TRAINWRECKORDS: "Cut the Crap" by The Clash

Here's a tip, if you're going to make one of the worst-sounding albums of all time, don't make it easy for the critics by putting the word "Crap" in the title, like The Clash did with their career-ending final album. (Support Todd on Patreon! / toddintheshadows )

[@razzmatazz1974]

I lived in a South American dictatorship in the early 80s. Our rock albums sounded better produced than this.

[@cfredrics]

Which one?

[@B.Arthur]

This is a god tier read.

[@Tahngarth]

@@cfredrics more than likely argentina 🇦🇷. We had a nasty dictatorship at the turn of the 70s

[@cfredrics]

@@Tahngarth I know for a fact that during the time when "Cut the Crap" was recorded, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Brazil were all under US backed military dictatorships.

[@cfredrics]

@@Tahngarth I know that Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Chile were all under US backed military dictatorships at the time. I think Paraguay was as well but I will admit that I don't know much about that country's history.

[@matthewlister3755]

"We're gonna bring punk back to its roots" *hears a gated snare from a drum machine, synths, and sampled brass* The roots of punk? Phil Collins.

[@EpicB]

Surprised nobody's done a punk version of Land of Confusion. At least we have the Disturbed version.

[@camwad1238]

I’m gonna be honest I don’t see sex pistols as a punk band they were manufactured

[@drpibisback7680]

@@camwad1238 They're questionable. The bands that inspired McLaren to put them together (The Stooges, The Ramones, Television, Patti Smith) had more Punk bonafides, but the Pistols had a huge influence on "Punk Rock" as an idea even if they didn't really practice what they preached (or seemed to preach).

[@jeevithrai7994]

@@camwad1238 The Damned debut is way better than the Sex Pistols debut album.

[@redherronrecords]

I don't wana make light of torture but gated snares are fucking torture.

[@gentlemanjared]

Making the most anti punk album then dissolve is paradoxically the most punk rock thing they could ever do

[@christopherwall2121]

>Arrive >Release _Cut the Crap_ >Refuse to elaborate >Leave

[@gabe_s_videos]

Which once again proves my theory: punk rock was always full of shit.

[@DrowningMoon]

True they purposefully made a bad album to piss off their fans and said it was gonna be return to form thats pretty punk

[@quetzal7432]

It’s like how dada is anti-dada. Anything that is the complete antithesis to punk culture is also extremely punk culture.

[@gabe_s_videos]

@@quetzal7432 Contrarianism and deconstruction are a waste of time.

[@AureliaVerity]

"We are the Clash" sounds like a drunk soccer anthem sung at midnight at the pub.

[@chavesa5]

That they had the balls to put it on an album after the lineup change really is the definition of "writing checks you can't cash"

[@tylerhackner9731]

Very descriptive and very accurate 😂😂😂

[@iamaunicorn1232]

In that way it's kinda awesome. Imagine it over a bar fight. "WE ARE THE CLAAAASHH!!" *someone gets clocked with a chair*

[@Dazwar4]

Since we are all the clash can we trademark it and share royalties?

[@nejdalej]

If we are all The Clash, does that mean their songs and iconography are in the public domain?

[@achair650]

You know it's bad when MTV considers an entire album era as "living out as a logo for a while"

[@exquisitecorpse__]

Mtv is currently living as a logo!

[@ashen_roses]

​@@exquisitecorpse__well who would better know

[@rosehipowl]

The Dictator sounds like my panic attacks feel.

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

*hugs*

[@archer1949]

Yeah, I hate to use the term “triggering”, since it’s so misused, but in this case.......yeesh.

[@mj-yo7vt]

Oof

[@SmaMan]

I legit thought he meant "Dick Taters" at first.

[@EpicB]

The song sounds like anxiety.

[@kingboobs20]

Did a google search. Disappointed to learn that Piss Hydrants aren't a real band.

[@GeoffChisholm]

THEY ARE NOW

[@EliseOfTheValley]

Brie Russell but there Is the meatmen

[@mabusestestament]

What about The New Monkees? For the love of god, I hope that wasn't an actual band either.

[@cypher515]

@@mabusestestament Oh, I'm not gonna lie to you. ... :walks away quickly:

[@littlekingtrashmouth9219]

(Gets guitar, bangs out three chords, yells instructions on back of hair spray bottle, adds drum beat and bass line, records it, calls band The Piss Hydrants, rushes over out of breath) ...you were saying?

[@munjee2]

I guess the real clash was the friends we made along the way

[@bartholen]

I was going to make that exact same joke, but that's literally what the album is about.

[@M0b1us_118]

Munjee Syed I said this on Twitter that this episode instead of Rock the Casbah, it’ll be more like Rocked the Clash.

[@pronkb000]

Oh, yeah, yeah! Like, maybe the Clash is the place inside each of us, created by our goodwill and teamwork. ...Nah, they said there'd be sandwiches.

[@ComradePhoenix]

Dammit, I was gonna say that and got beat to the punch.

[@PassiveNights]

This is literally the Hold Steady song Constructive Summer - ‘raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer, I swear he was our only decent teacher’

[@rgs8970]

"Dictator" sounds like you are trying not to get demonetized by getting this copyright claimed so you just played something else simultaneously to fool the bots

[@j.d.t.5761]

Then again, would anyone even care to even copyright claim this awful song? It should be lost in the sands of time.

[@curly_wyn]

Lmao this needs more likes

[@jamesmason7979]

On that first song it sounded like the instruments were fighting each other.

[@Musicradio77Network]

The first song sounded like an experimental track than “Revolution 9” by the Beatles from the “White Album” and “They’re Through” by the cast of “Rock and Other Four Letter Words”.

[@Karmy.]

Would you say that the instruments were clashing?

[@jamesmason7979]

@@Karmy. Yeah, I would. 😂

[@TheIkaraCult]

That is the kind of description that would make me want to listen to it! I think it actually sounds like the instruments are drunkenly trying to have sex with each other and failing miserably

[@jamesmason7979]

@@TheIkaraCult 🤣

[@PaulSebert]

Went to listen to the full version of "Dictator" out of morbid curiosity and it's actually even more baffling than you described it. It's like there's a kinda decent punk song in there somewhere being droned out by a mix of white noise, synthesizers, and a mexican talk radio station.

[@patricklauer4452]

Paul S the live version is a lot better

[@zorantaylor3190]

It's also a great example of a band attempting and failing to create a punk equivalent of the kind of thing that a good art-rock band could do infinitely better. Listen to it again and then listen to "The Bob (Medley)" by Roxy Music and you'll probably see what I mean....

[@Mediumreginald]

Zoran Taylor I mean, listen to PiL or this heat, this is still something that can sit pretty comfortably within the vague confines of “punk”, it just seems as if everything was thrown at the track here without intention.

[@RobiticDuck]

Must be Wall Of Voodoo and their darn Mexican Radio creeping in again.

[@gabemcknight8933]

@@RobiticDuck lol

[@onusgumboot5565]

Strummer talking about "drugs are over" sounds like an addict trying to convince his family he's not using anymore, when he knows he is.

[@emilyoswin3830]

The thing about that is that despite what you’d think, him being the lead singer of a 70s punk band, Strummer didn’t really do drugs. There are even a few lines about how drugs are a detriment in London Calling

[@emilyoswin3830]

the song Hateful from that album is a prime example I think, all about Strummers experiences with people around him doing drugs. its really good

[@robertwilloughby8050]

Strummer liked his weed, but yes, otherwise he was staunchly anti-drug.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

Drugs became unpopular in the 80's because of the smelly hippie burnouts of the 60's and the coke head yuppies of the 80's (who were hated by working class people and non-coke users). When lots of people do something, it's not going to be as cool anymore.

[@onusgumboot5565]

@@ryanjacobson2508 No, not even close to correct. In the '80's coke became cheap enough for even blue collar workers to buy. It was everywhere. Drugs in general were so popular it was hard to find anyone who didn't use something. I don't know where you got the idea that they became unpopular. Maybe the people you personally knew didn't use, or maybe just didn't admit to using around you, but believe me, I was there in my twenties, and drugs were more popular than ever.

