1976 - 1982 (1986)
Joe Strummer - Lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mick Jones - Lead guitar, lead vocals
Paul Simonon - Bass
Nick "Topper" Headon - Drums
From "Wikipedia"
The Clash's music was often charged with left-wing ideological sentiments. They are credited with pioneering the advocacy of radical politics in punk rock, and were dubbed the "Thinking Man's Yobs" by NME.
Like many early punk bands, the Clash protested against monarchy and aristocracy; however, unlike many of their peers, they rejected nihilism. Instead, they found solidarity with a number of contemporary liberation movements and were involved with such groups as the Anti - Nazi League.
On 30 April
1978, the Clash played the Rock
Against Racism concert
in London's Victoria Park for a crowd of 50–100,000 people. Their
politics were made explicit in the lyrics of such early recordings as
"White Riot", which encouraged disaffected white youths to riot like
their black counterparts; "Career Opportunities", which addressed the
alienation of low-paid, routinised jobs and discontent over the lack of
alternatives; and "London's Burning", about the bleakness and boredom
of life in the inner city.
The band's political sentiments were reflected in their
resistance to the music industry's usual profit motivations; even at their
peak, tickets to shows and souvenirs were reasonably priced.
The group
insisted that CBS sell their double and triple album sets London Calling and Sandinista! for
the price of a single album each (then £5), succeeding with the former and
compromising with the latter by agreeing to sell it for £5.99 and forfeit all
their performance royalties on its first 200,000 sales. These "VFM"
(value for money) principles meant that they were constantly in debt to CBS,
and only started to break even around 1982.
