i listen to the performances from 76 and the drumming is not really that great IMO. Topper was an improvement in 77 but still sounds a bit too rock and roll, his drum rolls make me cringe

@@fabiandee8178 well ... they play rock and roll no ?

@@andressepulveda9709 haha well it depends if you are using it as a term of insult or not. Of course, punk rock is just rock and roll really, I meant the difference in the rhythm

Topper also wrote Rock The Casbah: he was alone in the studio, had the idea and recorded the drums, bass and piano parts. When the others came back he played it, they loved it, then Joe wrote some additional lyrics to fit into the melody. Check you Joe Strummer describing that here kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q9SEbJCezNO2ZKc.html, and Nick (Topper) describing it here : kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p5Ociqlpvcu8e2g.html.

@@JohnWilliamsFromBluff thank you for saying what i would have said myself. He wrote and played 2-3 instruments on rock the casbah. The most iconic Clash song with respect to its popularity.

Love this, totally agree.

Yes oh yes x

Love the Clash but Strummer lost me with his support of the Sandinista's . Half the time I don't even know what Strummer is talking about

Amelia Amelia Very true that's why Topper buggered off either that or to shoot up!!

I think Topper actually looks more like he's not feeling well than anything, and that does make a person seem annoyed and fed up. It really is sad he fell into addiction the way he did and I do think it could have been the product of feeling like "odd man out". Joe and Mick do seem very close, here. Also sad how they got so distant so fast shortly after this. I don't believe either of them dealt well with conflict at the time.

Topper's addiction is one of the sad footnotes in rock history. He was not only a great drummer, but he was the Clash's drummer, one quarter of a band that had chemistry rarely seen. He was precise, inventive, and had both attack and finesse.

too young?

Clearly tell? Iol, I if u say so.

It was not about just so called "hidden tensions", but Mick and Paul overtly mockered with his condition, but part of one of Topper's problem with using of cocaine was definitely one of Mick's biggest sin because he was the one who introduced Topper with cocaine. Young man, constantly far away from home with pockets full of money just to spend it on good fun.. Who would think about downside of such life with 24-25 years old? And that disguisting and mean Paul's remark at end of TV interview; "He call it swimming", regarding on Topper leaving the rest of the band just to go to feed his heroin habit.. That is not the way how 3/4 of band members will help fourth of them, one that is evidentlly falling apart for quite some time.. Nasty remarks two of them about Topper, except Joe, are the best evidence that they were on bad situation as a group, and that are tired one of each others. Soon all will be over once for all, Mick will be kicked out, but no matter Joe and Paul were keept trying to flogging a dead horse while The Clash was dead, but no one was left to say the truth to two of them. Karma is a bitch.

@One in a million If you ever had a play in a band, you'll be able to notice in this video all the signs how unhealthy relationships starts to looks like.

He was hurting here for sure....

I honestly could have listened to them fumble through folk songs like this for hours.

And now 42 years later!

Happy they came to Australia in 82. Saw them on a school night …was so brilliant

+GoCotton They were the best at driving a message but having fun at the same time. Never too heavy

Dylan Tait .. Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet, Thomas' connection with Punk Rock was that him and Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious were all coincidently staying at the Chelsea Hotel NY shortly before their deaths.... (Trivia time, sorry)

I wouldn't have it any other way. Rebellions, by nature, never last long, but the Clash changed music forever in those 7 years.

i would appreciate YOU READ all the books, chuck, because your comment is untrue, it's ill-based and frankly shows what a UnClash person you are. THE BAND paid to send Topper to re-hab THREE TIMES without prior consent form Topper's mum. It failed thrice. Nobody knew. The band or Topper turned to Townsend who had always been a real altruist and also a fan of young people's music, he recommended Topper to the NY clinic where he went himfelf and got completely clean and consequently, the drummer underwent the ZAPPER technique. Tuff cookie! when it worked with almost anybody, it did not work for Nicky. All paid for by One Pete Townsend who did not get his money back; three years later Topper was sacked. 2 years after that, people forget, he sold junk to a guy who ODeed and died, later he was sent to prison for possession and all sorts. He came back with a single'album featuring Bobby Tench and other musos and was earning a living as a cab driver in Hounslow or Trashville around London. This is the troof, and nothing but...

I didn't claim that any of that didn't happen if you happened to READ ALL that I wrote instead of trying to read INTO something I wrote. Break it down for me, you TRUE CLASH person. Tell me exactly what I said that was untrue. Did I say that they didn't try? No. I didn't. Did I offer up facts that were untrue? No. Once again. I didn't. I did say that they were a band with an anti-drug message that had a drummer that was a heroin addict. Is that true? Fuck yeah it is. So what's up your fucking bum that you feel the need to take a shot at someone who's a huge Clash fan asking "What if?"

they were all addicts...only Topper made the wrong choice of substance. You pointed the finger. Your judgement isn't untrue but you fail to inform...about the fact that 3/4 of the band tried and failed to cure their drummer...It's not as if Strummer was writing about dope in one corner of the room and Topper calling the pusher from the call box. Amen. You're absolutely forgiven.

They were all doing drugs, yes. I'm reading "A Riot of Our Own" as of today and I'm surprised of how much coke was being consumed on the first American tour. I know that Mick, Joe, and Paul were HUGE pot heads. I recall in Salewicz's Strummer bio that Mick and Joe started crying when they found out that it was next to impossible to get pot in Japan. Topper chose the drug that's the hardest to go without and one that also started rendering him ineffectual at times when it was necessary to be starched up and ready to go.Joe has said In hindsight he wishes that they would have stopped and all have taken time to get right. Randal Doane, who wrote "Stealing All Transmissions, said in an interview "Had they taken a break early on, maybe Headon would have pursued proper treatment for his drug problem..." But though Tops did try to kick while still a member from what I've read it wasn't until after he was sacked that they paid for rehab and he failed. Tell me which book says different, please, so that I may correct my knowledge. But yeah, Joe was writing anti-drug songs, plus coming out against drugs to the public via the press, and Topper wasn't on the phone to the dealer, but he was doing dope. As early as 'London Calling' Tops was snorting heroin (along with coke which the rest of the band, particularly Mick, were sharing) and they were working on 'Hateful' for one example. By the way, my Clash reading list: Last Gang In Town, Passion Is A Fashion, Let Fury Have The Hour, The Future Is Unwritten, and have Stealing All Transmissions on the way. Any thing else I should grab? Forgiven? Gee, thanks. I can sleep tonight. You're alright.

Certainly a group full of contradictions ,we all know Joe`s later regret`s about sacking Topper and Mick ,but as he said things always moved quickly within the group .They certainly could have made at least one more great album .I`m sort of glad they never reformed -too easy. Best band ever.

Yeah hard to tell if that is Auckland or Wellington railway yards.

Only dumbasses do that taps forehead

Dylan Taite Reporter (maybe)

Dylan Thomas

@@hellobonappetit1657 Yeah it's Dylan Taite. Was a legend in NZ.

Shenandoah by Bob Dylan

Rob the drug dealer