[@katethegreat91]

Will the smash cut to “Wake me up before you go-go” be the 80’s equivalent of nirvana ruined my career?

[@freakfoxvevo7915]

Good idea! Let's call it "Video killed my career"

[@VinchVolt]

@@freakfoxvevo7915 Video killed the 70's star, perhaps?

[@katethegreat91]

It definitely sounds like another potential series. Exploring the 80’s era careers of rock artists who were popular in the 60s and 70s. Just as the 80s is fertile ground for one hit wonders, it also seems fertile for turning points in rock star careers.

[@nickrustyson8124]

@@katethegreat91 Oof Deep Purple Knocking on Your Backdoor was bad

[@brandongreen4439]

I wanna call it a Wham! Moment but Video Killed the 70's Star is a much better title.

[@DiamondAxeStudiosMusic]

Talking about the cultural important of punk rock and then cutting immediately to "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" is one of the best things I've ever seen

[@gabingston3430]

On that note, Sam Smith came out as nonbinary, so George and Aretha still have the last duet by a Gay White Dude and a Straight Black Woman to hit the Top 10. Also, I Knew You Were Waiting For Me is awesome, and I will hear no words to the contrary.

[@TheBoringAddress]

As a huge George Michael fan, people need to be reminded that Wham! supported the miner's strikes during the 80s, playing at benefit concerts: www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/dec/26/george-michael-wham-most-misunderstood-group-1980s-thatcherism

[@ThomasWilson4]

@@TheBoringAddress They also supported the jitterbug

[@beef1000]

wham is the most punk bank that I can think of

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

Curious fact, George Michael actually LIKED Joy Division.

[@fbrown9861]

I can't believe the clash invented hyperpop

[@plantain.1739]

I feel like this is an insult to hyperpop.

[@miserirken]

hyperpunk

[@patricklauer4452]

This ain’t hyperpop it’s hypershit

[@dusty2080]

I feel like this is an insult to Hyperpunk.

[@ShOscar]

HyperCRAP

[@RolandDeschain1]

Another potential 'Trainwreckords' is, obviously, 'Chinese Democracy' by Axl Rose and 183 guest musicians.

[@oliverfletcher1939]

I don't think Chinese democracy is that bad I personally think it's guns n roses best album

[@michaelkitchin9665]

I don't but then I'm not a big G 'n R guy. It's a miracle it finally got made, to be honest.

[@TimmyTickle]

Todd can't say anything about the album that wasn't already said in Rocked's Regretting The Past on it

[@RolandDeschain1]

@@TimmyTickle I guess there's only so many ways you can say 'self-indulgent'.

[@RatelHBadger]

Ironically perhaps Democracy is the most cohesive "ALBUM" Guns put together. Appetite sounds like a typical first album, a few hits with some live favourites. Lies was a typical follow-up ep released midtour. Illusion just sounds like a bunch of work in progress, a few B-sides a few hits, like someone said "let's release everything we got & see what sticks". Democracy, despite it taking so long, seems like it had some thought put into it... maybe 25 years of thought.

[@metamoralia]

The loss of Topper was crucial, too. The one trained musician in the band without whom the classic quartet would not have realized Mick's musical ideas so effectively on record.

[@HeyItsAJOmega]

Amen. Strummer always insisted that any band are only as good as their drummer, and always gave Topper huge credit for his technical ability and raw power. Seen more than one interview from Strummer and others saying that the best thing to do in hindsight around 1981-82 would've been to take a hiatus, for the good of the whole band who were desperately burned out by then, but especially so Topper could go to rehab and get himself cleaned up.

[@afterdinnercreations936]

The Travis Barker of the 70s

[@jackthayer1289]

It was, at least Terry was back in the band for a bit, but without Topper or Terry the band was fucked.

[@thezenitsufan1249]

Joe Strummer actually tried to get Jones to rejoin the band but he refused

[@joelglanton6531]

​@@afterdinnercreations936IMO Barker = better chops, Headon = better drummer

[@morganstuart8798]

"We are the clash" sounds like your drunk uncle trying to sing "anarchy in the UK", but he can't remember the words.

[@md_vandenberg]

This sounds like the kind of "tubular, hard rock" some 12 years old in a talent contest band would make in a Disney show.

[@Champiness]

I think it sounds more like when that band gets signed by the evil record label that tries to make their music too “commercial”, but the band’s original vision was already precision-engineered for Radio Disney bc it’s the one the audience has to be rooting for so the “sellout” version has a bunch of deliberately unpalatable synths and effects randomly applied to it.

[@Champiness]

(Actually a good example of this appears in a later Trainwreckord w/ John Stamos’ heavily-flanged Full House rap version of the Beach Boys’ “Forever”.)

[@christopherwall2121]

@@Champiness Is it sad that I think I know exactly what you're referencing there?

[@bobbysworld281995]

​@christopherwall2121 they repeated that plot for the series finale movie of Drake and Josh: Really Big Shrimp

[@caesarspeaks]

It literally sounds like Zack and Cody’s song from that one episode

[@psycho_dog33]

35 years later, and Green Day pulled the same shit with their album "Father of All...". They marketed the album as a return to pure rock and roll, and released a studio monstrosity that barely qualifies as an album, let alone rock.

[@bacht4799]

psycho_dog33 maybe it’s true what they say when they say “ you can’t never when home .. “ or is it “ you can’t swim in the same river twice “ or something like that.. you know what I mean..

[@psycho_dog33]

@@bacht4799 What.

[@lunardogs2416]

@@bacht4799 no i don't. ❤️

[@bacht4799]

Lunar Dogs sorry.. what I meant was that was that trying to become back what you one was isn’t possible.. you maybe have a style or sound when you was started but you change your style or something like that and when you try to come back to what you was you having changed or the world has changed or not the same person with those things which made you at that time.. or something like that.. sorry English is not my first language and I not so good with writing ..

[@lunardogs2416]

@@bacht4799 oh thats ok! sorry if i came of rude youre doing really well with english, i think i understand you now

[@chrisallen9638]

Clash "superfan" here, and other than your downplaying of Topper's role in the band (they credit getting Topper with being the final piece of their puzzle that made them into a great band, and he was actually fairly involved in quite a bit of songwriting, he reinforced the Rock n Roll swing that Mick had against Joe and Paul's harsher musical tendencies), you presented a very good overview of what this album is.

[@flyinggondolaproductions]

Agreed with the Topper part. Topper's versatility is half of why The Clash became who they are, especially on London Calling

[@greenatom]

Topper's story is heartbreaking. Not only a fantastic drummer, but a great all-around musician. He wrote the music for Rock The Casbah, including that great piano part.

[@saltiney8578]

The clash are shit lol

[@FLUFFERKINZ]

Yes Topper was definitely instrumental to the success of the band. He recognized that his addiction had started the breaking up of The Clash and contributed to its ending. If Joe hadn’t died I think they would have had one of the best and most well received reunion tours in history. I would have loved to hear Joe sing about the turmoil the world endured in the early 2000s, I think he would have been an amazing voice at the time.

[@thelastjerkbender2505]

Fucking seriously, even as a casual music listener and a casual fan of The Clash, I could tell that Topper's drumming really added so much to the songs. Todd tends to have some studio exec/high school band leader tendencies when analyzing music.

[@Lastclerk3]

I went and listened to “Dictator” and HOW IN HELL DO YOU LISTEN TO THAT AND GO “yeah that’s not only ready for the album it’ll be the opener” HOW?!?!

[@KaijaSchmauss]

Right?! I would have opened with We Are The Clash. It's a terrible song, but it would make sense to place it at the start as if they were introducing themselves to the listener.

[@PassTheMarmalade1957]

Dictator is one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Top five, definitely.

