The Clash: The Complete Guide to Their Music

by Tony Fletcher

The indispensable consumers' guide to the music of The Clash. An album by album, track by track, examination of every song released by The Clash, from their first single, White Riot to their album Combat Rock and beyond.

Genres: Music, Punk, Biography, Nonfiction

126 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2005

About the author

Tony Fletcher is the author of seven non-fiction books and one novel.  His biography of drummer Keith Moon  has been named in many a Best Music Book list, and his biography of R.E.M., updated in 2013 as Perfect Circle,  has been published in over half a dozen countries.   A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of The Smiths was published in the UK by William Heinemann in September 2012, and by Crown Archetype in the USA in December 2012, with paperback editions following in the corresponding months of 2013. A memoir of his South London schooldays,  Boy About Town , was published in the UK by William Heinemann in July 2013, and is now available as a paperback in both the USA and UK through Windmill Books/Cornerstone Press.

Fletcher gained his entry into music journalism by founding a fanzine at his London school in 1977; by the time Jamming! ceased publication in 1986, it was selling 30,000 copies a month. Along the way he interviewed the likes of Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Paul Weller and U2, as well as dozens of up-and-coming, predominantly independent post-punk acts.

A contributor over the years to a multitude of magazines, newspapers, radio and television shows, primarily in the UK and USA, Fletcher now lives with his family on a mountaintop near the village of Woodstock in New York State. There he runs, skis, maintains his web site www.ijamming.net, serves on his local school board, and plays Hammond B-3 and Rickenbacker in the Catskill 45s, a group that only performs songs from 45 calendar years ago.

Reviews

[Ray Smillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently discovered this and had to buy it as you can never have too many books about the Clash. Short and succinct but it pretty much covers the basics with all released singles, albums and dvds. One thing that did irk me was the glaring error in the opening timeline where it states that Tony James and Ray Scabies left London SS to form the Damned. Poor show from the author.

[Nimrodds]

זה ספר מאוד מקיף, על כל השירים של ההלקה וכל ההוצאות לסוגיהן, אלבומין, אלבומי הופעות וכו'

[C Hunigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is on one of my list of books to read asap.
Love the clash and their variety of songs, albums. Loved the MTV days of the clash and saying I want my mtv. Loved the crazy mtv music, and list of funny mtv djs over the years. Thank you to the bands who admit they had there music inspiration from the clash, to etc. Thank you for the clash music.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Travel-sized (always a HUGE plus for me) book that breaks down all facets of the Clash including pre- and post- works such as the 101ers and Big Audio Dynamite. Easy to read, hard to put down (unless you're in the airport, where one has to put one's book down constantly) and really good at tracing the musical ups and downs of an indisputably important band.

[Joe Stamber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dip into book rather than a cover to cover. Basically it details all The Clash realeases and has a few words words about each one. There's also a section at the end about what the members got up to after the split. I love The Clash so it's a no brainer for me!

[Ken French · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great overview of their entire body of work.