The Clash was a
paradox of revolutionary conviction, musical ambition, and commercial
drive. We Are The Clash is a gripping tale of the band's struggle to
reinvent itself as George Orwell's 1984 loomed. This bold campaign
crashed headlong into a wall of internal contradictions, and rising
right-wing power.
While the world
teetered on the edge of the nuclear abyss, British miners waged a
life-or-death strike, and tens of thousands died from US guns in
Central America, Clash cofounders Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, and
Bernard Rhodes waged a desperate last stand after ejecting guitarist
Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon. The band shattered just as its
controversial final album, Cut the Crap, was emerging.
Andersen and
Heibutzki weave together extensive archival research and in-depth
original interviews with virtually all of the key players involved to
tell a moving story of idealism undone by human frailty amid a
climatic turning point for our world.