[@Cherry_Magenta]

The sad part about Dictator is the live versions from 1984 are actually not that bad (this goes for pretty much any CTC song they performed before the album came out, but this was the most surprising). The bizarrely terrible production completely fucked it over, even more so than the rest of the album

[@idontnotdothings2193]

I think the actual song behind Dictator is amazing; it's just that you have to ignore all the layers of dissonant synths & random noise bullshit to be able to even hear it. I'd kill to have some kind of rerecording or remaster of this album. There was so much potential in these songs but it was all ruined by all the shitty production choices. It's actually kind of infuriating.

[@BarkertheScrunkly]

It's never a good sign when the worst song on an album is the opening track.😞

[@taylorgabbey2371]

7:10 Well, if by "going back to punk roots" they meant "sounding like your 16 year old neighbor in the garage with his first sound machine," they nailed it 👍

[@R3stlessNWild]

For a lot of people, that's pretty much what punk rock is.

[@OmicronX-1999]

It's funny how so many bands (and fans) seem to think that 'going back to the band's roots' means production that sounds like a hand grenade going off in a lead-lined shed.

[@andressotil4671]

Quiet down, you noisy punk!!!

[@carolyns4519]

"Punk is kids banging in their garage"- Todd, in the Cyberpunk Trainwreckord

[@BrendanJSmith]

The Clash rehiring Bernie Rhodes is like if Mike Love had rehired Murry Wilson as The Beach Boys' manager and producer after Brian Wilson's mental breakdown.

[@0037kevin]

Or itd be like if after Phil Spector produced the Ramones 'End of the Century' they decided: "We should let this guy make all of our decisions!"

[@rse1113]

Mike Love…history’s greatest monster.

[@OfficialROZWBRAZEL]

@@rse1113 "I don't like Mike Love, _at all"_

[@rse1113]

@@OfficialROZWBRAZEL Brian Wilson is a genius for that statement alone.

[@i.7525]

christ, that's bleak. i've never done a deep dive into the clash's history, and it took this comment to make me realize just how horrible the situation was.

[@Hammerhead547]

Fun Fact: Iron Maiden was offered a recording contract in 1977 on the condition they completely changed their genre and style from what they were doing and became punk rockers. Band leader steve harris told the label to get fucked and they waited until 1979 to sign with a label that respected what they were doing and let them be themselves.

[@Kochiha]

Punk tried to kill the metal...

[@Hammerhead547]

@@Kochiha Rob Halford called that period of british music "one of the worst eras of british culture, after punk hit it big it didn't matter if you had talent, it didn't matter if you were technically skilled or if you could even write songs because all you had to do was shove a safety pin through your nose and say you were in a punk band and you could get away with anything"

[@kristismith3662]

Interesting factoied

[@Kochiha]

I quote that line all the time. "You didn't even have to play a note, just hammer three chords and shove a safety pin through your nostril." My comment was a Tenacious D reference.

[@MetroPolo1]

Well, Iron Maiden "first" vocalist (third in fact) Paul Di'Anno had a punk style.

[@corbingarber7765]

Dictator sounds like something Captain Beefheart would create if he wanted to create a stadium anthem with the drum machine that his momma gave him for Christmas.

[@johnm3152]

Give a listen to the Captains, "Bluejeans and Moonbeams". An atypical attempt at commercial success

[@mikesimpson3207]

@@johnm3152 Or better yet, don't listen to Bluejeans and Moonbeams. Or Unconditionally Guaranteed. Both of those albums are much better forgotten. If you want "commercial" Beefheart that has some soul to it, Clear Spot is a great listen.

[@johnm3152]

@@mikesimpson3207 "safe as milk" 🥛 - point taken. FZ really hated "Blue Jeans..." Do believe Don was attempting (on advice of his newly acquired, bouffant managerial poodle 🐩 types) full "Commercial Potential" - arf ! Zappa's a basket case ! Arf

[@joaquinlezcano2372]

@@mikesimpson3207 "Shiny beast (Bat chain puller)"?

[@ChromeDestiny]

On the mid 70's Beefheart albums he often sounds like Cat Stevens to me, on a few tracks I think it actually works but most of the time it doesn't. Even when it does it's not what I look for in Beefheart music.

[@Zatzzo]

According to Mick Jones, when they were making the "London Calling" album, he wrote 80% of the music and Joe Strummer wrote 80% of the lyrics. That explains everything.

[@JoshuaFagan]

We are the Clash is hilarious. Just the idea of arguably the greatest punk band in history doing a cheesy disaster like that is so sadly pathetic.

[@camwad1238]

How could punk be so un punk

[@classicbananamilk]

My god I can't get over how bad these songs sound, it's almost unbelievable

[@VinchVolt]

I've heard 80's production kill potentially good songs before on David Bowie's 1987 album Never Let Me Down. It was probably the only album that ever made me *genuinely angry* because of how badly it wasted stellar songwriting, and the de-80's-ed 2018 remix was a godsend by comparison. This album, meanwhile, leaves me bewildered; while NLMD at least knew what it wanted to do with its awful 80's production, Cut the Crap feels like the equivalent of spewing out an on-the-fly first draft of a college essay without any idea of what you're doing.

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

It was all Bernie Rhodes fault.

[@chuckbatman5]

Half of these songs sound like a bad high school garage band, the other half sound like Weezer badly parodying punk rock. It's shockingly awful.

[@QuintessentialQs]

@@markwoollon There's bad production (ameteurish, lo fidelity, cheap). And then there's BAD production (ill conceived, trying too hard, more expensive than it was worth). Those early Misfits or Dead Kennedys albums sound like crap in just about the best way possible, as far as I'm concerned. Is Jello Biafra overloading the mic every few lines? Yup, but that's part of the charm.

[@akillen77]

@@markwoollon then you never actually liked it. The stranglers are not punk

[@michaelmcdonald8452]

“They were selling out arenas...” Well.. kinda. They were opening for The Who in large arenas.

[@jonesy2111]

You caught that too ... I'm glad someone else did because the Clash in reality was barely capable of selling out clubs in the states

[@michaelmcdonald8452]

@@jonesy2111 And don't misunderstand me ... I'm a huge fan of the Clash, especially London Calling and the unfairly maligned Sandinista and the singles around those albums. They would have fully deserved to fill arenas on their name alone. But that statement is a little out of context here.

[@christopherwall2121]

Still, opening for the Who ain't much to sneeze at either.

[@paisleepunk]

@@christopherwall2121 Metallica toured the Master of Puppets album with Ozzy Osbourne, so even greater success could have been possible for The Clash had they gone another album (or a few)

[@frankiepunkxo]

@@paisleepunk by 83 punk had moved on. like, Combat Rock era Clash sound lethargic next to Dead Kennedys and Bad Brains, and even compared to Machine Gun Etiquette and that was 4 years old by that point. They'd long dropped the punk from their punk rock.

[@NatsumiMovies]

This album is so bad that its not even in their Spotify catalog lmao

[@fizzpeak123]

Thats kinda sad......i wanted to hear how much of a trainwreck it is but that could be a good thing

[@fizzpeak123]

@@AliceFlynn still....i can't play it in the backround

[@duffman18]

@@fizzpeak123 just use pirate bay and download a lossless version of it. That's still a far better way to listen to music , even if this album isn't worth having particularly, because spotify's file quality is so poor

[@pphaguss]

It’s still on spotify for me?

[@fizzpeak123]

@@pphaguss im from the uk and it isn't on there

[@icysnow9459]

I notice that bands in trainwreckords has some sort of trouble with their leader. Van Halen with Eddie Van Halen, creedence with John fogerty, and now this.

[@MegCazalet]

Liam v Noel Gallagher, too.

[@roguishpaladin]

People like to trash label executives, but usually the creative individuals need some level of reining in. Without it, egos run wild and no one can tell them to stop.

[@nik0kirin212]

As people say: fish starts to rot from it's head.

[@FirionLeFleur]

Styx with their lead, Oasis with pretty much everyone.

