The Clash / YMMV - TV Tropes

Awesome Music: The one-two punch of London Calling and Sandinista! is generally considered the absolute apex of The Clash as a group.
Covered Up:
- "I Fought the Law" was originally by Bobby Fuller in 1964, but the Clash's version is more well known.
- "Police on My Back", was first recorded by reggae rock group The Equals (best known for having a pre-"Electric Avenue" Eddy Grant as its guitarist) and released as a single in 1968.
- Their covers of a bunch of Reggae songs are better-known among rock fans than the originals, like "Police and Thieves" (Junior Murvin), "Armagideon Time" (Willie Williams), "Wrong 'Em Boyo" (The Rulers) and "Revolution Rock" (Danny Ray and the Revolutionaries).
Epic Riff: The famous "London Calling" bassline, or the "Should I Stay or Should I Go" riff are probably the best-known.
Fanon Discontinuity: The fans prefer to cut Cut the Crap—excepting "This is England".
Growing the Beard: Some American critics - including Allmusic Guide - believe that the band grew their beard in a case of Executive Meddling Gone Horribly Right, the US version of their self-titled debut album which replaced five album tracks with singles such as "(White Man) in Hammersmith Palais" and "Complete Control".
Harsher in Hindsight: That Mick Jones was on his way out should have been made obvious by how his face is covered for the majority of the video for "Rock the Casbah."
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- "Complete Control" has the line, "You're my guitar hero!" It likely caused the name of the game series and the song is also included in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and is also downloadable for Rock Band, whose creators created the original Guitar Hero.
- The album Sandinista! features children ^note singing musically Lighter and Softer versions of two of their earlier songs, "The Guns of Brixton" and "Career Opportunities". At the time the joke was just the novelty of children singing about non-child-friendly subject matter - nowadays this sounds like a parody of Kidz Bop, a series of compilation where children sing cover versions of top 40 hits (many of which also have age inappropriate themes).
Memetic Mutation:
- The mishearing of Lock the Taskbar
- "Sick Monej" is a fairly popular meme on Tumblr, using hilarious pictures of Mick Jones.
Misaimed Fandom:
- "Rock the Casbah" was popular among US Armed Forces operating in Iraq (both wars), much to the horror of the band.
- And another hit song "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" was used by the Army to drive Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega out of the Vatican embassy he was hiding in during the 1989 invasion of Panama.
Older Than They Think: "Jail Guitar Doors" is a rewritten version of "Lonely Mother's Son" by Joe's previous band The 101'ers, with which he also covered "Junco Partner" which The Clash recorded too. Also, "1-2 Crush on You" not only was performed at The Clash's earliest gigs in 1976, but was written by Mick Jones as a teenager and played with his previous band. A minor example is also the cover of "Pressure Drop", the group recorded it for the "Complete Control" single though it did not appear until "English Civil War", four singles later.
Refrain from Assuming: The "Stand by me" chorus of "Train in Vain" got so bad that the single was released as "Train in Vain (Stand by Me)" in the States. The song itself is a last-minute addition and was not featured in the track listing, which makes things worse.
Sampled Up: How many millennials can hear the chorus from "Straight to Hell" and not immediately get M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" stuck in their head?
Sophomore Slump: Give 'Em Enough Rope isn't bad, it just fails to deliver. This is because it contains a cover version of a well known song ("English Civil War"), a song with the same riff as a previous single ("Guns on the Roof", the single in question being "Clash City Rockers"), and "Drug Stabbing Time", which may be the worst thing (lyrically) the band ever recorded. The "commercial" production touches of Sandy Pearlman (best known for his work with Blue Öyster Cult) also pissed off a lot of punk purists. However, the album's variety did pave the way for London Calling, their most popular album.
Strawman Has a Point: While the sharīf pettily placing a ban on music in "Rock the Casbah" that's punishable by carpet bombing is an extremely tyrannical act, he's not wrong for ordering his oil workers to pay attention and harvest the erupting oil, as oil spills are known for causing serious adverse health effects and environmental damage.
Suspiciously Similar Song: "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" was quite obviously inspired by the Garage Rock standard "Little Latin Lupe Lu" (first recorded by the Righteous Brothers, but the version by the Kingsmen is the best-known).
Tough Act to Follow: London Calling was hailed almost immediately as one of the greatest rock albums ever, which put them in a tight spot for the follow-up. They responded with Sandinista!, which, while not as well-reviewed, was regarded as a noble attempt to expand their musical palette. But having produced what amounted to five albums-worth of notable music over the course of two years left them struggling to maintain that level of creativity, and Combat Rock and Cut the Crap were doomed to live in their shadows.
Unintentional Period Piece:
- "Spanish Bombs". At the time, Spain was still a relatively poor country, recovering from the reign of dictator Francisco Franco. Its tourist industry had only really begun a few years earlier, with cheap flights being an incentive. Over the 30+ years since the song was written, Spain is arguably the most popular non-UK holiday destination for Brits (also causing so many to retire there that there are predominantly British communities in places), and tourism has completely transformed its economy and culture. "Spanish Bombs" captures Spain at a time when there was a lot of uncertainty in the air and this had yet to be realised.
- "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" is very obviously about the Cold War, and is therefore dated. But nowadays, it's best known as the only song Topper Headon sang vocals on.

YMMV / The Clash

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