Passion is a Fashion: The Real Story of the Clash

by PatGilbert (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2004

  $88.99

  The only internationally successful, million-selling group to emerge from the late seventies London punk scene, the Clash set out to change the world with a potent mix of politics, blazing rock?n?roll and iconic imagery. The band?s interest in social issues - unemployment, racism, police oppression - and fascination with international events - terrorism, CIA-backed coups, the shadow of nuclear war - reflected the turmoil of an era when the great cultural revolution of the sixties appeared to have failed. It was an agenda mirrored in the Clash?s music, which swiftly evolved from ferocious punk rock to incorporate reggae, ska, funk, jazz, soul and hip hop. Passion is a Fashion draws on over 70 interviews with the key participants in the story ? roadies, producers, friends and fans - and above all conversations with the band members themselves, to give the first real insight into what went on behind the scenes during the Clash?s ten-year career. With a superb sense of place, from the streets of south London and the grimy bedsits of Notting Hill to the dislocated luxury of Los Angeles, it charts the Clash?s picaresque progress through the penurious days of the early punk scene and their groundbreaking Rock Against Racism gigs, to the arduous touring to break America and the making of the classic London Calling album, all the way to the band? s eventual dissolution and the untimely death of Joe Strummer. The book sheds new and unexpected light on the early lives of the Clash?s classic line-up - Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon - and examines the complex tensions that led to the dramatic ousting of first drummer Headon and then founder-member Jones. It also examines the often-overlooked contribution of the band?s extraordinary, larger-than-life manager, Bernard Rhodes ? one of the great rock band impresarios of all time. Gritty, independent-minded, compelling and above all authoritative, Passion Is A Fashion is the biography the Clash have long deserved.

• New

  Paperback
  2009

  $15.54

  Pat Gilbert's definitive biography of the Clash - universally acclaimed as a great book - has already sold over 20,000 copies in paperback. Now, for the 30th anniversary of the band's classic London Calling album, it is reissued with a stunning new cover. For the book Pat Gilbert - a former Mojo editor with the highest credentials - talked to everyone, in over 70 interviews with the key participants - roadies, producers, friends and fans - and above all the band members themselves, including Joe Strummer before his death, to be able to give the first real insight into what went on behind the scenes during the Clash's ten-year career. With the surge in interest generated by the Shea Stadium live CD and the official Clash book, Passion Is A Fashion will attract a new sale as the only truly indispensable Clash book.