[@MackenziiRivers]

thats why its so hard to be appart of a band/group. to mauch clashing of heads. unless you settle down and make hard rules that everybody has to follow for there to be some form of peace, people are going to bicker. like one rule should be 'the majority vote matters more'. If everybody says 'yes this song should be worked on and released' and another says 'i'm not feeling it' then tough the majority thinks it works. no hard feelings. but when one person tries to take controll of everything, it makes more people pissy in the end (think how tome Cruze ruined his mummy film because he re wrote the script, took directors rolls and even told camera men to make him look better. and look how that film turned out)

[@baronvonkek8467]

"Drugs are over from this moment now!" he says while holding a lit cigarette.

[@p4rz1val]

Cigarettes in the 80s were still part of a well-balanced diet

[@technounionrepresentative4274]

To be fair isn't punk supposed to be counterculture? And in the 80s drugs were huge, so in a way being straight edge was counterculture

[@d.b.cooper5766]

Techno union representative All about that Punk Rock Detox man, just get it down to coffee and cigarettes.

[@littlederk652]

@@technounionrepresentative4274 Straight Edge anarchism and its constituents are a thing yeah, but they also reject shit like cigarettes to my knowledge

[@otaking3582]

The difference is that cigarettes are legal (for some reason...)

[@DiamondAxeStudiosMusic]

There's something darkly ironic about the album that killed a band's career being called "Cut the Crap"

[@DiamondAxeStudiosMusic]

@@kenterminateddq5311 "I get crapped on, but I get up again"

[@blackcat1642]

what chubawanba album isnt obscure

[@TimmyTickle]

KenTerminatedbyGoogle Well, Mardi Gras is a big thing in Louisiana, and CCR did have an affinity for that state (Born on the Bayou, anyone?)

[@brendonwood7595]

@@kenterminateddq5311 Given you didn't name it, i guess it actually is obscure.

[@VinchVolt]

@@mariokarter13 Don't forget Yes Please! by the Happy Mondays. One review of the album was literally just the words "no thanks."

[@arianrhodhyde7482]

Joe Strummer said that the cracks started to show once they sacked Topper. It was only ever meant to be temporary, anyway! Topper Headon was a really technically accomplished drummer whose background in jazz and soul music were essential for creating the new sound of the Clash from London Calling onwards. He even wrote Rock the Casbah, the Clash's breakthrough American hit!

[@ffff-qw7sp]

todd notoriously disregards drummers lol

[@arianrhodhyde7482]

@@ffff-qw7sp everyone disregards drummers it's their curse

[@BrendanJSmith]

@@arianrhodhyde7482 I thought everyone disregarded bassists.

[@arianrhodhyde7482]

@@BrendanJSmith the only creature on god's green earth that is more wretched and lowly than a bassist is a drummer.

[@BrendanJSmith]

@@arianrhodhyde7482 everyone remembers Alex Van Halen but no one remembers Michael Anthony.

[@creakyboards8517]

honestly i feel like Dirty Punk is just a shot at Mick Jones.

[@isetmfriendsofire]

Oh wow, that oddly makes a whole lotta sense.

[@zackcolosky9908]

according to the album credits Bernie was a co-writer, so that theory holds water

[@Joemama55122]

Oh yeah probably

[@aderek79]

"This is England" sounds like it was made to be the theme song for some lowkey annual charity event.

[@Phoneybeetlemaniacxs]

aderek79 this is England is a good song

[@nickrustyson8124]

And that's why I say, This is England's the is the British Born in the USA. They're both sound like patriotic songs, but their lyrics aren't, but good luck finding that out at first with the singer's accent.

[@RatelHBadger]

This is England is a decent flick in the vein of Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels

[@duffman18]

@@RatelHBadger what? No it's literally nothing like Guy Ritchie films. The whole This is England series of movies/TV shows is incredibly real and depressing, about racism and abuse and drugs and trauma and loss, while Guy Ritchie films are over the top and stylish and a bit comedic, but nobody really talks like that here in the UK. You couldn't have possibly chosen a more different type of English film to compare it to. They're absolutely nothing alike, apart from both being set in England. It's like saying Django Unchained is the same type of movie as 12 Years A Slave, except it's even _more_ different than those two films are from each other since at least those both have slavery as a common element in them

[@RatelHBadger]

@@duffman18 I didn't mean in the stylistic sense. I meant in the fact that it depicts the underbelly of Britain. Rather than the upper crust BBC image that Britain projected to the world.

[@EpicB]

The song "Dictator" sounds like anxiety. Maybe this represents what living in a dictatorship is like. Or maybe it's just incompetently produced.

[@expendableindigo9639]

Someone else made the same comment lol.

[@jeevithrai7994]

I can't believe that this is the same band that made London Calling, a album that is so exquisitely produced.

[@wylier]

But minus topper- and especially mick - was it really the same band?

[@jeevithrai7994]

@@wylier good point.

[@itstyypical3908]

That's the thing though, it WASNT the same band. This is why almost all of the clash fans disown Cut The Crap and pretend that it never existed and rightly so.

[@plantain.1739]

​@@itstyypical3908 The thing I don't understand is how it's this bad. Like, obviously it isn't gonna sound exactly the same as their previous album, they have new members; But it's the same producer who's produced quality works before, how the hell is it this... I don't even wanna say amateur, because I think amateurs know to sync a fucking dum track to the rest of the song.

[@LuxuryPossum]

@@plantain.1739 The Clash had different producers on their earlier albums. Sandy Pearlman produced Give 'em Enough Rope, and the clash hated his producing style. London Calling was produced by legendary manager/ producer Guy Stevens, who the clash really got along with, and the end product shows. Cut the Crap was all Bernie Rhodes' fault. Strummer is at fault for believing him.

[@DoppelgangerShockwave]

Just to clarify something, Topper Headon was also sacked from the band because of Bernie Rhodes. The band wanted Topper to get clean and come back. Rhodes hated Topper, referring to him as a "tosser" or homosexual because he couldn't stand Topper as a person. When he put The Clash together in 1976 Terry Chimes was their original drummer. Rhodes didn't want him to leave when he did, and took an instant hatred towards Topper when he joined. So Bernie told them Topper was not going to be coming back, but instead Terry Chimes was put back in the band after the Combat Rock was released. He appeared in the video for their biggest hit 'Rock The Casbah,' mostly composed and tracked by Topper except for the vocals, lyrics, and guitar parts. Bernie was an evil conniving prick who had it set in his mind he was going to destroy The Clash if he ever got to come back. And Joe has openly admitted it was the worst mistake of his life letting Bernie come back as their manager. And yeah, none of those interviews after Mick Jones had left the band were genuine. Joe was saying all that garbage in order to appease Bernie. None of the songs were composed by Joe on 'Cut The Crap.' That was all Bernie. And you can tell because if you listen to all the music Joe put out after the end of The Clash you will hear some of the most amazing compositions ever written. Joe wrote songs during his solo career that make you feel like The Clash could've been on them under assumed names, much like The Beatles were on each other's solo records over the last 5 decades. I know they were not, but the vibe on some of those songs make you feel like they could've been. As a diehard Clash fan it hurts me they fell apart like they did because they truly were the only band that ever mattered. My whole life changed because of them, and I am forever grateful for their music, their lyrics, and their political beliefs. It's a real shame Bernie owns the rights to their music because 'Cut The Crap' should be lost to the septic tank for all times.

[@amazonstorm]

Terr Cain this is a good comment.

[@grindcorejazz1392]

Tosser is a another way of callimg some one a wanker

[@rhyssatterfield7487]

Earthquake weather was sacked by critics but its better than cut the crap

[@DoppelgangerShockwave]

@@rhyssatterfield7487 Earthquake Weather is a fantastic record.

[@DoppelgangerShockwave]

@@grindcorejazz1392 Perhaps, but in the way Bernie has said it in interviews it sounds like he was calling Topper a homosexual.

[@jetfire851]

As someone who loves The Clash, this is all spot on. Cut The Crap is almost uniformly awful.

