Randal Doane - Stealing All Transmissions

Stealing is a must-read for music fans of all varieties, for its much more than a book about The Clash. With a captivating narrative and well-written prose, Stealing makes sense of what happened to free-form radio and the DIY ethic of punk, and deftly connects that history to the era of file-sharing and satellite radio. Dont miss this book. Steal it if you must!

Michael Roberts, author of Tell Tchaikovsky the News: Rock n Roll, the Labor Question, and the Musicians Union, 19421968

Randal Doanes Stealing All Transmissions: A Secret History of The Clash is not the story I was expecting from the title. Thankfully. We have all read those books about artists of all stripes (and zippers), from which we learn only about misery, malfeasance, and bad behavior. But this is not that book. The Clash is at the center of the story, but the heart of it belongs to other players. People drawn into the orbit who cared, who pushed both themselves and the band forward, who took risks because they felt and knew they were seeing and hearing a revolution. The people who were excited and inspired by the catalysts (The Clash), whose stories are integral to the core of the bands American journey, and fascinating to finally read about, all in one place.

I loved (and envied) The Clashthe gang of four who dressed better, who wore their hearts and mistakes on their zippered sleeves, and played songs with the force of racehorses bursting from the gate. A good number of people got it from the outsetand because of them as much as the band themselves, an even greater number eventually got it. And they are still getting it.

A large and raucous cheer to Randal Doane for choosing the near-mythical Baker to write the foreword. We are treated to nearly two books in one! Ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses and cans to Messrs. Doane and Auguste. A triumphant work from this unlikely Gang of Two.

Hugo Burnham, founder and drummer, Gang of Four, associate professor, New England Institute of Art

Paul Simonon was the handsomest boy Id ever seen in my life.

Susan Blond, former VP of Epic Records, founder and president of Susan Blond, Inc.

Stealing All Transmissions: A Secret History of The Clash

Randal Doane 2014

This edition published in 2014 by PM Press

ISBN: 978-1-62963-029-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014908059

Cover: John Yates/Stealworks.com

Cover photo: Pennie Smith. Palladium, New York, September 1979

Layout: Jonathan Rowland

PM Press

P.O. Box 23912

Oakland, CA 94623

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the USA by the Employee Owners of Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan www.thomsonshore.com

For all that is solid:
Rebecca and Katherine

The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in.

James Baldwin

I cant see anybody playing Clash records on the radio.

Joe Strummer

L ike so many good things, this book began as a conversationa conversation with Gregg Wirth, to whom I am especially grateful. His word-smithing superpowers are evident in the best parts of this book. Thanks to Pam Donovan and Erich and Lisa G. Stonestreet for their unflagging encouragement. Joshua Davidson performed valiantly as my research assistant, and Paul Schick and Harley Foos offered insightful feedback on different drafts of this tale. Thanks, too, to the wonderful reference librarians at Oberlin College, the OHIOLINK staff, and Dianna Ford and Jennie Thomas of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives. Craig OHara, Gregory Nipper, assorted comrades at PM Press, and Melanie Hegge offered an abundance of kindness and decency.

A special measure of gratitude goes to Barry The Baker Auguste, a veteran of multiple tours of duty with The Clash, for taking an early interest in this project, and for his words and generosity. To Dan Beck, Susan Blond, Robert Christgau, Caroline Coon, Yale Evelev, Wayne Forte, Chris Frantz, Meg Griffin, Bob Gruen, Ivan Kral, Harvey Leeds, the very Handsome Dick Manitoba, Ron McCarrell, Pam Merly, Barry DJ Scratchy Myers, Rick Neblung, Richard Neer, Joe Piasek, Pennie Smith, and Roy Trakin: many thanks for taking the time to speak and correspond with me. I hope the account that follows does justice to your tales of joy and glory. Joe Streno also shared his tales of glory, and allowed me to include images from his impressive portfolio in these pages, and for that I am immeasurably grateful. Thanks to Will Keller for sharing his ideas and research (get that book together, Will!), and to Dave Marin for sharing the missing tracks of on-air chatter from The Guns of Brixton bootleg. Much gratitude is due to my mentors, Bob Alford (I still miss you something fierce), Stanley Aronowitz, Steve Brier, Patricia Clough, Douglas Daniels, and Kathryn Stuart. Discretion prevents me from naming key figures whose work behind the scenes made this project possible; you know who you are.

I burned many an hour listening to rocknroll with the following characters, to whom I owe much knowledge and grace: John Bagley, Sam Binkley, John Bouchard, Matt Flynn, George Kostopoulos, Eric Lauerwald, Tom Lewis, Shon Martin, Pete Naegele, Ron Nerio, Jon Niefeld, James Nolan, Jerry Olivera, Charles Peterson, Nick Petzak, Dan Pipal, Jeff Shannon, Bryan Stubbs, Suzanne Korock Trickey, Nikki Melvin Vitale, and Betsy Wissinger. Thanks to Brooks Dees, Brian Gifford, and Armen Markarianyou have picked up the tab for an undue share of first rounds, for so many years. Our friendship lends a rock-steady cadence to my world. Kudos to Casey Curtis and Katie Dyerkeep burning brightly. Seamus, my man, you may have fleas, but you can crash on the couch with me anytime. Much gratitude, of course, is due to Messrs. Strummer (rest in rock-steady peace), Jones, Simonon, Headon, and Chimes: thank you for making thoughtful dance music for rebels (and dance music for thoughtful rebels). I might not have made it through adolescence without you.

The greatest thanks is due to my father, the first rocknroller I ever met; my mother, who taught me an appreciation for (ahem) the finer things in life; my sister, Stacey, whose camaraderie I cherish; and my wife, Rebecca, and my daughter, Katherine O., a real rocknrolla, to whom this book is dedicated. Life with you is a double LP of joy and love and wonder.

When beggars die there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

E very nerve-wrenching night, every frenzied stage invasion, every sweat-soaked guitar riff and every gob-covered drum beatnight after night, the essential ingredients braided together to form the intricate legacy of The Clash. For our seven-year convulsion of raw intensity and outrageous audacity, there was no script, no master plan. Sheer bluster and guts sustained our momentum. Every gig was a street-fight, every tour was a war, and we played the hand we were dealt at every show, like a tightrope walker with a death-wish, willing himself from beginning to end, treacherous winds be damned. The Clashs journey from English High Street clubs to American sports stadiums was a visceral story of adrenaline-fueled bravado: rare in their sensitivity, rash in their violence, but ultimately dazzling in the reactive chemistry with which they seared the musical landscape.