This album introduced the world to The Clash, the only group that was on even footing with The Sex Pistols in U.K. punk rock’s early days. The Clash avoided the Pistols’ sensationalism, singing instead songs about politics, racism, and class warfare. The music’s brutal assault, accompanied by Strummer’s charismatic vocal style, earned the group attention in its native England, where THE CLASH entered the charts at number 12.

Tracklisting
1. Clash City Rockers
2. I’m So Bored With The U.S.A.
3. Remote Control
4. Complete Control
5. White Riot
6. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
7. London’s Burning
8. I Fought The Law
9. Janie Jones
10. Career Opportunities
11. What’s My Name
12. Hate & War
13. Police & Thieves
14. Jail Guitar Doors
15. Garageland

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.114) – Ranked #77 in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time” – “…Youthful ambition bursts through the Clash’s debut, a machine-gun blast of songs about unemployment, race, and the Clash themselves…”

Rolling Stone (6/20/02, p.87) – 5 stars out of 5 – “…both a party and protest…The tunes still detonate as the group still insists justice must prevail…”

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.114) – Ranked #77 in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time” – “…Youthful ambition bursts through the Clash’s debut, a machine-gun blast of songs about unemployment, race, and the Clash themselves…”

Spin (5/01, p.108) – Ranked #3 in Spin’s “50 Most Essential Punk Records” – “…Punk as alienated rage, as anticorporate blather, as joyous racial confusion, as evangelic outreach and white knuckles and haywire impulses…”

Q (6/00, p.70) – Ranked #48 in Q’s “100 Greatest British Albums”

Q (5/02 SE, p.135) – 5 stars out of 5 – Included in Q’s “100 Best Punk Albums”.

Q (12/99, pp.152-3) – 5 stars out of 5 – “…[They] would never sound so punk as they did on 1977’s self-titled debut….Lyrically intricate…it still howled with anger…”

Q (10/02, p.136) – Indispensable – “…Unsurpassed for its concentrated anger and rebel bravado…”

Alternative Press (3/00, pp.74-5) – 5 out of 5 – “…the eternal punk album….the blueprint for the pantomime of ‘punkier’ rock acts….for all of its forced politics and angst, THE CLASH continues to sound crucial…”

Alternative Press (3/00, pp.74-5) – 5 out of 5 – “…the eternal punk album….the blueprint for the pantomime of ‘punkier’ rock acts….for all of its forced politics and angst, THE CLASH continues to sound crucial…”

Mojo (Publisher) (3/03, p.76) – Ranked #2 in Mojo’s “Top 50 Punk Albums” – “…The ultimate punk protest album….Searingly evocative of dreary late ’70s Britain, but still timelessly inspiring…”

Mojo (Publisher) (3/03, p.76) – Ranked #2 in Mojo’s “Top 50 Punk Albums” – “…The ultimate punk protest album….Searingly evocative of dreary late ’70s Britain, but still timelessly inspiring…”

NME (Magazine) – Ranked #3 in NME’s list of The Greatest Albums Of The ’70s – “…The speed-freaked brain of punk set to the tinniest, most frantic guitars ever trapped on vinyl. Lives were changed beyond recognition by it…”

NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) – Ranked #13 in NME’s list of the ‘Greatest Albums Of All Time.’

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