[@laurena9563]

I remember finding everything I could in the 90s before my family had internet on The Clash, and attempted to convince myself that Cut the Crap was at least somewhat listenable and that I just 'wasn't getting the vision.' Nice to know I'm not the only person who thought it was total trash. xD

[@kevincarvalho4018]

Fingerpoppin is sweet, but to each their own

[@Bitterswoon]

Not going to lie, I kind of like Movers And Shakers and Three Card Trick. That's it, though.

[@fathergetdown]

I might be out of line, but I would put Sandinista up for a Train wrecord episode as well. Three records priced as a single that put them massively in debt, horrible critical reception, terrible sales, and frankly a LOT of subpar material, especially coming after London Calling, one of the greatest albums ever made.

[@jamesbrannigan5620]

@@fathergetdown nah Sandinista is one of the best things they ever did. It just takes a LONG time to get in to. That said if you don't like dub, rockabilly , reggae & jazz it's going to be a hard listen...

[@direcircumstances]

The angry confidence with which Joe declares "drugs are over!" is the same vibe I want to give off when I'm discussing stuff I don't like. "Olives are over! Leopard print is over! Racism is over!"

[@DestinyKiller]

Parmesan cheese can shove off

[@TheNoSuchThingPodcast]

I think John Lyden can act like that too sometimes

[@Moshmaschine]

"Everyone who eats an olive is a Greek, and Greeks can... shove off!"

[@sc00by89]

Todd: "Sounds like Phil Collins" Also Todd: sings Chris De Burgh

[@theneonchimpchannel9095]

I was just going to say that.

[@nejdalej]

T h e r e s n o b o d y h e r e

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

Maybe that's why the video was re-uploaded, to avoid a copyright strike. The audio for that snippet sounds different from the rest of the video, and it's well established Todd knows his music, regardless of how he might poke fun at artists for sounding similar.

[@shankieinthefridge]

Christ! De Berg!

[@annnee6818]

I don't have a shadow of a doubt that Todd knows who sang Lady in Red

[@Charredasperity]

that first song sounds like one of those unlistenable songs someone on a pretentious music forum or /mu/ would keep trying to say is an artistic masterpiece no one else gets.

[@zorantaylor3190]

Like "Hurricane Fighter Plane" by The Red Krayola (Which I actually kinda like tbh)

[@Amateur0Visionary]

Agreed.

[@xym07]

Hyperpop of the 80’s

[@matturner6890]

Wow you really nailed that.

[@trystero1729]

Like Captain Beefheart

[@jaredfreeland9153]

Fun Fact: Vince White's real name is Greg. He was forced to change it by Paul Simonon, who "didn't want to be in a band with a guy named Greg" 😂😂😂

[@gregfox8132]

Greg is a great name from Russia/Scotland, 😢

[@wraitsoth]

My dad used to call the version of the band that did CtC "The Crash" and never played any of the songs from the album. I now know why.

[@pronkb000]

The Clash's last hurrah, yeah, but I dunno if that's quite fair to Strummer, who produced some really good solo stuff.

[@quarium5681]

Shou :)

[@morley364]

The song playing at 7:17 sounds the way that anxiety feels

[@OsKarMike1306]

It sounds like Death Grips going pop and failing spectacularly

[@SivleFred]

Morley It sounds like what an attempt to cram for a final exam would sound like.

[@monslenomer]

Ew, that was too apt and now I feel uncomfortable.

[@hubblebublumbubwub5215]

That’s too accurate. When I was 16 I was constantly thinking about a ton on shit while songs were stuck in my head. It sounded exactly like this.

[@MelvinDukowski]

That would be a compliment if this was Daughters or Xiu Xiu.

[@ScottJasonCohen]

"Fucking *Asia* would tell you to dial it back with all this shit" is an underrated line.

[@asrieldreemunov472]

There's some sort of beauty in mistakenly uploading the outtakes and needing to reupload the video, honestly.

[@Dill_Pickle1997]

Asriel Dreemunov did I miss something in this review

[@eamonsherris-watt6118]

@@Dill_Pickle1997 He accidentally uploaded a take of him practicing his lines and playing the intro instead of the finished video. It's been replaced with this but I think you can find the clip somewhere else on KZbin. It's kind of cool to get to watch what his line reading style is like.

[@expendableindigo9639]

Oh hey, I know you from Discord.

[@cincymutt]

I don't think the decline of punk is really much of a mystery. I feel like the original 70's punk groups were pretty diverse, and it makes sense all ended up in different places (or no where at all) by the 80's. The Ramones gave into their old-school rock/pop side with end of the century, and spent the rest of their careers trying to rediscover their original sound; the Sex Pistols imploded after one album; and the Clash (on their peak album no less) veered heavily into reggae/ska and radio-ready rock hits. The genre as a whole kind of gave way to poppy New Wave (something Blondie was always closer to). The most appealing aspect - the energy and distorted guitar power - were retooled into popular music By the end of the decade, the continually stricter definition of "punk" narrowed the genre down to a more niche market, in the form of hardcore punk and other spin-offs.

[@BrendanJSmith]

And the real spirit of punk moved on to heavy metal.

[@Meme_Lor]

Another thing that I feel lead to it's decline is that punk was too limited, its entire point is keeping things simple but eventually you'll want some experimentation and that's why post-punk and new wave happened

[@MYNAMACHEF]

@@BrendanJSmith can't remember the last time I heard a metal song about hating the government

[@BrendanJSmith]

@@MYNAMACHEF Peace Sells by Megadeth.

[@MYNAMACHEF]

@@BrendanJSmith right, black sabbath would count too But most political metal songs are from the yesteryear. Contemporary metal focuses on little more than brutal imagery

[@ralphyetmore]

"Talk about over produced. Fucking ASIA would tell you to dial it back with that shit." Best line.❤

[@andrewerntell4775]

Mick Jones showed his musical versatility and foresight when he went on to form Big Audio Dynamite. One of the first bands to incorporate sampling as a major component of their songs.

[@rollinnollin546]

About the “Reagan and Thatcher era” thing: I’d guess that itself is why punk fell out of popularity. You know how hardcore rap got a lot less popular with white people after Tupac was shot? Well, just like how it’s really fun to pretend to be a gangster until someone gets shot, it’s probably really fun to pretend to be a revolutionary until you wind up in a tense political climate where people will actually believe what you’re saying.

[@simongunkel7457]

UK Punk happened at a miserable time, though, the measures to reduce inflation led to a large number of strikes - famously the grave-digger strike where bodies weren't burried for quite some time. And the Troubles were in full swing (hence the comparison between the terror in NI and the spanish civil war in "Spanish Bombs" off of London Calling). So did early german Punk, where the governments reaction to the left wing terrorism of the RAF was passing restrictive laws including provisions for stop and frisk tactics.

[@daviddechamplain5718]

At least for the US, the 80's were much better than the 70's. But punk was never as big here as the UK.

[@stevencoffin328]

Also the death of Nancy Spungen put a really bad stain on punk. I mean being annoying and pissing off authority is funny until one of your friends in the scene is accused of murder.

[@MelvinDukowski]

@MrNorthernSol And Hardcore Punk turned the aggression and violence up to a level that made the first generation look softcore

[@drpibisback7680]

@@MelvinDukowski Yeah, the development of Hardcore definitely spelled the end of punk as a popular thing. The record-buying public of the 1980's ain't gonna take to a band like Black Flag.

[@GeeVanderplas]

I guess Dave Lee Roth had a point when he said "The only people who put iced tea in Jack Daniels bottles is The Clash, baby!" on stage at the Us Festival. Their whole schtick had become a parody of itself by that point.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

Most the British "punk" groups seem like a bunch of pretentious asshats, anyway.

[@danielmaher7108]

I remember an interview with David Lee Roth in CREEM magazine in 1981 where he said "I'm glad to see that The Clash have gone disco. It's about time they made some money."

