would make everything simple

PUNK paranoia is sweeping the nation again, with the Sex Pistols , the Damned , the Clash , the Jam and the Stranglers all being banned from playing in the wake of controversy surrounding the Clash’s London Rainbow concert three weeks ago.

Local councils across the country have reacted in protest against new wave with the same vigour that reduced the Sex Pistols’ “ Anarchy In The UK ” tour to ruins last December.

In London , the attitude towards punk has become even more confused after the recent elections which switched control of the Greater London Council from Labour to the Tories .

In addition, the GLC’s controversial pop concert code — the code of practice for rock shows instituted a year ago — was due for review in May. This has been postponed because of the local elections, and the Tories have yet to fix a date to discuss the code.

Local councils outside London have reacted strongly against new wave, with the Stranglers suffering most in terms of cancelled gigs. Seven dates on their current tour have been scrapped — Torquay Town Hall (June 9), Southend Kursaal (11), Leeds Polytechnic (13), Blackpool Imperial Hotel (18), Blackburn King George’s Hall and Nottingham Playhouse (19) and St Alban’s Civic Hall (25).

All of these concerts, except Blackpool , have been banned by the local councils, according to Stranglers spokesman Alan Edwards . The Blackburn date was set up to replace the Nottingham cancellation and then, in turn, it was cancelled. The Blackpool show was scrapped because of a booking mix-up.

A spokesman for Torquay council stated: “The type of entertainment which is associated with this type of group is not in keeping with the council’s policy of entertainment in any of its theatres or public halls under its control.”

Jean-Jacques Burnel , Stranglers bass guitarist, dismissed the bans as “an over-reaction.” He added: “It shows how insecure these people are.” Albion Agency are attempting to reschedule all cancelled dates.

The Sex Pistols recently signed with Virgin and attempting to get back into action after almost six months of inactivity, have immediately run into problems at the very first stage of attempting to set up a tour.

They approached Bristol City Council with an application to stage a concert at the council-run Colston Hall during this month and were rejected out of hand.

Mr Ray Muir , the town’s Director of Entertainments , told Melody Maker : “The application was placed before Bristol City Council in its entirety and it was just rejected. No reasons were given — it was a straightforward decision.”

Pistols’ manager, Malcolm McLaren , was unavailable for comment at press time, but Clash manager Bernard Rhodes told MM that he and McLaren were discussing plans to stage their own two-day festival in the Bristol area at the end of this month, with the Pistols and the Clash headlining one night each.

In addition, Rhodes said that the Clash have been experiencing problems during their entire tour, which got off to a bad start when the Jam pulled out, as reported in last week’s Melody Maker .

The Clash planned a return date at London’s Rainbow — the scene of their controversial “ White Riot ” concert on May 9 — towards the end of June.

“We wanted to do another show there but the insurance company, who would meet the claims for damages if there were any, said they couldn’t take on the job of insuring the Rainbow for the Clash . I think they wanted £10,000 up-front before we even went on. But a deposit like that would just disappear. We couldn’t do it.”

Allen Schaverien , director of Strutworth who lease the Rainbow for rock concerts, denied Rhodes’ claim, however.

He told MM : “The dates they wanted were already booked. I would not comment on any question about insurance.” Asked if Strutworth had changed their policy toward’s punk bands since the Clash concert, he said: “We have never had any definite policy on punk so there cannot be any change. I really do not wish to make an issue out of this, and I really do not want to say anything that will go into a newspaper about this subject.”

Rhodes , however, stuck to his side of the story and added: “It’s a restrictive policy and it’s working. It’s the English way of doing things, making it difficult for you to do anything.”

Rhodes claimed that “most councils” had raised difficulties on the Clash tour.

“They see us as far more of a bogey man than they ought to, although I wouldn’t say it’s all clean harmless fun like our record company says it is. What we’ve seen happen is that the council will cut down on the maximum number of people allowed into a concert according to the fire regulations. If it’s a 1,500 seater they’ll cut it down to 1,200. Then when people are actually going into the concert they’ll cut it down again to a 1,000. Then at the last minute they’ll suddenly say that instead of having 30 bouncers we should have 45. What can you do? It’s an incredible situation. At Chelmsford ( Chancellor Hall ) on Sunday (May 29) they closed all the bars and closed the local pubs down early. So you’re in a situation where no-one can even get a drink anywhere, inside the hall or outside. You talk about getting banned from places and if that actually happened it would make everything simple. You either play or you don’t. But in situations like this you don’t even know what’s going on. You’re being allowed to play but you still get problems, you still get harrassed. With this going on, the whole industry is going to suffer. If you have a restrictive policy all the creative people will disappear. Bands like the Clash are like a sort of research department and it’s true in any industry that if you don’t have a research department you don’t have new ideas and if you don’t have new ideas it’s all going to stand still — there’ll be no progress.”

