Customer Reviews

The Clash: Kill Your Idols

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The Clash, shortlived though they were, was one of the great rock bands of all time.

David Quantick's book here, The Clash, from the Kill Your Idols series, is a thin little book heavy on the author's opinion (I do realize it's supposed to be a CRITICAL biography, but more on this is below), and light on wisdom.

First, the positive elements of Quantick's book:

1) a great grasp of the discography. He reviews practically every Clash record: LPs, singles, B-sides, and CDs, not to mention CD tributes by other bands.

2) some insidery gossip on the clash, including stories about how the songs came about. This background is great, as it tends to make the band seem like ordinary guys, and they seem a lot more fun once you've read these anecdotes.

3) the longish essay at the back of the book is very good, and I read it with relish even after the book had annoyed me to that point. This essay is very well written.

now here are the rubs:

1) the author's catty and immature tone: he calls "guns on the roof" SILLY, the u.s. version of their debut album "mangled, bizarre" (despite the fact that only four tracks are different from the U.K. version), and the book is full of insults and condemnations of anything else the author cares to take a potshot at, like U.K. radio, U.S.A. radio, EMI (USA), and Rolling Stone magazine.

2) Often the author just doesn't know what he's talking about.

He can't be more in the dark about The Clash when he writes this about Death or Glory-- "The Clash's self-obsession is never funnier than on Death or Glory. They were a band, not a cavalry regiment, for goodness sake." For crying out loud, it's a song making fun of that VERY attitude.

Check this out about The Clash and Sting: "They may have not been very good at reggae when they started but they invented a musical form that allowed Sting to become rich."

What? The Police worked out their reggaeish sound before The Clash did. Does he mean Sting's solo records, which are jazz-inflected pop? Geez, I hope not. But it seems you just can't tell, with this author.

3) He's repetitive.

Quantick calls Hitsville U.K. (I admit, it's not a good song) an "all-time artistic low." Fair enough. But then later in the book he calls the same song "insanely bad." Gotcha, Dave. A few pages later, Quantick must have had the urge to use the same modifier again, so he calls the same song "insanely dreadful." Please.

If you have to own everything Clash, you'll get this book no matter what I say, I suppose.

If you don't, and you'd like something more substantial than Quantick's book, I recommend Marcus Gray's book called LAST GANG IN TOWN: STORY AND MYTH OF THE CLASH.

ken32

While the 12 pages of the book that actually contain info on the Clash are cleverly written (if you like British humor), there is far too little of it. I guess seeing the cover - a great pic of Strummer, with the promise that the author will "kill my idol" - got my expectations up too high. This book is basically a few pages of quick chronology/bio/the clash ripped everyhting off from the Sex Pistols then took off for the U.S., followed by about 50 pages of discography. What the ??

Let's hear more about each member, let's have interviews, let's have talk about politics, specific lyrics, influence, etc. While brevity is key to punk itself, it kinda sucks in a book about an awesome band that lasted over a decade and had a huge impact on modern music.

And what makes Quantick qualified to declare humself a Clash authority is never explained - but I think that's the least of this books shortcomings.

One of the sad bits about Rock Journalism is the absence of journalism. Quantick can't help himself as he interjects glib opinions and drops pop-culture references that are as irrelevant as they are dated. The book is, in itself, a fair, brief chronological history of the band. What is missing is any real words from the members of the band themselves; instead we get Quantick writing about what others have written about the band and his opinions and judgements over the band in a redundantly formatted opinion piece. He belies his subject by interjecting himself into the material. There's nothing here that can't be gleamed from other sources (fansites, etc) and no original insights. The Clash were a significant collective of artists producing relevant materials. Quantick is hack who makes the material unenjoyable.

This book is a fountain of everything important about the careers of the members of the Clash. Not only does it give you the biography of the band, but helpful reviews of all of the releases. It also reviews the releases of the band members own musical endevours outside of the clash. Although it is opinionated, it still offers an excellent read. This book is reminds me of all of those field guides you used in science class, except it is based on one of the greatest bands ever. Essential for any Clash Fan. Buy it.