10 Greatest Bands Who Mixed Music Genres
1. The Clash
Some purists like to say The Clash weren’t punk because they embraced so many other musical styles. Some would counter that this - rejecting the dogma - is about the most punk thing you can do, thereby demonstrating their credentials. Others still would surmise that it really doesn’t matter whether The Clash were or weren’t punk, because they were simply one of the greatest bands ever to come out of the UK.
The Clash’s self titled debut is primarily bonafide aggressive punk rock, but even here they’re experimenting with reggae on their cover of “Police And Thieves”, which is rockier than Junior Murvin’s original but still maintains the vibe.
On London Calling, they really let loose - there’s rockabilly (“Brand New Cadillac”), the swinging “Right Profile”, new wave (“Train In Vain”) and quasi-dub (“Guns Of Brixton”). Later they’d embrace their West Indian tastes further on the gloriously spacey “Bankrobber”.
They even turned their hand to early rap on “The Magnificent Seven”, and while it’s a bit embarrassing, a lot of contemporaneous white acts did it a lot worse. The Clash couldn’t care less what style of music you expected them to subscribe to - they did exactly what they wanted, and that’s why they were brilliant.