Defend the Indefensible: CUT THE CRAP by the Clash

"This Is England" is a fucking MASTERPIECE. Absolutely one of their best songs ever.

There are about three seconds during the chorus of "The Dictator" where my foot actually begins to move in a tapping motion.

"We are the Clash" is a fucking hilarious sendup (hey hey we're the punkees!), "This is England" is fantastic, and I like a few other cuts as well (I'm not at home, I can't think of the titles). It's an album full of football stadium hooligan-choruses and it's the only album of theirs (except for maybe the debut) not over-rooted in rock&roll mythology--so what's not to like, Alex?

Also, isn't "newbie nobodys" er, punk?

i bought this on tape when it came out and i was 15 ... i think that i listened to it once, it made no real impression on me one way or another. didn't even pay any mind to "this is england," which is purportedly the good song on this thing. i don't have the tape anymore.

I think "This Is England" is overrated. oh wai

my first music recording was dubbed over a copy of cut the crap, you know with the scotch tab over the tab holes.

I'm on board with "This Is England" -- Joe's last great gasp. And the synth-bass on "Are You Red...y" is bounceariffic. The rest of the album mostly lives down to its rep.

too little too late (the idiotic "combat rock" is infinitely less defensible)

Indefensible (sorry people)

It has the best title ever

After playing Cut the Crap for the first time in college upon its release, I had to WIPE THE CRAP off my stylus. It's that bad, yes.

You people all hate Big Country.

The band and songs sounded really good live, based on the clash II bootlegs i have.

"this is england" is actually the only song on cut the crap i've even heard. since i have the mp3 and everyone says it's the only good song, i've never seen the need to buy the album. can anyone defend the whole thing?

combat rock is mostly terrible, but it does have my favorite ever clash song, "straight to hell."

Combat Rock may not be the Clash's finest hour, but it's irrefutably superior to Cut the Crap.

Incidentally, I just picked up the new DVD, Essential Clash, which collects the vids along with some live footage and a bit of filler. Easily the finest moment is a live version of "Working for the Clampdown."

Unsurprisingly, there are no moments from the Cut the Crap era represented (though the album is listed on the discography).

Since Justyn asked and no one else seems remotely interested in giving this a go, these are the good Cut the Crap cuts that aren't "This is England":

* "Dirty Punk" (great melody and shout-along chorus; no idea what Strummer's singing, and that's probably a good thing)
* "We Are the Clash" (funniest Clash song ever [and for the record, I think the first album has some really funny moments]. "We ain't gonna be treated like trash/We got one thing, we are the Clash!" The Oi! revival! starts! here!)
* "Are You Red..y" (syn-drum beats and post-Prince synths dominate--and more shouty choruses)
* "Three Card Trick" (as good as anything from the top third of Sandinista!, and the most "Clashic" track here)
* "Play to Win" (video game sounds, messy verses that consist of stray drum machine beats and unintelligible dialog, all culminating in a glorious Irish Spring back-to-the-frontier chorus. Bizarre.)

Not a great album, but a good one and a weird one (and less stodgy overall than Combat Rock). I think Christgau's B+ is pretty accurate.

there's no eye in integrity

* "We Are the Clash" (funniest Clash song ever [and for the record, I think the first album has some really funny moments]. "We ain't gonna
be treated like trash/We got one thing, we are the Clash!" The Oi! revival! starts! here!)

nowhere near as funny as steve ignorant many years beforehand deadpanning in his finest bully boy drawl,"They said that we was trash, but the name is Crass not Clash, so you can stuff your punk credentials, cuz it's them that takes the cash."

I totally believe you, and thanks! I heard that song once about 15 years ago and laughed my head off. (Actually, I didn't really hear IT, but rather, what my friend sang to me, which was the line you just quoted.) Do you know what that song's called by any chance? I need it now!

it's called "White Punks On Hope" and can be found on the Stations Of The Crass l.p. from 1979.

They said that we were trash
Well the name is Crass not Clash
They can stuff their punk credentials
Cause it's them that take the cash
They won't change nothing with their fashionable talk
Their RAR badges and their protest walk
Thousands of white men standing in a park
Objecting to racism like a candle in the dark
Black man's got his problems and his way to deal with it
So don't fool yourself you're helping with your white liberal shit
If you care to take a closer look at the way things really stand
You'd see we're all just niggers to the rulers of this land
Punk was once an answer to years of crap
A way of saying no where we'd always said yep
But the moment we found a way to be free
They invented a dividing line, street credibility
The qualifying factors are politics and class
Left wing macho street fighters willing to kick arse
They said because of racism they'd come out on the street
It was just a form of fascism for the socialist elite
Bigotry and blindness, a Marxist con
Another clever trick to keep us all in line
Neat little labels to keep us all apart
To keep us all divided when the troubles start
Pogo on a Nazi, Spit upon a Jew
Vicious mindless violence that offers nothing new
Left Wing violence, Right Wing violence all seems much the same
Bully boys out fighting, it's just the same old game
Boring fucking politics that'll get us all shot
Left wing, right wing, you can stuff the lot
Keep your petty prejudice, I don't see the point
ANARCHY AND FREEDOM IS WHAT I WANT

FWIW, I saw God when I saw them on this tour in '84; for some reason they seemed so much more impressive than the Jones/Strummer/Simonon/Chimes lineup on the Combat Rock tour two years prior.

