{"id":1939,"date":"2006-06-12T01:05:30","date_gmt":"2006-06-12T01:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/?p=1939"},"modified":"2014-01-07T07:26:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T07:26:00","slug":"a-riot-of-our-own-night-and-day-with-the-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/print\/2006\/06\/a-riot-of-our-own-night-and-day-with-the-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"A Riot Of Our Own: Night And Day With The Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Johnny Green & Garry Barker
\nFaber and Faber, Inc.
\n238 pages perfect bound
\n8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
\nISBN: 0571199577
\nCopyright Date:1999
\nReview Date: 6\/12\/06<\/p>\n

A Riot of Our Own is a short memoir (238 pages) of life on and off the road with the Clash. If you\u2019ve read anything about the Clash you\u2019ll recognize the name Johnny Green. He started as a roadie for the Clash in 1977 and quickly graduated to jack of all trades band manager\/minder, facilitator, valet and troublemaker. He split from the band Some time after the release of London Calling, either to see America from outside the bubble of the tour bus, or because the Clash had become too large and things had gotten too easy. <\/p>\n

There has been a lot written about the Clash, including the shrill tattle-tale, would-be expose Last Gang in Town<\/a> by Marcus Gray, who is curiously quoted on the back jacket. While Marcus\u2019 book attempts to dissect and dispel the myth of the Clash, Green\u2019s book simply tells it as he remembers it. Sometimes flattering, sometimes not, but always interesting. It appears to be Green\u2019s story, written with the help of Barker, but in Johnny Green\u2019s voice. Green\u2019s casual an intimate knowledge of the band makes for good reading and insight into the Clash as human beings and a sense of what it must have been like to hang out with the Magnificent 7. As with any good friends, if you spend enough time with them they will likely get on your nerves at times. You may have read about Jones being \u201cdifficult\u2019 for some periods, but it\u2019s surprising how much of a pompous prick he could be sometimes. You can give your friends a hard time like no other but you still stick up for them if anyone else badmouths them. Green\u2019s stories read like you are sitting at the bar with him talking about old friends. A Riot of Our Own is interesting because it tells an insider\u2019s version of some of the more famous Clash events as well as some you\u2019d never be privy to otherwise.<\/p>\n

A Riot of Our Own. Riot was written before the untimely death of Joe, and includes a forward by the man himself. There is a short section of photos by Pennie Smith including the famous cover shot of London Calling as well as a few less published snaps. Ray Lowery once accompanied the Clash on tour as a sort of a war correspondent illustrator and he provides the visual punctuation that sums up a particular moment in Green\u2019s tales.<\/p>\n

It seems the Clash managed to surround themselves with interesting characters. Green\u2019s memoir is good above and beyond being just the story of the Clash. As it ends you\u2019ll find yourself disappointed that there is no \u201cPart II\u201d chronicling Green\u2019s post-Clash adventures. Any further time spent by me talking about this book is time wasted by you not reading it. A Riot of Our Own is essential reading for anyone with more than a passing interest in the Clash or Punk Rock from that era.<\/p>\n

Online action: faberandfaber.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johnny Green & Garry Barker Faber and Faber, Inc. 238 pages perfect bound 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ISBN: 0571199577 Copyright Date:1999 Review Date: 6\/12\/06 A Riot of Our Own is a short memoir (238 pages) of life on and off the road with the Clash. If you\u2019ve read anything about the Clash you\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[305,14],"tags":[206533,316],"class_list":["post-1939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-books","category-print","tag-punk","tag-the-clash"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2006\/06\/riot-post.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skateandannoy.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}