DVD REVIEW: The Rise And Fall Of The Clash

DVD REVIEW: The Rise And Fall Of The Clash
Shock Entertainment
March 2014
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10

There have been a plethora of docos about punk upstarts The Clash, the majority of which (without exception perhaps?) have told the story of the five primary members, their formative years, the band’s rise and initial breakup. Even more have focussed entirely on Joe Strummer and his life and work.

I’m pretty sure this is the first such attempt to go deep into the last chapter of the band – when Strummer and Siminon assembled a new lineup and recorded an album which is now so obscure that many completist fans are still barely aware of it’s existence!

The Rise & Fall… delves into not only the power plays behind the band’s initial disintegration, but also the lesser known Cut the Crap era of the band. As such it’s not just fascinating, but at times revelatory.

Partners and hangers-on are interviewed along with band members from that era, and they’re almost unanimous in describing a raw deal handed down from the top, a dysfunctional organisational hierarchy, and their big opportunity gone horribly awry, even if they each handle it in very different ways.

Drummer Peter Howard is still annoyed at the shambles orchestrated by Bernie Rhodes, which Strummer seemed to just go along with. Second guitarist Vince White remains far more bitter, breaking down in drunken tears at one point at his big break lost.

Amongst all the finger pointing and begrudging, only guitarist Nick Sheppard remains completely dignified, and it’s his measured, sanguine – though far from pleased or unaffected – recollections that carry the most weight.

It’s a hell of a story, and one that could perhaps only have happened at the axis between the end of punk and the start of the 80’s, full of rock, booze, drugs, backstabbing, fighting and an inglorious end to some careers, temporarily or permanently.

Category: Movie & Theatre Reviews