Like the Clash , the Stranglers and the Sex Pistols , the Damned have also been banned. According to Island press officer Brian Blevins the concert planned for the Stafford Top Of The World on May 16 was scrapped four hours before the doors were due to open.

“The band’s road managers were refused access with equipment,” he stated, “and the venue was changed to North Staffs Polytechnic .”

The May 20 show at Southampton University suffered a strike by porters and bar staff in protest against the booking, while the May 26 show at Tiffany’s in Newcastle-Under-Lyme was cancelled because Mecca refused use of the venue to the Damned .

The June 3 concert at Cromer West Runton Pavilion was cancelled, the June 7 show at Lincoln Drill Hall has been postponed to June 14 and the local council have stopped the show scheduled for June 16 at Cheltenham Town Hall .

The Southend Kursaal show on June 18 has been scrapped, again by the local council, and so the band are seeking an alternative venue in either Southend or Canvey Island . The Damned have added a date at Dunstable California Ballroom on June 29.

The Jam are perhaps the most surprising victims of the backlash against new wave across Britain . They have appeared without problems on BBC 1’s Top Of The Pops and are set to play three Silver Jubilee concerts free of charge this month — all in London — at Chelsea Football Club (June 12), Tower Hamlets Popular Civic Hall (18) and Battersea Town Hall (27).

However, Leeds City Council have banned them from playing the city’s Town Hall on June 16, as well as scrapping the Stranglers show scheduled three days earlier at Leeds Polytechnic . A spokesman for the city council’s Estates and Developments Department said the bands were considered “unsuitable.”  

The decision follows a recent concert by the Clash at Leeds Polytechnic during which members of the audience broke into the kitchens and caused about £100 worth of damage, according to the council. Mr D. Watson , the council’s buildings manager, said the Tory -run council had to be particularly careful with Town Hall bookings because of the nearness of the city’s law courts complex. 

About three years ago Leeds Council earned some notoriety in the rock world by imposing a decibel limit on concerts, and this year they were the only major council to impose a ban on showings of the Michael Winner occult film The Sentinel . 

A spokesman for Polydor said that they were surprised at Leeds Council’s decision and emphasised that the rest of the tour remained unaffected. London’s rock fans, bands and promoters will have to wait for the new Tory rulers of the GLC to settle in before they can expect any changes in the year old pop concert code. 

A spokesman for the GLC told MM : “The new council has only just formed its committees and we’re still in a sorting-out period. “The pop concert code was due for review this month as it has just finished its experimental first year’s run. “When and if a review takes place all of the parties who contributed to the original code of practice will probably be asked for their views — people like pop concert promoters and so on.”  

The man with the ultimate responsibility for changes in the code of practice for rock concerts in London will be Dr Gordon Taylor who, as chairman of the public safety committee , takes in concert licensing under his umbrella. 

The public safety committee is due to stage its first meeting on Thursday this week, but their agenda contains no reference to the pop code. According to the GLC spokesman they are not bound to review the code in the near future or at any time. “However, from a public relations point of view,” he explained, “I doubt if they will leave the subject dangling for too long.”  

The pop concert code ran into a storm of criticism in April this year when the GLC demanded an agreement from the Stranglers that they wouldn’t wear clothes that bore offensive words or slogans. 

This occurred in reaction to a gig at London’s Roundhouse in January when one of the band wore a tee-shirt bearing a four-letter word. The GLC move was lashed by promoter John Curd as a decision which “exceeded all bounds of triviality.”  

Curd also said at the time that the GLC told him: “The GLC as elected representatives of the people has a duty to maintain acceptable public standards in relation to offensive material and words. And if the general public don’t like this policy, they needn’t re-elect us.”  

The Labour Party was not re-elected as the majority group in the GLC and now the capital’s rock fans are waiting to see how the change in the ruling party will affect them as concert-goers. 

● The pop code was brought into being following an incident at a David Cassidy concert at London’s White City in 1974 when teenage girl Bernadette Whelan was killed in the crush.

Author: Franзois Ducray Hot Rocks | Publication: BEST | Date: June 1988 | Page: 48, 39, 50, 51 | Title: L’histoire d’un CLASH, 1945 words

L'histoire d'un Clash

The Story of a CLASH

JOE STRUMMER , MICK JONES , PAUL SIMONON AND TOPPER HEADON WERE THEY ROCK'S LAST GREAT ELECTRO-SHOCK?

