CLEVELAND – Armed with guitars, amps and attitude, they rocked the casbah, fought the law and hijacked a train in vain.
The Clash were more than a four-piece band. They were rock 'n' roll revolutionaries.
And now, 30 years after they first stormed across England and later invaded the United States with their sonic blend of rock, reggae, rap and righteousness, The Clash is being celebrated with an exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
It's enough to give Mick Jones a case of anxiety.
“I've got mixed trepidation about seeing it, getting to the museum stage of life and still being alive,” said Jones, who, along with the late Joe Strummer, Topper Headon and Paul Simonon, formed The Clash's classic lineup.
“Revolution Rock: The Story of The Clash” has opened to the public and will be on display until April 15.
Along with the Sex Pistols, the Clash erupted from London's fertile music scene in 1976 to ride the first wave of British punk. Strummer died in 2002, just a few months before the band was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2003. The Clash was honored three years before the Sex Pistols.
Though The Clash's surviving members attended their induction ceremony, the Pistols turned down their honor in a profane letter that was read during the hall's enshrinement gala this year in New York.
“That's not the way we would have handled it,” said Jones, who pushed for the Pistols' overdue induction. “We were proud to get in. It's a little like getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame, isn't it?”
