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The Clash: Return of the Last Gang in Town
(Book). Revised and updated to cover the Clash's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the band members' post-Clash careers, The Clash: Return of the Last Gang in Town now includes the first full account of Joe Strummer's "Wilderness Years," his triumphant comeback with the Mescaleros, and his sudden and tragic early death. Extensively revised and updated from both its 1995 and 2001 incarnations, The Clash traces the band members' progress from dispiriting rehearsals in damp London basements to packed American stadiums. A fascinatingly detailed account of the first band to take punk's radical politics to the masses and survive for a decade against all the odds, it also offers an intriguing investigation into the gap between rock mythology and rock reality.
- GenresMusicNonfictionBiography
1 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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July 22, 2025Very dense and thoroughly researched, occasionally veering into "why do I need to know the name of this miscellaneous roadie who was around for three months" territory, but highly enjoyable and paints a very visceral image of much of the key context for this band and their music.
HOWEVER this author takes great care to criticize, undermine, and sort of generally lambast The Clash members at any opportunity. Should we hold people accountable for their actions in light of their publicized values and ethics? Sure. Should we care all that much if it is applying to some guys in their late 20s trying to figure out who they are and what their art is? Not as much as Marcus Gray and all the NME articles he references.
It seems to me that The Clash tried their best to live up to an idyllic system of ethics that would be very difficult to keep in the face of everything they aspired to and how they were treated by the music industry, their manager Bernie Rhodes, and the public at large. For my money, punk rock is by definition not meant to be sustainable. If you're in opposition to pretty much all forms of authority and tradition (of which the Clash really weren't, in fact they pushed the form the other direction towards a progressive call to action instead of a vindication of apathy, i.e: Sex Pistols)
So to criticize them for playing stadiums supporting The Who, or for including a song on a Levi's commercial 15 years after disbanding, or putting out a slick and accessible album like Combat Rock... is just petty bullshit. Especially since this book takes plenty of page space to point out the band's rockstardom ambitions and dedication to a tradition following bands like Mott the Hoople and the Stones.
Anyway. Joe Strummer was cool as hell. RIP.
HOWEVER this author takes great care to criticize, undermine, and sort of generally lambast The Clash members at any opportunity. Should we hold people accountable for their actions in light of their publicized values and ethics? Sure. Should we care all that much if it is applying to some guys in their late 20s trying to figure out who they are and what their art is? Not as much as Marcus Gray and all the NME articles he references.
It seems to me that The Clash tried their best to live up to an idyllic system of ethics that would be very difficult to keep in the face of everything they aspired to and how they were treated by the music industry, their manager Bernie Rhodes, and the public at large. For my money, punk rock is by definition not meant to be sustainable. If you're in opposition to pretty much all forms of authority and tradition (of which the Clash really weren't, in fact they pushed the form the other direction towards a progressive call to action instead of a vindication of apathy, i.e: Sex Pistols)
So to criticize them for playing stadiums supporting The Who, or for including a song on a Levi's commercial 15 years after disbanding, or putting out a slick and accessible album like Combat Rock... is just petty bullshit. Especially since this book takes plenty of page space to point out the band's rockstardom ambitions and dedication to a tradition following bands like Mott the Hoople and the Stones.
Anyway. Joe Strummer was cool as hell. RIP.
April 8, 2009
The definitive history of The Clash. The 3rd Edition goes up to and includes Joe's new band the Mescaleros and Strummer's untimely death. An encyclopedic look at the English punk scene, this book also reveals a great deal about the music business in general.
A must-own for any Clash fan!
A must-own for any Clash fan!
September 24, 2012
An exhaustive and thoroughly documented history of one of the best and most influential bands of all time. At times, it seems as though the author went perhaps a little overboard with his research, but he'll get no complaints from me. An exquisite read.
July 9, 2015
A Good read, A wee bit too long though..I was desperate for them to split up by the end of it...
Could maybe stop trying to pick at flaws in The Clash's early 'kids from the wrong side of the tracks' image.
if you are a fan you will enjoy this.
Could maybe stop trying to pick at flaws in The Clash's early 'kids from the wrong side of the tracks' image.
if you are a fan you will enjoy this.
February 3, 2008
Dense reading for a music biography. True fans will love it. Casual fans might not care to know that much detail
February 5, 2008
A bit bitter, obviously no direct interviews.
May 16, 2008
Without the author's terrible grudge against The Clash, this would be a good history of a remarkable time in pop music and Western politics.
August 26, 2014
Lots of good early info of the band and its members. Written from an official publicist point of view that comes off cheesy at times.
June 29, 2016
Nice length, nearly 500 pages , lots of detail , especially early days . Newest edition includes Strummer passing .
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews