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    Lester Bangs The Clash PDF

    Uploaded by

    Panos Raptis

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 18
    The Cun ‘The Empire maybe terminal stagant, but every tine I come to England It fee ke masive changes are underay ist tine was 197 for Slade who had the punters hooting, but your ‘misc sene in gener was in sch miserable shape that most ofthe its onthe radia were reureced edie, Second tine wa for David Essex haw Faw hw) and Mot (ih) alos excl evo yarsago did't ven bther listening tothe radio, and though I had a good time the chest thing to 2 rns highlight of my tip Was attending an Eagar Froese (entopy incarnate) pres party I never gave much ofa damn about pub oc, which ‘as about the oly thing you guys had going atthe tine, and I had jst shout writen you of for dad when punk rock cme ang. Sober am back again through the corporate graces of CBS Interna tional ose the Cl, t hear new wave bands on the adi (a reat fr American ea), and find the Empire ping again at lst. "Aout ine to. don't now about you, but as far as was concerned thing started pong dowahil for rock around 165; Fd date rom the _scendance of Cream, who mere the fit ake sperstar band he Bist gn of stain in what had crested in 1967. Ever since thea things hae just fen wore, thr Grand Funk and Janes Taslor and wonderful yas Tike sora hen the ony hing interesting ging on wa Roxy Msc, Sally calminating st year inthe ascendanceof tings ike disco and jz ock, thick ate dead enough to sugges the end of popular musi s anything ‘more than rom spy The Clash | 235 Twas thinking of giving up writing about music altogether st year when al fa sodden I stared getting phone calls fom all hee sick ‘magizine journal who wanted to know about this new phenomenon calle “punk rock” Twas litle bit confsed at ist, because sf a 1 vas oncerned punk ock was something which had Gt raid its ry ‘out around 1965 in group ike the Seals and Coont Five and was dnd and buried after the Stooges broke up andthe Dctatow fist LP bombed. Tran, i's easy to Fogel that jst tle over ayer ag ete was only one thing the Sat Ramones alam ‘Bu who could ave predicted that that record would have such an sanpact—all took was that and the frais edge ofthe Sex Pl “Anarchy inthe U.K,” and suddenly it was as if someane had unkahed {he Hoagates ten milan litle groups ll ovr the weld came storming in, mashing ap therevdents with her guitar and ymmerng discontented non suits about how bored and fed yp they were with everything Tat too, and 20 were yoo-that's why we wen ot and Bought ll ‘hose sity singles st spring and sumer by the les of the Uses and Cortinas and Slaughter and the Dogs, baaue beter Slaughter and the Doge at what price wretchednes than one more mexly-muthed sper whimper from Linda Ronstadt. Buying records became fun again, and one reasonit dd was thatal these groups embodied the who gves2 damn et’ iustslamstatem spit of great eck all Ufertuntey many ofthese ‘wonder ices of vinyl dnt poses any ofthe other components of same, wth the tel that (forme, roundabout Lie at the Roxy) many pople simply got FED UP. Meaning that's jst to goddam et sap ‘on dg colar ae back leather jacket and start puking all over the oom shout how yu'te gonna snl sme ge and stab some backs, onk bad repeated the very ates i copped (BOREDOM and INDIFFERENCE) and we were al wating fra group to come aang ho at lest went tough the mon of GIVING A DAMN about SOME- THING Eig, the Cl, ‘You re, dear ede, much of what's (dle) oat pon merely amounts toying I suck, you suck, the word sucks, and who gives 2 damm—which fora, somehow isficien ‘Don't ask why; 'm jt on cbse, ell, But any observer could tel that to puttin tems of Us. Them, sing the above seat what ‘They wan ou tod, because it amount to eaptlation Tei utterly ‘ering dshentening to ty to find some fan or caning while shaneling through he shit we've en handed he at ew years, but merely poking cn yourslfi not gonna change anything (Uno, sau tid i) gust ‘what tal Bos downto i (a) You can't like people who don’ ike themselves, and (b) You gots ike people who standup for what they belie in, as Tong 28 what they believe in is (e) Righteous A precious and elsve quantity, this righteous. Newest smo punk tek snot exactly ODng on itn fact, mst punk rockers rabsbly think ts the purview of hips, als you happen to he back ‘nd Rastafarian, in which eae righteousness shal cover the nd, pres by when puns have attained No Future We kinds hardtop into mere mortal words, bat I gues I should say that being righteous means you'e mae ares on these ofthe angels waging Armagedon forthe ultimate veteryaf the forces of Good ove the Kingdom of Death (sce how perlosly we skit hippedom here’), working tocrlighte other ato thir own posites rather than erly spain in the muck ydeling about what a drag everthing is. "The aghteaus minstrel may be ile with lamentations and exis ofthe exiting order, bot even i he dei’ havea caberent program for socal change ei informed of hope. The MCs were righteous whee the Stooges wer ot The thd and fourth Velvet Underground abuns were righteous the et and second werent (Noodles to ay, Lov Reod i not rightcos) Pati Smith ha ben righteous. The Stones ave ited with righteousness (eg, “Salt ofthe Bart’), but when they were god the Beatles weve allvightoous The Sex Pistols arena ighteous, bu, pehaps more than ay other new wave band, the Clash are “The reason they ati hat beneath ir wired hac soundscape lk 2 persistent humanism t's hard pet your Bnger on inthe acta is, which te mostly pretty despairing but ts inthe kind of thing that could make somebody ike Mark ite tat thes debut albu was his fe To appreciate iin the Css mie yo night ave to be the sort of eon ‘tho could ee Joe Stammer eying oat for 3 rt of hit om a someone ‘making a postive statement, You preci that at much ae thi muse sees with rage and pai, alio chars at the bit ofthe present stem of things Tanging ater some glimpse ofa new and better word. Tow ifs eny to be eyial aout al thi in fet, one of the most coal things you can do there day ito be committed abou anything "The Clash are so commited thee dwight ett. Because of Ht, The Clash | 337 they speak to doe queue British youth today of thee immediate concerns with an authoity tat nobody le his gute mustered. Beeuse they do, 1 doubt if they wil make much sense to most American listens, But moee abou that te. Right no, while wee on the sabes of pits, I would ie to make a couple of things perfec lee 11 do aot know sit about the Engh clas yten, 2.1 donot care shit about the Engh cs stem, veel about it understand. ve heard ith something to do with why Rod Stewart pow makes muse for howewits, and why Pete Town Send isso serened up. I gus it alo has something to do with other ME waiter seeing tome, “Joe Strummer ha fucking mile cas ‘duction, man” [surmise Futer that ths sipped to indicate that heist woth a shit and that bis ong are al fake tect gti, Which is fine by me Joe Strummer ia fake That ely ets him in there with Dyan and Jagger and Towrshend aed mor ofthe othe ret rock ong wates, becase almost all of them in one way or anther wee fakes ‘Townshend had 4 middleclass education. Lou Rect went to Syacite Univesity before mating to the sideall of New York. Din ake his whole carer the only dilerence was tthe aod tobe good at ond now he sucks ‘The point i that, ke Richard Hels, ck nl an area in thick you ecteate youself, andl his blathering about authenticity ust a bunch of cap. The Clash are athentic Because their musica sch brat conviction, nat because theyre Noble Sage Hews note t GBS Intentional: you can ela case ied the Cla 2 people better than any ater band I have ever mat with the posible ‘exception of Taking Hes, and their move it goes without ying great. ean ex thinkso dont you? Good, then lee tei album inthe US, So what fit gets 2 adi ply, Civ knew how to subsidize the arts) Here's a superlative for ade “Bett band in the UKP™Lester Bangs, Here's another oe: "Thanks fr the wonderful vsation”—Lester Bang. (You iow Hove you, Elie) Olay, cw that al hat ato he way, ere we mn | wa siting inthe Brith Airway terminal in New York City on the eve cof my depart, reading The War Astint the ews 1933-1945 when 1 Teak wp jt in tet sce 3 ripped woman in welch» Fw feet away fram me. My eye snapped ack down to my Book in that same reroos refer we know s0 wel buts moment ater she Bad wheeled over toa couple of fet rr whe Ewa siting, and when I oul ght off he wrens of my embarassment of her presence no longer I Toked up again and we sid ell to each the. ‘She was avery sal exon about hit years ld with prety face, ond ir and bnvng bie ees. She said tht she had been on vacation inthe Stats for thee months and war now, eer 0 reluctantly returning to England “Tk the people in America 29 much betty,” she sid. "Chris t's sonic to be someplace where people recognize thi yon ei. ln England, if ove andieapped no one wil lak ata pak to you except ol people ‘Aan they ist pat you on the ead” Ws four dys lara ve deiven from London to Deby with Elie Sith from CBS and Clsh manager Bernard Rhodes for the fis of my poet thee night and two dye with the Band. Iam ot in the best of shape, since I've til go jt a, have been averaging to o thre hou sepa right since I got ere, andthe preios night wa stranded in Aylesbury bythe Sts Grete Hits tou, itching a ride back to London with 2 roadiin the cour f which we were stoped by provincial plize in search ‘of dope and freed to empty ll our pockets, something which had nt Fappened to me since the hippie bedaze of 197. "Ths moring when I went by Mick Farren's a to pick up my bags Ine had told me, "You lok like Night ofthe Lising Dea ‘Neverthe, Lm sre after checking into the Derby Fost Howse to hit theft ight’ a, whatever ay endtion in my mos thought amouage. You sec, the kind of eprts meget over in the tates aboot our punk ck scene bad led me to expect sething audiences of abi ithe ‘miscreants out fr blood at allot, ad naturally I gued the chances of {tng grea story were etter happened to get cannialzed So took (amy black ethe jacket and dese a straight a | powbly could, the feup de grace (I thoght) being bive prometiznal sweater that'd ‘Catl Recond onthe chet, by which | fantasized picking up some residual EMEhostiity fom battle eral Pastas I shuld mention that Tho decided nt t get hie which I esperatly needed beforeleaving the Sse, on the ntsc. chance of being mistaken fra hpi, When [came out of my room and Ele an photagtapher PenicSmith sw me, they oghed The Clash | 229 ‘When I got to the gi psd my way down though the posing mass, right nt the bey ofthe beat, nd tod there through openers the Lou’ and Richard Hell andthe Vidoes, wating forthe dog sober of anarchapocalypse to slam my slat ay ales under anew wave iptide ‘Need | mention that noting ofthe kind tanspied? Listen: if | wee you [woud take up ars and nach onthe media cele of Merrie Olle. NEF incl, and tath thers beyond tern tion, Beseuse what I expeicced this rst nigh andl subsequent on this tout, wa 0 far from what we Aicne’ve ead in the papers and seen on TV that it amounts to 2 mass defamation of character, ina altura femocide. Nobody gave damn about my Tong bait, or coll have eared Jes about sme stupid seater Sure there was gob and bers fang a the bands, and the mob was pushing scways ist riht and then le, bot Thatetodiappint anybody who hast ben thre bt ths scene sneither CCleckwerk Orange nor Lord the Fler. When go tied ofthe backand forth group shove I sinply stuck my elbows oat aa space ford ron What Iam saying is that Ihave Ben toute rook Festi in he hippie ein Ammenca where the vibes ad vicknce were en tines wore ‘han at any ofthe gg Ts on this Clash tour, andthe bande said ter that this Derby engagement wa the wor they had sen, What lam saying Bs that ontray to almost al eports published everwhere fund Baiish punks everwhere I went to be basil if not manifest gene peop They ae & bunch of wce bys and gis and dont let ambody (them included) tel you diferent Yeah, they like to pogo. On the subject of thi od tral gat, of cous thes thing saw when I entered the ball was 2 cove of hunded Tithe heads near the lip ofthe stage all bobbing up and down lik antvopo- ‘morphized pistons Some Max Flscher cartoon on the Industral Revol ‘When [heard about pogsing before I thought it was the stupidest ‘hing anybody’ eve told me aout bute oon a amin Kiving sprog it made perfect sense, I mean, is cba no mace eupid than the Seconal dit dance popuaized five yeas ago by Grand Funk audiences. Tn fact its sheer lg ot poetry) inmotion: when yout packed into standing sweatibop wih ten thousnd otber lle beer all mashed teguter it stand to ea you can't dance nthe aditional manner (Le, sideways) ‘No, viously if you wanna do the Bogslo to what the new Bed say you gotta by dint of ser population expeson sake your booty a Sour bey ina verte trajectory Which wet be srt gid amyway ‘ecrse thi cesar inves losing your ting every two seconds, the reat step fling euthward sgh sideways and becoming entangled Ith you neighbors, which 8 god » way a any of making new friends iF oot copying a ace of tt "Thee i however, oe oer apect of audience appreciation which aint neat ect bing. Far some reason this culls a5 news 0 ebod, so Inn gana see notice ight here and now: LISTEN YA. LITTLE PINHEADS, [T'S NAUSEATING AND MORONIC, AND | ONT MEAN GOOD MORONIC, | MEAN JERKED OFF, THE BANDS ALL HATE IT (the onc I talked to, anyway) AND WOULD ALLPLAY BETTER AND BE MUCH HAPPIER IF YOU FIGURED ‘OUT SOME MORE ORIGINAL WAY OF SHOWING YOUR AP- PRECIATION {te the cond night asked Mick Jones abou it and heleked ike he was ging to poke “But doc ita tothe general atmosphere of chaos and anarchy 1 wondered. No,” head, “It’s Fucking disgusting”) dof moni ete. The Cah were bit ofa disappointment the ist night. Thy played wel, eveything was inthe ight plac, but the sow Seemed tok energy socom, A calleague who saw them a year ago had ‘ome back tothe lates teling me that hey were the only group he'd ever Seen onstage who were tub wed. twas this Iwas looking fr and what pot in is pce mas mere profesional, and hel, could go lt the Rolling Stones put me to ep again f that was all cared about Bick pin the desing room cracked, "Duf wg eh ella” and they laughed, but you coud tell they dint think twas funny. Later I found tout that Joe Stummer had an sbiesed tooth which bad tured into andar eer, and since the ret ofthe band draw their enrzy off him they were all sflering” By rights he shold ave taken week off and Irene straight forthe nearest hospital, but he refed to cance any ei, so mere geste of integrity "A proces of eseatingaiaton for this and had ben for me which was to continue unt t Breached something Ike swe. Se, because FRreny to sine aboot your ihteous poles, bt ae we all ow actions ‘Speak oder than words, andthe Ch are ove ofthe ery few examples The Clas | 251 Ise hethywoleretan eumpe by tpn ode ‘than gafk about it all dy. me errand Gen mt When got uk hi tl had x tig Ln oa, it hg whey wn ht oo htt Ps ac saat in ky Te tae “ik te poh sane bce thoes Oe hie | he aa ‘Mette n tingscnd oepea tl iye seoep ey eepedie parent ot eerie ‘Stand mote dog opt npr parce Butta fer ms eth Came Sov dnl wand Ue tht we et the bk Fe at thy we sk ‘vce cna trip win pec ee eg ‘ine xoted wer fsb entoon ncnloceng ca Mick Jon was eile L men nh dom iced ny sco niamed tv he ig Ay Saye ee pey erates 1 Sobnernren rope na Ee Khel nd atmo cuiy wal eye pg “Tate ty gt pal he Bub ee Mon Ira gto ow of Scena ee Teed io Mik and ted dey Eee rereemyirentsr ania {Tepe cy ve mth oie cn at he sect fs oA ha ht dasa Pale ihe ei inthe eae "ey Ua by se ooking me 2th king eon meer tevin aly act te te Oxon sd ating op he prowee Ent et ok lan fr he Inn of We Sone pe moe ae clyde, ee Mande sed no in ot my tard cogs Bi iu Kh deri wp iat in the ak you ing hoa” Bb mo nt ran hay emt nor Hb ip nan het ces pce a aan ah “SV ys Mek "rk a me itt uso mh why dent ym toting sh “Yeah” says one of the fans, young black punk gid sweet as cold syne depressing ol” ‘Seventeen pu fan spike head no in agreement. Mick ot beeps laughing t me ving burmed out anos the entire population of enero, I ook my show ino anober the bar, wher It down ta table wth Ele ad Paul Simonon and started sn on them. Paul gets up and walls out. Elie ss, “Lester, yo oka Title tred. Are you sue you want another lager.” Later am out in the oy with the et of them again, ina sate not {ar fom walking coms, when Mick gestured ata tenage fan siting there and sd, "Lets, ny rom ull fright an Advan stay with you” inal feed, Here wa, stckin the mil of hing nation wth ail these fanny looking oiten who dia’ even realize the worl was foming to an en ard now on top of everthing ee they expected me to fern my room int ahi rsh pI surmised through ll my confusion that some monstrous joke wat being payed on me, 501 got testy abut it ‘Mick repeated the request and Sally Usa that Adrian cok! mabe stay but he would have to goto the house hove, cal my hotel and see if here sna oom So the por hurled ki did jr that whe an embarassed if not downright creepy sence fll over the tom and Mick stared at me in shock as fhe had never sen tht particular pis of so-called human befor Poor Adan came back ying there was inde rom, 50 rainy sented, ad back to the hotel we went The next morning when Twas in more sober filet tagged frame of mind he showed me a copy of his Cash fanzine, 48 Thrills, which I Bought for 20p, and in the course ‘of breast convertion eed that the Cish make a regular practice ‘oF invtng thei fr back fom the gig with them, and then go fa as to let them seep on the lors of thet roms. "Now: der rear, dont ow how much time you may have actly spent around bigtime rock’ roll bands—you may not thik o, bt the Tes the Iver you are in most earerbot lt measure you thatthe way {he Clash res ther fas fal so far outside the normal un ofthese things 4 tobe outnght revolutionary. I'm ging to say and Fm going to say it Slow: nest ocktrs are goiunin pigs who have the wl bat corps of Tied thug to keep the farsa fom the at allots excepting the wu Select contingent of lek () nubs whe they'l maybe dein to allow up to ter roms forthe prveg of sucking on their coveted wanger, er The Clash | 333 which often snot they get pitched ot into the tet of thie way Ihame without even cafe. "The whole thing i ick to the mao, and [simply could not belive tat any band, epi one at mus brutal as the Cash, could depart a from th eid nor, | mentioned it to Mick inthe vn that dey enroute to Card, abo byway of making some kindof amend for my ova Beavioe: “Liten a Tre jas got to say tat Felly epee you. Tea, Chad noes that {any group could be a god to its fans 38 this “est bughed. “Oh, soi hat gonna be the hook for your soy, then?” ‘An that for me isthe esence ofthe Cah’ greatness, ver and beyond thir msc, why Ie in love wih them, why it wasnt necesiy| todo any boring itersews with them about politic or the cae tem oF any of that: Bees hee at sti a band which aot only preaches some thing good but practices it aswel, that instead of taking about changes in social behavior puts the modelo a truly ealitaran sce into practice in thee own conduct "The fact that Mick woald make joke out fit only shows how far theyre going tonarde the elation fal he hopes we evr had about rock 1 tll as utopian deams—becase if rock nol ir tay the democratic storm, then the democracy has otto begin at home; that, the eet ing and totaly disgusting walls tween atts and audience must come down ltsm mst pris, the “sta hae otto be humanized, demyt logzed, and the audience has goto be tated with more espet. Othe wise is alla shock, a ripo,and the musics a dead 8 the Stones’ and Led Zep as become, Ws no news by now hat the reson mot of rock's extabchment have ‘ical yp eet s that they've cut themselves of fom the real weed of everday experience as exemple by thane Te limate question ishow lg groupie dhe Cash an contin to practic otal egalitarian Jim in the Face of mushrooming ppultity. Mus the walls goup inevitably, ental, and ifs when? Groups ike the Grats Dead have practiced this fceaccess principe at Teast in the past, but the Dead never had tamu which, whether the ke itor not and I'd Bet money they do) the Cash are sadled with—1 mean, at for nothing does Mick Jones resemble a young and already slight disipated Keith Rihard—besie ‘which the Dead ate ala eck sell band and the Clash are wthing ‘de but, And ut ike Mick std to me the Gt nigh, dot ask me why [obsessively lok to rock ll hands fr sme in of model ora beter society Feit st that | glimpsed something bestia Bahbulb moment once and perhaps mistaking it fora prophecy have been sechng its flillinet ever ne. And perhaps that thing ee in the word ever seemed o old even this much promise Tt may lok ke T make too much of al this. We could leave ll signcance a the pictre of Mick Jone jut a hot gitar in a white jumpsuit an 2 rock rl kid on the oad obvi having the ine of Tis ie and ll political pretensions be damned, but stil hee is 2 mood round the Cle t whatever you want, that positive ina way [ve fever sted around alos ny oter band, nd I've been around most them, Something wnpretntinsy moa, and something both self ring and lfeafirming— oppose, sy, othe simple eatles hedonism and ‘arc of so many sperstars othe gin tautipped monomaniael an tion of mot ofthe pretenders to thet thrones. But enough ofall that The highlight ofthe ist dys bus ide acute cen Fesaly mentioned that I had 2 tape ofthe new Ramones bum, "The whole band practically leaped at my that: “Why dit you say 50 before? Shit, put it om right now” SoU did and ina moment they were bouncing allover the at the stains of "retin Hop” Rocket o Russia thereafter Bosme the soundtack to the rest of my le ofthe tu Tam ao ga tobe able to tell everybody that the Clash are solid ‘Muppets fas (They even ated me if | had connections get them on the som.) Their fave rave ir Kermit, pretty canentional choice ik sem a Fozzie Beat man mysele That night a we wee walking ito the hl for the gig in Cari, Pol sid, "Hey, Lester, I ast fred out Inky you like Fore Beart two of you ok 3 ot alike! And then he slaps me onthe back AM ight at this point 1 woud He to saya few mors about this Simonan fellow: Nemly that HE LOOKS LIKE. A MUPPET. 'm not sure which ne, some kind comport, but don't that brooding vise in the photos fol youth guy a el clown. (Tes one to know on, alter a) He sokes lot, and when be gets eal out there omit makes vith carton aon seit that nobody ee ca fathom (often having to

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