Broken Records is often a painful experience, but it’s made all the more painful when we’re discussing a band as essential and admired as The Clash. Unfortunately, their sixth and final studio album, released on 4 November 1985 by CBS Records, is a record that is truly worthy of the prefix ‘broken’.

Lead guitarist and co-principal songwriter Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon had been dismissed by lead vocalist Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon. Jones and Headon were replaced by three unknowns: guitarists Vince White and Nick Sheppard and drummer Pete Howard, a line-up that Strummer, somewhat sneeringly, referred to as ‘The Clash 2’. During the tense recording sessions, Clash manager Bernie Rhodes and Strummer fought with each other for control over the band's songwriting and musical direction.

The band wrote 20 songs for the Cut the Crap sessions, 12 of which ended up on the finished album (God only knows how awful the other 8 are). The songwriting is far from The Clash’s best but the real villain of the piece is manager Bernie Rhodes, who’s cluttered and hideously unfocused production ruins and squanders whatever negligible integrity the songs might’ve had.   

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