Inside the making of The Clash’s disastrous final album
On paper, the final album by The Clash is 1985’s Cut The Crap. However, the reality of the situation is different, and according to the late Joe Strummer, the band essentially died when he sacked Topper Headon because of his drug problems. Mick Jones left soon afterwards, yet Strummer insisted on keeping The Clash alive, but it was a decision he’d later regret.
Headon’s behaviour had seen him exit the band in 1982, with The Clash vowing to carry on with original drummer Terry Chimes. However, their problems continued to soar, even with a new drummer, and Chimes also left the group after becoming worn down by the toxic atmosphere in the camp. Jones also departed The Clash in 1983 after becoming increasingly unreliable, and Strummer felt the band would be in safer hands without him.
“Mick was intolerable to work with by this time,” the late Joe Strummer remembered in the Clash documentary Westway to the World. “He wouldn’t show up. When he did show up, it was like Elizabeth Taylor in a filthy mood.”
Jones knew his dismissal was on the horizon, and later said (via Ultimate Classic Rock): “I was just carried away really, I wish I had a bit more control. You know, you wish you knew what you know now.”
After Jones left the group, The Clash should have ended, but Strummer wasn’t willing to let the band die without a fight. Along with Paul Simonon, and their manager Bernard Rhodes, Strummer held auditions for new band members, with over 100 people trying out for the role. Ultimately, they chose Nik Sheppard, and Greg White, who were unknowns at the time.
To add to the turmoil, Strummer had recently become a father for the first time while also losing his own father. Additionally, his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, which further took his attention away from The Clash. As a result, Strummer handed more power to Rhodes on Cut The Clash and didn’t even bother listening to the final mix of the record until it was officially released.
“Yeah,” he says, “But I’m not that big on pride, you know? Mick had more occasion to be proud because of what happened and the way it had ended. I had to eat humble pie. I deserved to.”
Looking back upon this difficult period during an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1988, Strummer said: “I was trying to prove that I was the Clash and it wasn’t Mick (Jones). . . . I learned that that was kind of dumb. I learned that it wasn’t anybody, except maybe a great chemistry between us four, and I really learned it was over the day we sacked Topper, and not the day we sacked Mick. There was quite some time between them. We played a whole tour between those times. But it was the day we sacked Tops. Because it’s between humans. (Clash managers) Bernie Rhodes and Cosmo Vinyl I think perhaps didn’t understand that. You couldn’t just jigsaw-puzzle it, take out a piece and put in another piece. That it was something weird between four humans that when they played it sounded OK, you know. And that’s fairly rare, that’s all.”
Strummer conceded: “And when we knocked out Topper for excessive drug abuse, I don’t think, honest to God, we ever played a good gig after that. Except for one night in New Jersey we played a good one, but I reckon that was just by the law of averages. Out of a 30-gig tour, one night, you’ve got to say it’s a fluke.”
Despite Strummer’s many attempts to reform The Clash after their split, Jones was never interested, and unfortunately, the soulless Cut The Crap remains the final chapter in their history.
