The Clash on WTTW. OK So PBS is Now VH1

Posted on March 11th, 2008 by Dave

You know how VH1 has all those history-of-a-band shows called Behind the Music? Well I’m all about PBS lately, so tonight I tuned to a truly odd experience. It was basically and hour and a half “concert” by The Clash on the Chicago local PBS station WTTW. The normal way one of these rock shows is done is 90 percent interview and 10 percent music. This one was the opposite, it was primarily a series of recorded live performances and every so often they would slow things up and have a few words in voiceover as they showed still images. I honestly don’t know how it got made or how it got on the air. It reminds me being a kid and see FEAR on Saturday Night Live and wondering “how did this happen?” And then the “commercial” came on. Ah! Still pledge drive. And really, on PBS stations across the country, damn near anything is liable to come on during a pledge drive.

I’ve mentioned it on this blog before, but I grew up a punk rocker. And by grew up I mean at around 12 I started listening to my University of Chicago’s WHPK and from then on understood that “college radio” was not the same as regular radio. Around the age of 14 I took my girlfriend (mentioned throughout this blog also as the woman I finally got back together with after 25 years, who then ultimately cheated on me and left me 6 months ago). But despite her one time only appearance with me at a punk club, my early punk years were quite fun! I think the joint was called King Tut’s. Can’t be sure because later when I lived in Richmond VA, and NYC’c Lower East Side I used to go to Egypt theme clubs there too and all those names run together now. By the way, you can really tell the era I’m from can’t you? Remember when King Tut was all the rage? Even Steve Martin had a hit song (which I did buy by the way).

But The Clash hold a weird place in my mind. See, I’m here to confess I was NOT the biggest Clash fan. I mean I liked them. But I wasn’t really going ape shit about ‘em. Conversely, I did have friends who had absolutely no trouble going ape shit. Now, of course, I’ve developed an immense love for their work. But in those early days that Mick Jones and Joe Strummer combo was just the ticket for many early punkers. And the Rude Boy movie definitely sealed the deal for them.

I do enjoy virtually every single song they ever did. In fact I STILL hear the Banana Splits children’s show theme song in my head when I hear The Clash’s White Riot. And they were a far superior punk band than the Sex Pistols even. But maybe that was what put me off; they seemed TOO good. In my mind I sort of lumped them in with a lot of bands I was hearing at the time but didn’t really classify as “punk” like Blondie, the Boomtown Rats, Devo, Suzie Quatro. I know! Man I was an odd black kid! And I was SO self conscious about being black at the time. Every time I went into Wax Trax (local “alternative” record store at the time) or a punk show at the Metro or the Cubby Bear I felt those eyeballs on the back of my head. But folks welcomed me OK, and there was never any trouble, based on race, until the Skinheads came along. One of the most famous ones went to high school with me. I watched him go from a popular jock to a popular Skin in one semester. Hey, when you’re young you move fast. But I shouldn’t have worried. The Dead Kennedy’s had D.H. Peligro on drums and he was black, every single member of the Bad Brains was black! But I had never seen pictures! What did I know?

It goes without saying, but The Clash’s influence is so pervasive that it literally can’t be quantified. Let’s just say our entire culture would not be as it is without them. No Beastie Boys, no U2, no mingling of Rock and Reggae. And that’s just at the top of the mountain; the trickle down goes much further. Plus I’m here to say; no MTV even! And the remaining members wouldn’t have reformed as Big Audio Dynamite after the band’s death-and that was also an influential and innovative musical accomplishment. Speaking of B.A.D. do you guys know Don Letts? He is SOOOOO crucial to the development of punk, AND another black guy! But he is not just a musician, but a film maker, so he documented a LOT of stuff. And in the very early days he had this club where he DID mix the burgeoning punk music with the sounds coming out of Jamaica.So it was a good night for TV, and good night for music. If you’re into public television, come on back in two days for my second part of the PBS show about Chicago called Hidden Chicago.