Clash Takes on the World

On their debut The Clash famously claimed to be bored with the USA +? but <i>The Clash </i>wasn't a parochial record. Mick Jones' licks on songs such as Hate and War+? were heavily influenced by classic American rock and roll and the cover of Junior Murvin's reggae hit Police and Thieves+? showed that the band's musical influences were already wide-ranging. Later albums such as <i>Sandinista! </i>and <i>Combat Rock </i>saw them experimenting with a huge range of musical genres lyrical themes and visual aesthetics.<br/><i><br/></i><i>The Clash Takes on the World </i>explores the transnational aspects of The Clash's music lyrics and politics and it does so from a truly transnational perspective. It brings together literary scholars historians media theorists musicologists social activists and geographers from Europe and the US and applies a range of critical approaches to The Clash's work in order to tackle a number of key questions: How should we interpret their negotiations with reggae music and culture? How did The Clash respond to the specific socio-political issues of their time such as the economic recession the Reagan-Thatcher era and burgeoning neoliberalism and international conflicts in Nicaragua and the Falkland Islands? How did they reconcile their anti-capitalist stance with their own success and status as a global commodity? And how did their avowedly inclusive multicultural stance reflected in their musical diversity square with the experience of watching the band in performance? <i>The Clash Takes on the World </i>is essential reading for scholars students and general readers interested in a band whose popularity endures.