1977

"Things are going to get worse. I think we can arrive at a government of a fascist type, but no one will notice it, any more than you feel your hair longer on Monday than on Sunday... What I am against with all my strength is all this racist, fascist-leaning fanaticism, this so-called patriotism which is nothing but hateful fear, the price of ignorance and misery..." ( Joe Strummer , during '77.)

"Punk died the day the Clash signed with CBS " ( Mark P. , editorialist for the fanzine Sniffin' Glue , same year.)

Eleven years have passed, and it is still the same circus. Not funny, really not. Besides, you can see it in a multitude of holes like those of old shells in the earth, which become for a long time cesspools that no redemption, no "acquired gain" thinks to plug or clean. One of these holes is not that punk disappeared — this kind of eruption, especially the most vivid, lasts as long as flowers, etc. —, it is that the Clash no longer exist. Famous void: do you know since them a group capable of being what it says, of tripping over its own feet more often than its turn and having, as if without meaning to, pulled from it one of the most sumptuous sonic and significant explosions (yeah, significant, perfectly) of this end of the century at the soft-core (let it die!) !

No, say nothing. Don't say U2 . U2 act as if when they talk (interminable breathless sermons on a mountain of small fish become big barges) and their hymns are everything except rock 'n' roll. Bruce has disconnected. He is an American: Americans have trouble growing up, especially those who didn't die like idiots in Vietnam as described in the song. So OTH ? Les Porte-Mentaux ? Not possible: they are French. And French groups don't leave France except on the condition of joking around prettily. The P.M. and the OTH joke around, but not prettily.

No, decidedly, by whatever end you grasp the impetuous phenomenon, the "great rock-groups," there haven't been many. In the category that interests us, the prickly-shaky-glorious, I only see two. But then very prickly, admirably shaky and glorious from head to foot: the Who and the Clash . Englishmen, as if by chance. Deceased then, both of them — same remark and even if the first threaten us regularly with pitiful reunions, the second no longer stinging themselves (hem!) fortunately except with the juice of pure fruit pride, thanks very much.

Why the Who and not the Stones , the Kinks , the Pretty Things or the Pink Fairies , huh? Because only the Who yelled incendiary things in three minutes of an incredible rhythmic violence that came to multiply no less fantastic melodies in a tailspin: "White Riot" has only one precedent, "My Generation" . And if Pete Townshend was the unique inspiration of the Who , it is indeed the arrogant snarl of his guitar that one finds in the fists of Mick Jones , his acid bile in the stubborn face of Joe Strummer . More trivially — and it is not indifferent — the parallel continues, breaking by means of symbols and dramas the alleged links that would encase the decades (don't forget: mods or punks at the start, the two groups want to be rock above all, and of the most seminal): Keith Moon , the improbable hitter of the Shepherd’s Bush four, died as he had lived, as a ribald madman, alcoholic and drugged, indicating by that very thing the road to follow for Topper Headon , drummer of the Camden Town gang: he is in the shade for a bunch of years and a few others of powder to sneeze! O crazy uncles, why are you coughing?? One and the other formed, incidentally, rhythmic axes properly unheard of in power and attack with their more placid partners on the four strings, John "Fantômas" Entwistle and Paul "Diplomat" Simonon . Big Bang Bands indeed. Seems they don't make them anymore...

HOT ROCKS

To the two beautiful citations as an introduction to the above remarks, I could have added a third: "The compilation is the negation of life!" But the Sage who pronounced it one evening of philosophical libations yielded to his taste for polemic: there are compilations that precede life (small labels grouping their independent firebrands: it is thus that one can spot the stammmerings of the Prince in gestation, the Kas Produkt of the day after tomorrow), others that prolong it — watch out! without therapeutic relentlessness: it is not to you that I will teach the difference between a Best Of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (assortment of stale petits fours for a weary election night) and a collection of Cure jewels.

PAUL SIMONON

( Cure in slices of singles, it's digestible and it lasts longer) or a cameo of Costello -esque, Prince -ly or Mitsouko -esque unreleased tracks (direct to the desert island for cause of effrontedly plundering, perverse and innovative pop genius!).

