Cuppy's Music Curios S2 E11: The Clash's Cut the Crap (The Recording)

The Clash spent several months recording their sixth and eventually final studio album. Bernie Rhodes wanted to make a modern rock sound that would combine hip-hop, electronic music and punk rock. But without an experienced music producer to see it through, Rhodes decided to do it himself. Only two members of The Clash would play on the studio recordings, Joe Strummer on vocals and Nick Sheppard would play all of the guitar parts. Studio musicians such as Herman Weindorf would play the keyboards and synthesizers, bassist Norman Watt-Roy would lay down all of the bass tracks, Michael Fayne would program the drum machine and Bernie Rhodes would oversee the production.

The rest of the band would eventually travel to Munich to where the album was being recorded and lay down two tracks which would be relegated to the single "This is England" B-Side. The recordings lasted from January into April, the next month The Clash would go on a two week impromptu busking tour of England and Scotland which would lead to more post production work on the album. On September 30, 1985 the band would release the album's first single which would display The Clash's new futuristic sound. Joe Strummer would run off to Spain after hearing the mixed reaction to the release of the single which would eventually lead to the end of the band. "Cut the Crap" was released on November 4, 1985 and after peaking at number 16 on the U.K. Record Charts would fade into obscurity.

This video could not have happened without the information from the book "We Are The Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last Stand of a Band That Mattered" written by Mark Andersen and Ralph Ralph Heibutzki. I would also like to credited the website Black Market Clash for their informative chronological history of the band and the message board "If Music Could Talk" for keeping The Clash's "Cut the Crap" era alive.