‘Punk Is Dead’: Did The Clash sell out by signing to CBS?
A cultural revolution held together by safety pins and solvent abuse, punk rock existed in direct opposition to the musical mainstream of the 1970s. With a strong DIY ethos and staunch anti-capitalist morals, punk rock placed the means of musical production firmly into the hands of ordinary–if angry and probably unwashed–young people. Few bands represented this grassroots revolt quite as adeptly as The Clash, so why did the Joe Strummer-fronted outfit make a deal with industry devils, CBS?
When punk rock first emerged, sneering and gobbing, from the underground around 1975, the music industry wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole. After all, the abrasive, aggressive, and politically-charged anthems emanating from Covent Garden’s Roxy Club were never going to be played by cheesy radio DJs, they were never going to appear between Legs & Co and Noel Edmonds on Top of the Pops, ergo there was no profit to be made.
In answer to the music industry’s rejection of punk, many early punk bands released their music through independent labels, set up on shoestring budgets by other young music fans hoping to spread the punk revolution far and wide. The Damned’s ‘New Rose’, for instance, was considered the UK’s first proper punk single, and it was released via the independently owned Stiff Records, who later recruited the likes of Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, and Lene Lovich, among various others.
Before too long, though, some major record labels realised the power of this emerging musical movement and quickly sought to take a slice of the pie for themselves. Punk’s poster boys, the Sex Pistols, signed with EMI in 1976 and, although that relationship didn’t last very long, it signified that the majors were warming to punk – if only for its potential for profits. Still, many principled punk outfits opted to remain with independent labels, often as a defiant stance against the capitalistic ventures of major labels.
From their very beginning, The Clash were among the movement’s most principled and politically active punk outfits. Early tracks attacked police brutality, racial discrimination, and a lack of employment opportunities for Britain’s youth, which, along with their consistent and unwavering hatred of Top of the Pops, marked them as prime candidates for an independent label like Stiff.
Instead, the band signed with major label CBS in 1977, prompting anarcho-punks Crass to pen the song ‘Punk Is Dead’ the following year, including the lyrics, “CBS promote The Clash, but it ain’t for revolution, it’s just for cash.” The Clash’s decision to accept a £100,000 deal with the major label was met with disgust and accusations of ‘selling out’ from many of their punk contemporaries.
“Signing that contract did bother me a lot,” Joe Strummer admitted in 1977, though he later concluded, “I’ve been fucked about for so long I’m not going to suddenly turn into Rod Stewart just because I get £25.00 a week. I’m much too far gone for that, I tell you.” While the idea of financial security, particularly for a group that was largely living in a London squat during that time, was clearly a factor in the decision, the motivations behind The Clash’s deal with CBS were not exclusively monetary.
Independent labels, particularly during that time, could not come close to offering the same kind of distribution as the majors. The Clash were already a big name in London’s punk scene, but how was the rest of the world meant to hear Strummer’s defiant anti-authoritarianism? The Clash were speaking directly to audiences of young people up and down the country, in towns, villages and suburbs. Those audiences might never have heard of the band were it not for the distribution that CBS could offer.
The deal with CBS allowed The Clash to spread their music far and wide, in ways that most independent labels simply couldn’t compete with. What’s more, signing that contract didn’t seem to impact the songwriting inspiration and output of the band. Their CBS-released debut album remains one of the greatest anti-authority records ever recorded, and subsequent releases like London Calling and Combat Rock expanded the band’s musical repertoire tenfold, while continuing to demonstrate their universally important songwriting.
Whether The Clash’s ‘sell-out’ deal with CBS marked the death of punk rock or not, it didn’t work out particularly well for the band in the long run. While the band were under the assumption that the contract was for a five-album deal, CBS were actually after 13 albums, and The Clash were expected to foot the bill for all recordings, mixes, and tours during that time. Simultaneously, their creative control over their own work was threatened, with the label releasing ‘Remote Control’ as a single in 1977, against the band’s wishes.
Before too long, the band were enmeshed in debt with CBS, exacerbated by their unwavering dedication to keeping gig and record prices as low as possible for their fans. The extensive triple-album Sandinista!, for instance, was sold for the price of a single album at the insistence of the band, which dragged them into more debt with CBS, but allowed them to stick to their artistic principles.
The Clash remained in debt to CBS for virtually all of their existence, and the constant pressure put upon them by the major label, coupled with the lack of creative control afforded to the group with singles like ‘Remote Control’ and, later, the Combat Rock album, culminated in the ultimate break-up of the band in 1986. By that time, the band were only six albums into their 13-album deal, even if they probably had enough material to stretch out to 13 releases, taking into account the various double or triple albums, and the countless offcuts and demos that could easily have been polished up for mainstream consumption.
So, did The Clash really ‘sell out’ by signing with CBS? If so, immersing yourself in hundreds of thousands of pounds of debt is certainly a strange way of selling out. Ultimately, the deal with CBS didn’t provide the band with much in the way of riches, but it did allow them to have their defiant sounds heard all over the world while refusing to compromise on their anti-capitalist morals or their artistic integrity.