All the more reason, a Clash compilation is necessary. From, even — we will not discuss the choice of titles retained here —, this episode bearing as a subtitle the promising precaution of "Volume 1" . Just as certain high-flying medleys knew how to impose themselves among any worthy discography of the Rolling Stones , for example (a group over — and even self — compiled if there ever was one!), ( "Hot Rocks" and especially "More Hot Rocks: Big Hits And Fazed Cookies" ), or, so as not to make me a liar, some Who -series from the back of the woodpile (type "Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy" ). Although, you are going to see (or at least I hope!) that of the Clash distinguishes itself from the start: no nostalgia, no oddities, no false sentiments. From the intro of "The Magnificent Seven" to the terminal rattles of "Police And Thieves" (time caught backwards, you'll tell us about that!! Not a silly solution at all by the way, and rather funny...), one has the throat held in a pincer between an urgency (intact harsh sound, rigorous conciseness, melodic fury) of this morning and a dazzling impression of "never again" . An impression-echo, a trap as old as dramaturgy, that each of the two claws of the pincer drives in inexorably at each listen (deconstructable by the hand of the mood, if I dare say, the Clash being stylists, not formalists, and besides we are still in a Republic , no ???).

In short, one is forced suddenly to throw onto the rug of the day this livid and surprised observation that the Clash no longer wipe their feet on it and that this absurd calm makes a cruel silence — just like that of Coluche in other spheres, forgive me, purists... Refrain: were the Clash the-last-of-the-great-rock-groups? They were in any case the last to believe in what that can (could) mean, do and prove it to the point of committing suicide if this meaning got messed up, thus playing the game — for the once — to the end. Which is heard here like nowhere else and at this precise hour, neither like before, nor like after...

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

JOE STRUMMER

Paris , October '81. The Clash are in town for eight days at the Théâtre Mogador , a crimson-burnt music-hall promised for demolition. It is the "Sandinista!" tour, this triple album with colorful lyricism which is also a challenge to the laws of marketing (three records for the price of one and a half, the rascals will touch their money in hell!) Confusion in all directions: press conference two hours late and stupid scribblers, photo sessions on edge, managers in madness and our four birds changing flashy shirts more often than funky cassettes in their enormous ghetto-blasters: they don't give a damn about all that, and even the innumerable real or fake buddies (and acquaintances in black skirts) who hail them from everywhere. For the first time in their noisy and chaotic "career," the Clash seem to live only for the evening concerts.

But then, what a slap! They are certainly dressed like princes in decay and certainly have not sucked only ice cubes during the day, but what style! A style that oozes from every pore of their skin, and comes to wet even more a music already moist and always furious that "Sandinista" carries in large and generous gushes.

Only one extract on this first side, but it is the smashing "Magnificent Seven" , and which opens! "Armagideon Time" closes it, a staggering hypnotic pivot of the shows of the time. In the center, three set pieces from "Combat Rock" , the ultimate album (with Mick Jones , we'll stop there) whose stylized outline will earn them a first and unique platinum album in the dirty USA : "Rock The Casbah" remains confounding in its strict stripping down and "active" premonition. As a bonus, "This Is Radio Clash" , one of their seventeen English singles, and not one of the saddest, if one of the least well sold (routine)!

TOPPER HEADON (Photos Jean-Yves Legras )

New York , April '80. Our own Téléphone treat themselves to a tour of the clubs of the Big Apple . Applause from the locals of the vintage, curiosity from the new-wavers reigning there. Among them the Talking Heads , bits of Television , remains of the Patti Smith Group , Johnny Thunders , Richard Hell and Joe Strummer . Johnny and Joe are not in shape: backstage, when one stands up, the other collapses, a strange slow-motion ballet. They are at the same hotel as us, Mick Jones' room adjoins mine. He tinkers with cassettes all night, I am tempted, I go: "uh, 'scuse, what's all this racket,"? "Remixes," he tells me. And makes me hear them, thirteen to the dozen!! Some from "London Calling" , the double cornerstone that they have just sent to the overripe face of the rock of the time, cover inspired by Elvis and thundering content! Some older ones, panting and speeded up, by Lee Perry the king of dub or some other sorcerer they knew how to associate with, for the best (bursting, most often) or for the worst (the mayo goes plop, sometimes).

CLASH CITY ROCKERS

MICK JONES

On this side two, no waste: squarely four extracts from "London Calling" , including "Train In Vain" curiously "forgotten" in the credits of the official album, the irrepressible "Guns of Brixton" , one of the rare titles signed by Simonon , and their famous cover of "I Fought The Law" by Sonny Curtis , the whole thing produced by Guy Stevens , ex-mentor-guru of Mott The Hoople , pre-punk British spoiled by Bowie . Plus "Somebody Got Murdered" salvaged from "Sandinista!" and "Bank Robber" , which could only be found on the US mini-album "Black Market Clash" , a nugget obviously!