Still, that album was such a dropoff in quality from even the 'meh' quality of Combat Rock, I (The Biggest Clash Fan in the World at one point) dumped it prolly 2 years after I got it. "Dirty Punk" and "This Is England" were decent, but the rest of it didn't inspire much of anything.

have you realized that "rock stars" always seem to lie so much? john lydon once said he cared, but he never really gave a fuck,
said he'd use the money he made so that people could "have somewhere to go", but now he lives in the usa and snorts coke after
the show- why is it that "rock stars" always seem to lie so much? joe strummer once said he cared, but he never really gave a
fuck, said he'd use the money he made to set up a radio station- to make the airwaves full of something more than shit, have you
noticed we're still waiting?- you must realise that "rock stars" always seem to lie so much, some will always tell you that they
care, but they don't really give a fuck, still you suckers don't ever learn that rock stars deal in money not truth, it's good
business to exploit you, just look at lydon or strummer for proof.

um, that last set of lyrics is "Rotten To The Core" by Rudimentary Peni. For you see, in 1984 at the tender age of 16 i was taught to hate the clash by crazed anarchists. it didn't stick though.

Crass kinda sound like Dizze Rascal.

haha they do!!

"do they owe us a living (wiley remix)"

This 'hardcore' thing is starting to sort of make sense kind of...

chorus: ain't it just a rip of, oi, oi, oi ain't it just a rip of, oi, oi, oi ain't it just a rip of, oi, oi, oi what a fucking rip off, oi, oi, oi
another threatening glance, another macho stance another aggressive fist, another arsehole pissed another vicious threat, a
stream of blood stained sweat another bottle waved in the air, another battle with tension and fear chorus tell me, why do you
glorify violence? ain't there nothing better to give? why fuck up the only chance to be yourself and really live? you tell me
you're a working class loser, well what the fuck does that mean? is the weekly fight at the boozer gonna be the only action
you've seen? are you gonna be one of the big boys, well, we've seen it all before muscles all akimbo as they boot down another
door will you see yourself as the hero as you boot in another head when you're just a pathetic victim of the media you've been
fed you're lost in your own self pity, you've bought the system's lie they box us up and sit pretty as we struggle with the knots
they tie okay, so you're right about one thing, no-one's got the right to shit on you but what's the point of shitting on yourself,
what's that gonna do? working class hero beats up middle class twit media labels, system's shit when it looks like the people
could score a win the system makes sure that the boot goes in yeah it's the greatest working class rip off, oi, oi, oi just another
fucking rip off, a fucking media ploy it's the greatest working class rip off, oi, oi, oi ain't it just a rip off, ain't it just a rip off,
ain't it just a rip off, oi punk attacked the barriers of colour, class and creed but look at how it is right now, do you really think
you're freed? punk once stood for freedom, not violence, greed and hate punk's got nothing to do with what you're trying to
create anarchy, violence, chaos? you mindless fucking jerks can't you see you're talking about the way the system works
throughout our bloody history force has been the game the message that you offer is just the fucking same you're puppets to the
system with your mindless violent stance that's right you fuckers, sneer at us cos we say "give peace a chance" punk is dead you
wankers, cos you killed it through and through in your violent world of chaos, what you gonna do? is top of the pops the way in
which you show how much you care? you take off now to the usa and spread your message there? well mouth and trousers, sonny
boy, never changed a thing the only thing that'll ever change will be the song you sing cos when you've bought your rolls royce
car and your luxury penthouse flat you'll be looking down your nose and saying "punk, dear chap, what's that?" you'll be the
working class hero with your middle class dream and the world will be the same as the world has always been punk's the
people's music so you can stuff your ideas of class that's just the way the system keep you sitting on your arse class, class, class,
that's all you fucking hear middle class, working class, i don't fucking care it's the greatest working class rip off, oi, oi, oi what a
fucking rip off, oi, oi, oi it's the greatest human sell off, oi, oi, oi ain't it just a rip off, ain't it just a rip off, ain't it just a rip off,
oi punk's the peoples music and i don't care where they're from black or white, punk or skin, there ain't no right or wrong we're
all just human beings, some of us rotten, some of us good you can stuff your false divisions cos together i know we could beat the
system, beat its rule ain't got no class, i ain't a fool beat the system, beat its law ain't got no religion cos i know there's more
beat the system, beat its game ain't got no colour, we're all the same people, people, not colour, class or creed don't destroy the
people, destroy their power and their greed

one more for the road. good-night all.

jesus, that really could be dizzee

A Crass/Dizzee Rascal line of descent? Mm, I like it...

I've tried to download "Do they Owe us a Living" 3 times now and it keeps failing on me...someone's messing with my middle class dreams!

i put "reality asylum" on a mixtape for nancy once

she was not amused