Episode #160 | 2.13.24

The Clash: Guns on the Roof, Chased out of Kingston, and a Riot in Times Square

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In this episode

The Clash were once described by their manager as a news organization first, and entertainers second. They were, as their record label put it, “the only band that matters.” They were on the front lines at the dawn of punk rock, but were adventurous enough to quickly branch out into reggae, dub, and hip-hop. They were arrested on suspicion of terrorism in London. Chased out of Jamaica by local drug lords armed to the teeth. Caused a near riot in Times Square when their week-long takeover of a disco was shut down by the city after night one. For Joe Strummer, one of the Clash’s two songwriters and the group’s political avatar, all this insanity came with the territory when you were disrupting the status quo. But the weight of it all, the importance of the only band that mattered, became too much to bear, and at the height of the band’s commercial success…their frontman went missing.