[@nickrustyson8124]

You know you fucked up as a more respected musician when Hair Metal bands are talking shit about you

[@silverwheel]

This series has given us so many wonderfully inexplicable bad lyrics, and this one was no exception: how hilarious was it to hear [unintelligible shouting chorus], or [unintelligible shouting chorus with tuneless background noise]

[@AlexVorstermans]

Hey Todd, have you ever considered doing "Idlewild" by Outkast for this series. I think it would be a good fit for Trainwreckords as it ended up breaking the duo up, is musically very inconsistent due to the creative differences between 3 stacks and Big Boy at this point, and that it also served as a "follow up" to the widly successful Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, meaning it was going to be a flop from the start. Also because Outkast's history is very intersting to dive into, and the context surrouding the duo's creative differences can be traced back as far back as the album Stankonia.

[@valmarsiglia]

"Dirty Punk" - Strummer broke the first rule of punk rock: don't yammer on about what a punk you are (that's the main reason John Lydon hated him, for turning it into a label). If any punk/hardcore artist used the word "punk" it had to be done a) maybe once in an entire discography and b) with complete irony to show how they didn't care about stupid labels. Hell, that's why eventually so many hardcore bands started growing their hair out and eschewing the original punk aesthetic, which is basically how the grunge look started.

[@drpibisback7680]

A year later, will add - Flux of Pink Indians, who put out their own "Punk with electronic fuckery" album a year before (The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks), opened that record with a song called "Punk," used exactly in the fashion you described. It feels like it could be a parody of Dirty Punk, consisting entirely of bashing out a riff and yelling the word "Punk" over and over again until it loses all meaning (with some of that electronic fuckery thrown in).

[@sydneykingmusic]

You're completely right but I'd argue having John Lydon hate you is a badge of honor (unless you're Jimmy Saville but a broken clock is right twice a day). Lydon is basically just Morrissey on a meat-based diet

[@valmarsiglia]

@@sydneykingmusic Haha! That's a great analogy.

[@officialFredDurstfanclub]

I wouldn’t blame Joe entirely for Dirty Punk and I wouldn’t say Lyndon is a particularly good source on what is punk or not, especially given how he’s a notorious contrarian and the Pistols were manufactured from the get go. In regards to the song, there’s a very good chance Joe didn’t write most of it. The song was only played twice, both in December 84, well after their early 84 tour concluded (which is where a huge chunk of the album’s new songs were premiered). Joe’s mother was terminally ill at the time, so he spent several months looking after her and staying away from music, so it’s very much likely Rhodes himself wrote most of the lyrics (you can tell, as this is the one song on the album where the song writing quality drops significantly and starts getting banal, whereas other songs on the album have genuinely excellent lyrics). The death of his father in 1984 and eventually his mother in 86 was one of the primary reasons why Joe completely checked out of the Cut the Crap sessions so I assume he either didn’t care enough to change the lyrics or genuinely thought they were fine and kept going. He basically laid down some guitar parts and vocals and then retreated to Spain to wallow because the whole thing was too much for him. Then the album came out with Bernie’s production and the rest is history I should also note that the lyrics seem to be more of a shallow parody of angsty teens who want to be punks to rebel against their parents (“it’s not a phase mom!”), though the general quality of them tends to muddy the line. Song is still pretty bad though, I won’t deny that. Sorry for the rambling wall of text, the clash are my fave band

[@valmarsiglia]

@@officialFredDurstfanclub Ah, very interesting, thanks. I had no idea that there was such a tragic backdrop to the album's production. You're right: in light of that, one shouldn't judge Joe too harshly.

[@DTheAustralian]

Often, it's fun to see how an album failed. The failed experiments of Cyberpunk, the exhaustion from Crash, the creepiness of Paula, the bizarreness of Witness. But sometimes you just want to hear about albums like Van Halen III, St. Anger, Summer in Paradise & Cut the Crap. Albums that failed because they were just plain _bad._

[@nickrustyson8124]

Though I will say Van Halen III, St Anger, Summer in Paradise, and Cut the Crap are terrible in different ways, Van Halen III was a mix of changing styles and a band almost decades out of date, I forgot everything about St Anger, Summer and Paradise was trying to catch Lightning in a Bottle twice while experimenting with this new Rap thing, and Cut the Crap basically what happens when you get rid of the only guy who is worth his weight

[@corntastrophy]

16:40 At least Phil Collins actually knows how to play the drums and make good beats.

[@tjenadonn6158]

Have you heard the stuff he did with his fusion band Brand X back in the 70s? Dude's not just competent but straight up legendary. Somehow he's both one of the most successful and most underrated drummers in rock simultaneously. He's to the drums what John McVie is to the bass.

[@matthewdaub]

Well he was the drummer for the band before peter gabriel left.

[@coreyouellette2791]

Exactly! He's a great drummer, AND a great singer too! One of my favorites from the 80's. I love all of his solo work, and his work with Genesis as well!

[@kellydavis3219]

"We are not calling ourselves Shit Sandwich, and that is final." - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

[@ThatGuyMN]

For most of my teenage years, I listened to The Clash, totally enamored and absorbed and in love with what I was hearing. It was innovative, and meant something, and just felt like such a complete sound and vision of what mattered. I had cds, and posters, tshirts, books... I collected every record, and played them til I knew the lyrics to every song..... except this one. I had heard terrible things about Cut The Crap, and avoided it like the plague. Eventually, years later in my early twenties, I decided it was time to give it a shot. Big mistake. Listening to Joe turn The Clash into.... this.... was so upsetting. I still had the old stuff to go back to.... but I never got that taste out of my mouth.... that feeling that they had a perfect legacy, stained by one bad final project....

[@helloperson6431]

I wouldn't let this album effect my view on The Clash. London Calling and Combat Rock are just too good to ignore. I can see where you're coming from at least. This album is really bad, but I think it shouldn't really effect the other albums the band put out.

[@captainrfdangerang]

That was me in my teenage years also, absolutely warped my personality (in a good way) age 17. The thing for me, though, was that I read Kris Needs' book on them pretty early on and I ended up putting all my disappointment and anger right into Bernie Rhodes. Like, I was disappointed in Joe for that record, I still am, but more than anything I blame Bernie for taking advantage of him and taking over. Joe Strummer was a good man, and I won't let the ghost of Bernie take that away from him.

[@stardustman420]

TRAINWRECKORDS : SQUEEZE by The Velvet Underground. you're losing money, Todd.

[@VinchVolt]

Does it really count as a Trainwreckord if the band was already dead by that point? It's pretty much just a Doug Yule solo album released under a former band's name for marketing purposes.

[@stardustman420]

@@VinchVolt You got a valid point there. Still, I would like to see the story behind that album and the attempt of Doug Yule trying to maintain VU alive.

[@thomaslippiatt7107]

VinchVolt well I mean the clash we’re dying/dead when they made cut the crap

[@VinchVolt]

@@thomaslippiatt7107 To a degree, yes, but it at the very least had a cohesive lineup and lead member Joe Strummer. Squeeze is literally just John Cale's replacement and whichever session musicians he could get his hands on at the time; no founding members of the band had any involvement with the record.

[@thomaslippiatt7107]

VinchVolt this is true

[@stormbunevitch4933]

Yeesh, that puff daddy comment aged like milk.

[@chowyunfatbr]

Well, at the very least The Clash is part of a very restricted field of bands that made one of the best albums of all time (London Calling) and one of the worst (Cut the Crap)

[@meow7791]

Rudy Overlord sandinista is honestly their best album tbh

[@sarahj833]

@@meow7791 I agree. Sandinista! does have a lot of great songs on it, and some of my favorite Clash songs. It's just got TOO MANY songs and they're all over the place.

[@WeepingWillow6497]

Along with The Beach Boys making Pet Sounds and then in 1992 making Summer in Paradise.

[@berkeleyisonline160]

seems like Liz Phair enters this group now (exile in guyville vs. funstyle)

[@davidl570]

@@meow7791 Eh, while it has it's moments, it's too bloated at times. London Calling is all killer, no filler.

[@JTMusicbox]

Perfect segue to Wham in the beginning! The little touches like that keep me watching and rewatching these reviews!