London , June '78. A handful of French journalists having not made this long trip just to faint upon seeing Bob Dylan at the back of the immense Earl's Court , advised that the Clash are rowing in the studio on their second album and their tongue hanging out with emotion, joins the scene of the crime. Scene of the genre: Strummer and Jones massacre a foosball table while locked in a glass cage, Topper wood-chopping on his drums under the maniacal guidance of one that was not expected there, Sandy Pearlman , a sort of Phil Spector heavy metal at the time highly (over) estimated. The pair on reprieve grumble that Pearlman is getting a bit on their nerves, that he works heavy and slow, that his idea of sound dates from Methuselah , that during this time, hey, they could have at least seen what Bob Dylan looked like, because, hey, in the end, this guy... and that above all, outside, people were perhaps going to get bored of them without them, without this string of bleeding singles that they had taken the habit of putting out in a "move-over-so-I-can-get-in" way!

So then, on this side three, you will find only one survivor from the album in question, "Give 'Em Enough Rope" : "Tommy Gun" , incidentally a "classic" of Strummer-Jones writing, or how to empty one's pockets in the form of a winning uppercut! The rest, excuse the term, are nothing but seven of their very first sulfurous hits (some of which formed the backbone of the primal album, "The Clash" , just as the big boxes operated when they didn't know what the next minute would be made of!), starting with the incandescent "White Man In Hammersmith Palais" , "London's Burning" and "Janie Jones" . But "Capital Radio" , "White Riot" and "Career Opportunities" are not bad either, it's nothing to say it!...

Paris , May '78. Fête de Rouge , the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist League . It had been a while that the often parallel but always conflicting roads of the pros of radical politics and the anarcho-shambolic punks had to cross. The Sex Pistols had just sown a pleasant trouble during the Jubilee of Her Gracious Majesty , treating her at best as a floozy, at worst as fascist scum. But apart from the unforgettable "Pretty Vacant" , Rotten and his rogue band would no longer spit out anything important. The Clash , on the contrary, were beginning to accumulate tracts alive on 45 rpms without fear and without reproach. Everyone said they were "credible," as much CBS as the Trotskyists.

Also, in the great tradition of true rebels to whom one doesn't tell stories, they deliberately violated the established laws of the one by applying themselves to violating the rules of the parties of others: that we pass by the reds, fine, but cleanly. The Clash provoked the mess, encouraged it and amplified it by breaking dryly there: beautiful, beautiful disaster!!

This fourth side bears two strong traces distinctly: "Clash City Rockers" (what could be clearer?) and "Police And Thieves" (That! In rude reggae, please!). In a sandwich, three rescues from "Give 'Em..." and "Spanish Bombs" and "London Calling" from the album of the same name. Only incongruities of spatio-temporal framing, but who would complain, in this comet's tail?!

By the way, after all that and a few bulges of years crossed or freed, are the Clash the-last-of-the-great-rock-groups? Oh him! Put it back to the beginning! And especially not "that"!...

François DUCRAY

• The Story Of The Clash (vol. 1) (CBS-Double)
  

L’histoire d’un CLASH

JOE STRUMMER , MICK JONES , PAUL SIMONON ET TOPPER HEADON FURENT-ILS LE DERNIER GRAND ELECTRO-CHOC DU ROCK ?

1977

"Les choses vont empirer. Je pense qu'on peut en arriver à un gouvernement de type fasciste, mais que personne ne s'en apercevra, pas plus que tu ne sens tes cheveux plus longs le lundi que le dimanche... Ce contre quoi je suis de toutes mes forces, c'est tout ce fanatisme raciste, fascisant, ce soit-disant patriotisme qui n'est que de la peur haineuse, le prix de l'ignorance et de la misère..." ( Joe Strummer , courant 77.)

"Le punk est mort le jour où les Clash ont signé chez CBS " ( Mark P. , éditorialiste du fanzine Sniffin'Glue , même année.)

Onze ans ont passé, et c'est toujours le même cirque. Pas drôle, vraiment pas. D'ailleurs ça se voit à une multitude de trous comme ceux des anciens obus dans la terre, qui deviennent pour longtemps des cloaques que nulle rédemption, nul « acquis » ne songent à boucher ou à assainir. L'un de ces trous, ce n'est pas que le punk ait disparu — ce genre d'éruption, surtout les plus vivaces, durent ce que les fleurs, etc. —, c'est que les Clash n'existent plus. Fameuse béance : connaissez-vous depuis eux un groupe capable d'être ce qu'il dit, de se prendre les pieds dedans plus souvent qu'à son tour et d'en avoir, comme sans le faire exprès, tiré l'une des plus somptueuses déflagrations sonores et signifiantes (ouais, signifiantes, parfaitement) de cette fin de siècle à la mord-moile (qu'il crève !) !

