The Clash storm the US
JUNE 11
Rock The Casbah, the second single from The Clash’s Combat Rock long-player, is released. The band are currently on tour in California, preparing to play dates with The English Beat. They’re regrouping after a period of turmoil: in April, frontman Joe Strummer went AWOL in Paris (one rumour said he’d gone there to have gender reassignment surgery) causing a UK tour to be cancelled. In May, drummer Topper Headon, debilitated by heroin, was replaced by returning sticksman Terry Chimes. On June 8 and 9 Don Letts films a video for the single, which condemns rock’n’roll being censored by theocratic regimes, in Austin, Texas. Rock The Casbah will hit its peak at Number 8 on the US Hot 100 in January 1983.