[@Turtl289]

I actually laughed out loud when that happened.

[@PooleyX]

I've never listened to an American who has such a perfect understanding of British culture and the history of England since the punk days. Have you spent many years here or is this all derived from research. If the latter, I'd like to award you honorary citizenship because you've gone above an beyond. Really enjoying your videos.

[@cremetangerine82]

I don’t think Todd has spent anytime in the UK.

[@AaronAnaya]

@@cremetangerine82 Yeah he’s from Virginia.

[@imalonerdottie]

I can’t remember which video but I think he’s said that he consumes about as much British music and music journalism as American

[@corncake4677]

Your country isnt that hard to understand you bean toast mashed peas eater

[@Joemama55122]

UK Music and media I think cos he doesnt seem to inow much about anythint else british/english ect

[@DitzeeDoo]

That opening track sounded like it was produced by The Shaggs.

[@hokusman100]

For real

[@2000mphgirl]

shaggs are considerably better

[@cremetangerine82]

Bernie Rhodes almost sounds like a cartoon villain with all of the machinations in the background. And he literally produced and co-wrote crap!

[@cremetangerine82]

Rudy Overlord Yikes, that is a recipe for disaster!

[@samthewayfayer]

I heard We Are The Clash in the thrift store a few weeks ago. Amazing. Someone's a fan

[@SeigiChoujin]

I've always thought We Are The Clash sounded like a knock-off Clash song, like one of those "in the style of" songs Weird Al does only actually performed by The Clash

[@freakfoxvevo7915]

Even Weird Al could make a better Clash song than that

[@SeigiChoujin]

@@freakfoxvevo7915 No argument here

[@davidbennett7306]

This is a good episode, but it makes Joe Strummer look like he just became a twat and his creativity ended. Worth remembering that he made a pretty good return to form with his last album especially, the Mescaleros album Streetcore. That's got some sweet tracks on it. His death was awful for a lot of reasons, one of which is it looked like he had another phase of good music left in him.

[@simongunkel7457]

Saw him with the mescaleros in 99, the show that got me to buy a tele when I started to play guitar.

[@jeevithrai7994]

They were even planning on getting back together during their HOF induction

[@isetmfriendsofire]

When I watch this, it's pretty evident to me that it was all Rhodes.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

@@isetmfriendsofire Joe let Bernie back in. Joe could've said no in the first place, and failing that, could've just walked away and essentially dissolved the band (at least temporarily) to salvage his dignity by the time cut for crap was being recorded and mixed. Actually doing baloney spewing promo interviews for cut the crap totally destroyed Joe's credibility and finished off the Clash for good.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

And it's not a good idea to fire two talented band mates, fail to hire adequate replacements, and then do interviews boasting about your musical and personal integrity. Sad reality is that Joe was talking stupid trash about artists who were actually entertaining people rather than lecturing them. Maybe Joe should've minded his own business and focused on running his band better .

[@crawdkenny]

10:08 going off on hippies sounds so Eric Cartman.

[@ebonimccain6988]

I feel like you should've told us the safe word before making us listen to this.

[@mrboerger1620]

It's clash

[@Shadamyfan-rs8xc]

Grocery bag

[@hallamhal]

Mick Jones' other band, Big Audio Dynamite, were pretty damn good though

[@pja36]

Big audio dynamite is way closer to being the clash than cut the crap.

[@tintomara6209]

@@pja36 Especially that second album, co-written with Joe!

[@h.b.smith_writer]

16:00- Todd's impression of Joe singing "Hey Mickey" is hilarious. 😂😂

[@TimmyTickle]

"We Are The Clash" sounds like a British soccer record from the 80s, like it could have been the theme song for England's 1986 World Cup campaign #handofgod

[@nickrustyson8124]

So the British Born in the USA?

[@70Jack90]

That's something that New Order did back in 1990!

[@TimmyTickle]

Jack Zimmerman I know, World In Motion

[@Ben-ts8mz]

@@TimmyTickle That's a wierd blip in their career.

[@JoeyfilmingTv]

Bowie's "Never Let Me Down" would be a good trainwreckords to take on next to delve deeper into "80s pop killed the 70s star"

[@JoeyfilmingTv]

@@nah....6151 I think Tonight is definitely a bad record, but Never Let Me Down takes the cake for finishing off Bowie as a mainstream hit maker and touring superstar.

[@KremBotop]

John McMillin I just wish Mick and Paul would stop ignoring the potentially great material CTC had and re-record the album from scratch using only Joe’s vocals and guitars and restore the songs to their demo/early live incarnations as a final hurrah for the band.

[@VinchVolt]

Never Let Me Down didn't kill Bowie's career, terrible as its original release was, it just briefly impeded it. Bowie very much got back on his feet from a critical standpoint during the 90's and was still a commercial success up until his death from what I recall; hell, Heathen was his best-selling album in America since Tonight. He even toured with Nine Inch Nails in the mid-90's and remained influential up until his 2004 heart attack forced him out of public presence for a while. Among other things, Tin Machine is considered in hindsight to have been quite influential towards and predictive of the early 90's grunge boom. Yes, he definitely ended his period as an MTV superstar with Never Let Me Down, but that was because he made the conscious choice to dial things back after becoming dissatisfied with his music and Phil Collins audience. He even left EMI in 1990 when they kept pressuring him to do another banal pop record; he gave them Tin Machine 1 instead.

[@VinchVolt]

@@nah....6151 I am aware of that, I just question whether or not an album would be eligible if the artist's subsequent reduction in presence was a deliberate choice made by them for artistic purposes and if their later career didn't exactly fall short of their earlier career in terms of fame, artistry, success, and public presence. From what I can tell, Bowie's international success in the 80's was a huge outlier; his 90's and 2000's eras could in fact be directly compared to the state of his career between 1975 and 1982: popular, influential, successful, and well-regarded, but not an omnipresent hitmaker. If anything, the 90's were a return to form for Bowie, rather than a period of running on fumes like most of Madonna's post-American Life career. He wasn't persisting off of the momentum of his past successes, rather seeking to focus entirely on the future (his 1990 Sound+Vision tour was in fact an attempt to give his older material a "last hurrah," and all later tours were biased sharply in favor of post-1993 songs), and he kept his head well above water as a result.

[@Hammerhead547]

The songs from that album come across much better in a live setting, just take a listen too the live album the put out from that tour that was recorded in montreal. Having peter frampton and carlos avalar really helps too.

[@gxgx4452]

I respect Joe a lot because a few years after this he publicly said that I was a mistske and that he had not made the right decisions. Even in documentaries of the clash he clearly states that Topper and Mick were essential to the band.

[@kenshin891]

Damn this is ass. "Are You Red...Y?" Sounds like a poor, poor man's New Order, particularly "Blue Monday"

[@EpicB]

I don't hear much order in it.

[@That_One_Guy_In_A_Band]

I'm a huge fan of The Clash, but yeah, this album was just... God...

[@trainguy7276]

The only bright spot is This Is England, and even then, it still has that overproduction.

[@marlonmontelhiggins8570]

@@rommix0 - Shit that burns worse than acid.

[@That_One_Guy_In_A_Band]

I meant God as in it was bad. It really was shit. It's like how my cousin feels about blink-182: anything after the untitled album doesn't exist. At least we still have the rest of the catalogue to listen to.

[@That_One_Guy_In_A_Band]

@@rommix0 Oh, alright, my bad.

[@blakedavis1852]

It's definitely because I'm autistic, but that song dictator made cry with laughter. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

[@EpicB]

I can totally feel that. I'd also describe the song as sounding like anxiety.

[@Joemama55122]

We are the clash chorus made laugh a lot (and I'm also autistic lol)

[@blakedavis1852]

@@Joemama55122 Yes, autism is awful, unless you're one of those people who thinks otherwise, but it does make strange things intensely, and uncontrolably funny sometimes.

[@Collegeboy-to5zz]

Weird Al's "Young, Dumb, and Ugly" is more punk than this album.