Non, ne dites rien. Ne dites pas U2 . U2 font comme si quand ils causent (interminables sermons époumonnés sur une montagne de petits poissons devenus gros chalands) et leurs cantiques sont tout sauf du rock'n'roll. Bruce a décroché. C'est un Américain : les Américains ont du mal à grandir, surtout ceux qui ne sont pas morts comme des cons au Vietnam tel que décrit dans la chanson. Alors OTH ? Les Porte-Mentaux ? Pas possible : ils sont français. Et les groupes français ne sortent de France qu'à condition de déconner joliment. Les P.M. et les OTH déconnent, mais pas joliment.

Non, décidément, par quelque bout que vous saisissiez l'impétueux phénomène, les « grands groupes-de-rock », il y en a pas eu bézef. Dans la catégorie qui nous intéresse, les teigneux-foireux-glorieux, je n'en vois que deux. Mais alors très teigneux, admirablement foireux et glorieux de la tête aux pieds : les Who et les Clash . Des Anglais, comme par hasard. Défunts donc l'un et l'autre — même remarque et même si les premiers nous menacent régulièrement de pitoyables réunions, les seconds ne se piquant plus (hem !) heureusement qu'au jus d'orgueil pur fruit, merci bien.

Pourquoi les Who et pas les Stones , les Kinks , les Pretty Things ou les Pink Fairies , hein ? Parce que seuls les Who gueulaient des machins incendiaires en trois minutes d'une incroyable violence rythmique que venaient multiplier de non moins fantastiques mélodies en vrille : « White Riot » n'a qu'un précédent, « My Generation » . Et si Pete Townshend fut l'unique inspiration des Who , c'est bien la hargne morgueuse de sa guitare qu'on retrouve dans les pognes de Mick Jones , son fiel acide dans la tronche cabocharde de Joe Strummer . Plus trivialement — et ce n'est pas indifférent — le parallèle se poursuit, rompant au moyen de symboles et de drames les prétendus chaînons qui enserreraient les décennies (n'oubliez pas : mods ou punks au départ, les deux groupes se veulent avant tout de rock, et du plus séminal) : Keith Moon , l'invraisemblable frappeur des quatre de Sheperd’s Bush , mourut tel qu'il avait vécu, en fou furieux paillard, alcoolo et dopé, indiquant par là-même la route à suivre à Topper Headon , batteur du gang de Camden Town : celui-ci est à l'ombre pour un paquet d'années et quelques autres de poudre à éternuer ! O tontons cinglés, pourquoi vous toussez ?? L'un et l'autre formaient, accessoirement, des axes rythmiques proprement inouïs de puissance et d'attaque avec leurs plus placides partenaires aux quatre cordes, John « Fantômas » Entwistle et Paul « Diplomat » Simonon . Big Bang Bands indeed. Paraît qu'on n'en fabrique plus...

HOT ROCKS

Aux deux belles citations en exergue du ci-devant propos, j'aurais pu ajouter une troisième : "La compilation, c'est la négation de la vie !" Mais le Sage qui la prononça un soir de libations philosophiques cédait à son goût de la polémique : il est des compilations qui précèdent la vie (petit labels regroupant leurs brûlots indépendants : c'est ainsi qu'on peut repérer les balbutiements des Prince en gestation, des Kas Produkt d'après-demain), d'autres qui la prorogent — attention ! sans acharnement thérapeutique : ce n'est pas à vous que j'apprendrai la différence entre un Best Of Orchestral Manœuvres In The Dark (assortiment de petits fours avariés pour soirée électorale fourbue) et une collection de bijoux Cure .

PAUL SIMONON

( Cure en tranches de singles, c'est digeste et ça dure plus longtemps) ou un camaïeu d'inédits costelliens, princiers ou mitsoukiens (direct sur l'île déserte pour cause de génie pop effrontément pillard, pervers et novateur !).

A plus forte raison, une compile Clash s'impose. Dès, même — on ne discutera pas du choix des titres ici retenus —, cet épisode portant en sous-titre la prometteuse précaution de "Volume 1" . Telles que surent s'imposer parmi toute digne discographie des Rolling Stones , par exemple (groupe sur — et même auto — compilé s'il en fut !), certains méli-mélos de haute volée ( "Hot Rocks" et surtout "More Hot Rocks : Big Hits And Fazed Cookies" ), ou, pour ne pas me faire mentir, quelques Who -series de derrière les fagots (type "Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy" ). Quoique, vous allez le voir (ou du moins j'espère !) celle des Clash d'emblée se distingue : pas de nostalgie, pas de bizarreries, pas de faux sentiments. De l'intro de "The Magnificent Seven" aux râles terminaux de "Police And Thieves" (temps chopé à rebours, tu nous en diras tant !! Solution pas niaise du tout par ailleurs, et plutôt marrante...), on a la gorge prise en tenaille entre une urgence (son âpre intact, concision rigoureuse, furia mélodique) de ce matin et une fulgurante impression de "plus jamais" . Une impression-écho, un piège vieux comme la dramaturgie, que chacune des deux pinces de la tenaille enfonce inexorablement à chaque écoute (découpables à la main de l'humeur, si j'ose dire, les Clash étant stylistes, pas formalistes, et puis on est encore en République , non ???).

