The Clash vs The Stranglers

[jetblacksdad]

Never understood the levels of devotion that they received. Some great singles but the posturing and image put me off. And that film they made with Ray Gange of whatever he's called, utter shite!

[gjinblack]

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/mick-jagge ... punk-band/

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[theraven1979]

https://louderthanwar.com/liam-gallaghe ... he-damned/


Jim

[Greatkudu]

Never understood the levels of devotion that they received. Some great singles but the posturing and image put me off. And that film they made with Ray Gange of whatever he's called, utter shite!

Strummer was a tour de force, but he became a bit unpleasant towards the end and regretted sacking Topper and Mick, at least he admitted it, he said why did he throw it all away, but he was possibly the greatest frontman of the Punk period IMHO, so passionate.Lt Kudu.

[Jon the Impaler]

I have said a fair few times that after 'Rope' musically I have no time for The Clash. Did some great singles early on but the limit of their rebellion was wouldn't appear on top .Big bloody deal .Sure that stance probably irked their record company but it's really hardly that rebellious in the grand scheme . To me they sold out on punk with London Calling , ok you could say they progressed and reached out to a wider audience , fair enough , but we're they just riding the coat tails of punk all along ? Strummer came from a quite privileged background , as did a lot of the early punks . I have far more time for bands like The Jam and Paul Weller , who had the honesty to say what he was going to do wasn't what The Jam were about , integrity there , The Clash did stuff that was nothing like the early stuff but used the name to sell it .I guess you could say the same of The Stranglers......compare Aural or Feline to Rattus.......worlds apart......but then there was always a distinct sound that was recognised even then as Stranglersy .....The Clash ? Sandanista ? No element at all or sounding remotely to The Clash or Rope . Yes , The Clash postured and sloganeered , did fuck all else imo( well ,other than sell millions in new markets The Stranglers never cracked).
Guess we are biased towards Stranglers anyway.......don't mean to offend or annoy Clash fans but it's just my take on their punk credentials , I would much rather listen to GBH or Discharge , just for the honesty etc . Sandanista just wasn't what I would listen to , much as I don't listen to acoustic or jazz Stranglers ones.

[Yanders]

I can see why the clash were more popular in the US, but sold fewer recorded than the stranglers here. There's more than a bit of Springsteen in Strummer and the footage from their US tour still looks good today. They were selling rock and roll back to the USA.

The stranglers had a better range and quirkier songs that could sell here, but would need a lot of work to sell in the US. Who knows, if the stranglers spent the time over there, they may have imploded in the early 80s, too?

The clash have the advantage of being styled - they dressed well and coordinated and the three of them up front looked cool. And the London calling cover became iconic very quickly. I also think it helps their legacy that they didn't carry on, they are remembered as young with the 'what if', and not as well past their prime.

I like the clash, but prefer the stranglers. I think the clash are a touch overrated because their image was so strong and are bigged up by music journalist who don't know their music as much as they think.

[Greatkudu]

I can see why the clash were more popular in the US, but sold fewer recorded than the stranglers here. There's more than a bit of Springsteen in Strummer and the footage from their US tour still looks good today. They were selling rock and roll back to the USA.

The stranglers had a better range and quirkier songs that could sell here, but would need a lot of work to sell in the US. Who knows, if the stranglers spent the time over there, they may have imploded in the early 80s, too?

The clash have the advantage of being styled - they dressed well and coordinated and the three of them up front looked cool. And the London calling cover became iconic very quickly. I also think it helps their legacy that they didn't carry on, they are remembered as young with the 'what if', and not as well past their prime.

I like the clash, but prefer the stranglers. I think the clash are a touch overrated because their image was so strong and are bigged up by music journalist who don't know their music as much as they think.

Yes if you see their footage in states they are great, but there's an infamous clip at a huge festival where Strummer is slagging of the festival etc, he's in a foul mood, then the festival crew put up on the screen how much they are getting paid to play and it was half a million dollars, and fuck that was alot of money then and is now, so it rather backfired, but it's a great watch Joe telling audience to Fuck off etc, maybe he was getting lessons from the master of putting audiences down Mr Cornwell. Lt Kudu.

[Yanders]

I'd love to see that. Strummer was always playing at being poor.

[Greatkudu]

I'd love to see that. Strummer was always playing at being poor.

I cant remember the festival, but I had alot of time for Joe. Lt Kudu.

[Yanders]

I've just been reading up about it - the US festival 1983. Van Halen were paid $1million and their contract stated that no one on the line up could be paid more. At the last minute they add Bowie to the line up but he wouldnt do it for less than $1.5, so they had a give van halen an extra $1/2 million too.

The Clash seeing the money flying around wanted the organizers to donate to charity, but as they just had to pay $2 million to add Bowie to the line up, and they didn't want to give any money anyway, they told them to wind their necks in. The clash went all SJW and had a strop.

It was one of or Mick's last performance with the band.

[StanInBlack]

Oh yeah and I'm one of the few people who actually likes Cut The Crap. Did you see the guy on YouTube who took out all the bleeps and noise? Crazy.

There's a couple of decent songs on Cut the Crap, but if I remember the last time I tried to listen to it the drum machine on "Dictator" had me seriously on the verge of pissing meself.

I'd sooner listen to the first Clash album over Never Mind the Bollocks any day of the week.

I think London Calling is overrated (although it's the best produced of all their records) and Sandinista is underrated, but neither of those albums deserve to be as long as they are. Either of them condensed down to a single record would have strengthened those records immeasurably.

[StanInBlack]

To me they sold out on punk with London Calling , ok you could say they progressed and reached out to a wider audience , fair enough , but we're they just riding the coat tails of punk all along ?

Many original wave punk bands progressed and developed from their debuts. Obviously the Sex Pistols didn't because they didn't make another record.