[@RobiticDuck]

Thats a great song

[@creamcannon825]

Imagine had The Clash gone with the style of American hardcore punk. Imagine the last Clash album being like super well produced Dead Kennedys. It's far fetched, but I'd love it.

[@wylier]

Apart from genre, those two bands have little in common. Certainly can't compare in terms of quality of output.

[@2000mphgirl]

@@wylier basically every 80s American hc band kicks the shit out of most 70s UK punk tbhtbh

[@wylier]

@@2000mphgirl and how many great American hard-core bands of the 80s actually existed? The best American bands of the 80s were REM, X, guns n roses, and after that the drop off is pretty steep.

[@cfredrics]

@@wylier Bad Religion, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Descendants, The Adolescents, MDC, The Big Boys, DOA (technically Canadian but they were signed to Alternative Tentacles), The Bad Brains, and Reagan Youth to name a few.

[@2000mphgirl]

@@cfredrics The first reagan youth 7 inch is so fucking good

[@danno340]

Look up an album called 'Mohawk Revenge' - a guy from Germany went to painstaking lengths to remix this album to how it should have sounded, and it turned out really well

[@kidwaryodproduction]

I think even if The Clash making Cut The Crap in style of "Mohawk Revenge" they would later broke up anyway, But much better ending. But I love "Mohawk Revenge" reimagined version too. 😁

[@insertusernamehere51]

19:05 - so is Joe saying that... the real Clash are the friends we made along the way?

[@Romax-pg2is]

took a listen to the live version of Dictator. It seemed to have potential to be another classic hit in their discography (or something of decent quality at the very least). A pity that Bernie Rhodes’ meddling completely butchered the song’s arrangement.

[@ELEcomments]

Oh Puff Daddy is "talented" alright... that line sure aged well, Todd ;)

[@mikasmith817]

That first song literally hurt.

[@Clay3613]

Punk morphed into New Wave, biting satire in a veneer of pop-synth. Those who didn't adapt quit or just went further underground.

[@SonofSethoitae]

New Wave was one of the original terms for punk as well, if I recall correctly

[@gabrielledebourg2487]

@Kahless They're not the same, but a lot of New Wave band did start out as punk bands or on the punk scene. Both Talking Heads and Blondie (among the pioneers of New Wave) started out in CGBG around the time of Ramones and punk after all. That isn't to say they were the same thing by the end of course.

[@simongunkel7457]

New wave was a term that meant differtent things in different contexts. It first got used in the mid-70s to describe a couple of bands that mixed the rawness of garage rock with artsy apporaches - Velvet Underground, Television, Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Suicide. Punk as a term appeared with punk magazine, which of course covered pretty much the same bands. In the UK McLarren used the term new wave for all the bands forming after the Pistols/Damned/Clash/Heartbreakers tour and it became a term for all those other bands from the Adverts to X Ray Spex and any of the various post-punk movements. After the Pistols split up the US music industry tried to avoid the term Punk and moved to new wave as a marketing term. That burned the term in the US underground, while in the UK it started to become useless as it became clear that the various post-punk band were turning into distinct genres like industrial, goth, synth-pop, indie rock etc. and it made more sense to classify the bands sticking close to the sound of the Anarchy tour bands as Punk.

[@BarkertheScrunkly]

I remember watching a Talking Heads interview where some of the members were talking about how they never got any radio play when they were being labeled as "punk". They finally started hearing their own songs on the radio once they started being called "new wave". Think of it this way. As for the bands that went beyond the original punk sound, there was the post-punk underground and the new wave mainstream. Post-punk and new wave are both essentially two sides of the same coin.

[@JohnLouisBishop84]

ABC and Scritti Politti and Heaven 17 at their prime confirm this. I'd even argue that what The Clash hoped to achieve post-Mick Jones, Johnny Rotten pulled off more successfully with Public Image Ltd. "This Is Not a Love Song" and "Rise" still crush it.

[@SafetyServbot]

A punk rocker saying "drugs are over" comes off like my grandma being upset about today's "hippity hop" music

[@beeeffgee10k]

*insert hi-LARIOUS joke about the wrong video being uploaded*

[@michaellombardi1620]

I was so confused for 6 minutes!!

[@lcmiracle]

Was looking for this comment to assure myself that I ain't crazy

[@beeeffgee10k]

@@lcmiracle I'M NOT CRAZY (INSTITUTIONALIZED!) YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S CRAZY (INSTITUTIONALIZED!)

[@otaking3582]

I don't get it

[@TimmyTickle]

Obligatory Obligations YOU'RE DRIVING ME CRAZY (INSTITUTIONALIZED!) THEY PUT ME IN AN INSTITUTION SAID IT WAS THE ONLY SOLUTION

[@vin-cc9nk]

I heard about this album before, but I never actually listened to the tracks... Holy shit!

[@MikoSquiz]

"Forced" is a good way to describe the whole Joe Strummer persona. He was a cosily middle-class private school boy with a commercially oriented light-pub-entertainment rock band, then he saw the attention punk bands were getting, and thought "I'll have some of that". Lovely chap, by all accounts, but The Clash were the least punk punk rock act until Billy Idol went solo.

[@wylier]

Yet some of their early tracks- think "complete control", "im so bored with the usa" - are Classics of the genre.

[@UnderdogRecords91]

The reviews for this one must have written themselves: Cut The Crap - Wish they would have

[@Asmallcorneroftheinternet]

Oof, that P Diddy reference didn't age well.

[@raypreseau2047]

Am i the only one who re-vists this channel and re-watch the review? Imo, todd's stuff is the best music review channel ive came accross.

[@buckodonnghaile4309]

Apparently I do, as a I left a comment on this video a year ago.

[@alex_flamer]

I do all the time!

[@arson55]

That first track is quite possibly the worst song I've ever heard. It's...I have no words.

[@methanedirigible]

10:12 ‘hippies can… shove off’ 😂 it’s like my nan getting angry, but not angry enough to swear.

[@buckodonnghaile4309]

I've written this a few times now but, Joe Strummer was a self admitted hippie in his younger days.

[@methanedirigible]

@@buckodonnghaile4309 he can… shove off then

[@philly_sports1558]

I never understand why people want to label Green Day "sellouts" and not "true punk" when The Clash (the essential "true punk" band) switched up their style so drastically after their first two albums. London Calling and Sandanista were by far more drastic switches in style and more pop-centric than Green Day did with American Idiot. I love both bands but there is obviously some double standard in terms of bands that people want to label "true punk rock". If you try to tell me an electro-new wave song like Rock the Casbah is more "punk" than a song like American Idiot or Welcome to Paradise, you need to get your head examined.

[@seamusburke639]

I had one friend in high school who was super into old school punk and railed on and on about Green Day and bands of their ilk were sellouts. Then finally, one day... HIM: The Clash never did pop songs! ME (Without hesitation): "Rock the Casbah" Never has silence been so satisfying.

[@archie1420]

If you dive into the lyrics of rock the casbah you can see the punk mentality (rebelling against dictatorship in the Middle East) although musically it doesn’t sound like “punk”

[@mikenicholson7465]

I would actually call Sandinista the most punk album I've ever heard. From song to song the band does whatever they want, exploring themes of world politics throughout the lyrics and hardly a song on there has more than 3 chords (many have 2 only).

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

My guess is that Green Day hasn't achieved classic rock or cult classic status yet, and Green Day is still considered by many to be "modern" rock (despite debuting in 1989) and that stuff that angsty teenager so listen to. Maybe one day Green Day might be considered a band that your grandparents listen to, would Green Day be considered a classic rock or cult classic band and thus reach secret cow levels in the rock community.

[@philly_sports1558]

@@kittykittybangbang9367 I would consider Green Day to be very close to "classic rock" territory. I mean, Dookie is over 25 years old at this point. My parents are both in their 50s and they love Green Day. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. You'd be hard pressed to find a band from the last 30 years that's as popular, influential, and "modern classic" as Green Day.

[@STR82DVD]

Best quote, "Asia would tell you to dial it back.".