Bref, on est contraint soudain de jeter sur le tapis du jour ce constat livide et surpris que les Clash ne s'essuient plus les panards dessus et que ce calme absurde fait un silence cruel — tout comme celui de Coluche en d'autres sphères, pardonnez-moi, puristes... Refrain : les Clash étaient-ils-le-dernier des-grands-groupes-de-rock ? Ils étaient en tout cas les derniers à croire en ce que ça peut (pouvait dire, faire et le prouver jusqu'à s'en suicider si ce sens merdouillait, donc à jouer le jeu — pour le coup — à fond. Ce qui s'entend ici comme nulle part ailleurs et à cette heure précise, ni comme avant, ni comme après...

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

JOE STRUMMER

Paris , octobre 81. Les Clash sont en ville pour huit jours au Théâtre Mogador , music-hall cramoisi-cramé promis à la démolition. C'est la tournée "Sandinista !" , ce triple album au lyrisme bariolé qui est aussi un défi aux lois du marketing (trois disques pour le prix d'un et demi, les galopins toucheront leurs sous en enfer !) Confusion tous azimuts : conférence de presse avec deux heures de retard et des baveux stupides, séances photos sur les dents, managers en folie et nos quatre oiseaux changeant plus souvent encore de liquettes flashantes que de cassettes funky dans leurs ghetto-blasters énormes : eux se foutent de tout ça, et même des innombrables vrais ou faux potes (et connaissances en jupettes noires) qui les hèlent de partout. Pour la première fois de leur bruyante et chaotique « carrière », les Clash ne semblent vivre que pour les concerts du soir.

Mais alors là, quelle claque ! Ils sont certes attifés comme des princes en déglingue et n'ont certainement pas sucé que des glaçons dans la journée, mais quelle allure ! Une allure qui leur suinte de chaque pore de la peau, et vient mouiller davantage encore une musique déjà moite et toujours furibonde que "Sandinista" charrie à gros et généreux bouillons.

Un seul extrait sur cette première face, mais c'est le fracassant "Magnificent Seven" , et qui ouvre ! "Armagideon Time" la clôt, titubant pivot hypnotique des shows d'alors. Au centre, trois pièces de résistance de "Combat Rock" , l'ultime album (avec Mick Jones , on s'en tient là) dont l'épure stylisée leur vaudra un premier et unique album de platine aux sales USA : "Rock The Casbah" reste confondant de dépouillement strict et de prémonition « active ». En bonus, "This Is Radio Clash" , un de leurs dix-sept singles anglais, et pas l'un des plus tristes, si des moins bien vendus (routine) !

New York , avril 80. Nos Téléphone à nous s'offrent une virée des clubs de la Grosse Pomme . Applaudissements des nationaux du cru, curiosité des new-wavers régnant par là. Parmi eux les Tal ...

The final page of this BEST feature concludes the band’s history, detailing the era of London Calling and their legendary, chaotic 1978 appearance at the Fête de Rouge in Paris .

TOPPER HEADON (Photos Jean-Yves Legras )

king Heads , des bouts de Television , des restes du Patti Smith Group , Johnny Thunders , Richard Hell et Joe Strummer . Johnny et Joe n'ont pas la forme : backstage, quand l'un se redresse, l'autre s'effondre, étrange ballet ralenti. Ils sont au même hôtel que nous, la chambre de Mick Jones jouxte la mienne. Il tripote des cassettes toute la nuit, je suis tenté, j'y vais : « euh, s'cuse, c'est quoi tout ce boucan, » ? « Des remixes » , il me dit. Et me les fait entendre, treize à la douzaine !! Des de « London Calling » , la double pierre d'angle qu'ils viennent d'envoyer à la figure blette du rock d'alors, pochette inspirée d' Elvis et contenu foudroyant ! Des plus anciennes, ahannantes et speedées, par Lee Perry le roi du dub ou quelqu'autre sorcier qu'ils ont su s'associer, pour le meilleur (d'éclate, le plus souvent) ou pour le pire (la mayo fait plouf, des fois).

