The Clash: Kill Your Idols

by David Quantick, John Aizlewood (Editor)

For seven years The Clash conducted a barely contained experiment in popular music, dragging in styles as far-flung from their council flat beginnings as rap, reggae, drum and bass, rockabilly and their own concoction of amphetamine (and cocaine) fuelled rock and roll. The Clash made only five records and never had a number one hit but Mick Jones, Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon represented one of the last, great, quixotic attempts to wrest transcendence from rock and roll. " The idea of the band was to play it maximum," said Joe Strummer, and that's exactly what they did. The entire Clash back catalog has been re-mastered and re-released to coincide with the October 1999 release of From Here to Eternity, the first ever live Clash album. A complete discography of Clash albums and singles, and band members' post-Clash careers are included.

Genres: Music, Punk, Nonfiction

152 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[AJRXII · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is like a wiki page however it's 24 years old. Could have actually inspired me to eventually do the blog I've been promising to do for 5 or 6 years about every song off the albums. I've never been a Clash fan some of them are terrible songs. Bar The 77 album they weren't punk at all. Except the odd song they were shit to me. I'm getting on (more years behind than ahead) I have so tried on many occasions to give them another go (It's due, this may be the push I needed to do the blog, even a mini book?)
Handsome boys the author says! Is he joking! Some are of course his own opinion and I disagree with a lot. Anyway it's ok worth a read and obviously prior to Joe's death.

[Elliot Chalom · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first 111 pages read like the world's longest Wikipedia entry. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but not quite the promise of the book either. The last 20 pages ("Legacy") read like a jumbled summary of the first 111, with the author taking off the gloves on the random shots he takes across the musical landscape (I get it - you don't like Sham 69. Can we move on please?) Throw in an undercurrent of anti-American sentiment and you get this weird, detailed, biased view of the Clash. Makes you realize how lucky we are to have the wonderful 33-1/3 series by comparison.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hahaha this is the book i read when i was like five and became an expert on The Only Band Who Matters XD

[Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

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