Ongoing History Daily: The Clash charged as terrorists
True or false: a couple members of the Clash once were arrested because they were suspected of being terrorists. True.
On the evening of March 30, 1978, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon were on the roof of a rehearsal studio in Camden Town, London. One of their friends had brought over a high-powered air rifle and they were looking for some pop cans to shoot. That’s when someone spied a bunch of pigeons which then became targets.
It just so happens that the police had some offices right across the street.They saw what was going on and immediately thought there was some sort of terrorist act going on and called out the helicopters.
Everybody was arrested, interrogated and charged. But in the end, Paul and Topper were hit with some small fines.
Yesterday’s Daily post was about the sad early years of U2. And don’t forget to check out my podcast The Ongoing History of New Music where you listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, Stitcher, or wherever you get your on-demand audio.