CLASH CITY ROCKERS

MICK JONES

Sur cette face deux, pas de déchet : carrément quatre extraits de « London Calling » , dont « Train In Vain » curieusement « oublié » dans les crédits de l'album officiel, l'irrépressible « Guns of Brixton » , un des rares titres signés par Simonon , et leur fameuse reprise du « I Fought The Law » de Sonny Curtis , le tout produit par Guy Stevens , ex-mentor-gourou de Mott The Hoople , pré-punks british gâchés par Bowie . Plus « Somebody Got Murdered » réchappé de « Sandinista ! » et « Bank Robber » , qu'on ne pouvait dégotter que sur le mini-album US « Black Market Clash » , une pépite évidemment !

Londres , juin 78. Une poignée de journalistes français n'ayant pas effectué ce long voyage rien que pour s'évanouir en apercevant Bob Dylan au fond de l'immense Earl's Court , avisée que les Clash rament en studio sur leur second album et la langue en pendant d'émotion, rejoint les lieux du crime. Scène de genre : Strummer et Jones massacrent un babyfoot tandis qu'enfermé en une cage de verre, Topper bûcheronne sur ses fûts sous la houlette maniaque d'un qu'on n'attendait pas par là, Sandy Pearlman , sorte de Phil Spector heavy metal à l'époque fort (sur) estimé. La paire en sursis râle que Pearlman leur court un brin sur le haricot, qu'il bosse lourd et lent, que son idée du son date de Mathusalem , que pendant ce temps-là, tiens, ils auraient pu au moins voir à quoi ressemblait Bob Dylan , parce que, hein, au fond, ce mec... et que surtout, dehors, on allait peut-être s'ennuyer d'eux sans eux, sans cette kyrielle de singles saignants qu'ils avaient pris l'habitude de sortir à la « pousse-toi-de-là-que-je-m'y-mette » !

Or donc, sur cette face trois, vous ne trouverez qu'un rescapé de l'album en question, « Give'Em Enough Rope » : « Tommy Gun » , au passage un « classique » de l'écriture Strummer-Jones , où comment se vider les poches en forme d'uppercut gagnant ! Le reste, excusez du terme, ce ne sont que sept de leur tout premiers cartons sulfureux (dont certains formèrent l'ossature de l'album primal, « The Clash » , ainsi que les grosses boîtes opéraient quand elles ne savaient de quoi la minute suivante serait faite !), à commencer par les incandescents « White Man In Hammersmith Palais » , « London's Burning » et « Janie Jones » . Mais « Capital Radio » , « White Riot » et « Career Opportunities » ne sont pas mal non plus, c'est rien de le dire !...

Paris , mai 78. Fête de Rouge , le journal de la Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire . Ça faisait un moment que les routes souvent parallèles mais toujours conflictuelles des pros de la politique radicale et des punks anarcho-bordéliques devaient se croiser. Les Sex Pistols venaient de semer un aimable trouble lors du Jubilé de Sa Gracieuse Majesté , la traitant au mieux de pouffiasse, au pire de crapule fasciste. Mais en dehors de l'inoubliable « Pretty Vacant » , Rotten et sa bande canaille ne cracheraient plus rien d'important. Les Clash , eux, au contraire, commençaient à accumuler les tracts à vif en 45 tours sans peur et sans reproche. Tout le monde les disait « crédibles », autant CBS que les trotskistes.

Aussi, dans la grande tradition des vrais rebelles à qui on ne la fait pas, violèrent-ils délibérément les lois établies de l'une en s'appliquant à violenter les règles des fêtes des autres : qu'on passe chez les rouges, soit, mais proprement. Les Clash provoquèrent le foutoir, l'encouragèrent et l'amplifièrent en brisant sèchement là : belle, belle cata !!

Cette quatrième face en porte distinctement deux fortes traces : « Clash City Rockers » (quoi de plus net ?) et « Police And Thieves » (Ça ! En reggae rude, svp !). En sandwich, trois sauvetages de « Give'Em... » et « Spanish Bombs » et « London Calling » de l'album du même nom. Seules incongruités de cadrage spatio-temporel, mais qui s'en plaindrait, en cette queue de comète ?!

Au fait, après tout ça et quelques bourrelets d'ans franchis ou affranchis, les Clash sont-ils le-dernier-des-grands-groupes-de-rock ? Oh lui ! Remets au début ! Et surtout pas « ça » !...

François DUCRAY

• The Story Of The Clash (vol.1) (CBS-Double)