Songs on the album were composed by guitarists Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, with the notable exception of the reggae cover "Police and Thieves".

The song "What's My Name" is co-credited to Clash founding member Keith Levene, who left the band in September 1976.

The Clash featured Jones and Strummer sharing guitar and vocal duties, with Paul Simonon on bass and Terry Chimes on drums, his only studio appearance with the band (Chimes and Rob Harper drummed intermittently with The Clash until Topper Headon joined the band as permanent drummer in May 1977).

Most of the album was conceived on the 18th floor of a council high rise on London's Harrow Road, in a flat that was rented by Mick Jones's grandmother, who frequently went to see their live concerts.

[2] Drummer Terry Chimes, though a full member of the Clash at the time, did not appear in the picture as he had already decided to leave the group.

Another picture from the same Kate Simon photoshoot appears on the UK Special Edition DVD of Rude Boy, released in 2003.

"Remote Control" was written by Mick Jones after the Anarchy Tour and contains pointed observations about the civic hall bureaucrats who had cancelled concerts, the police, big business and especially record companies.

"Garageland" was written in response to Charles Shaar Murray's damning review of the Clash's early appearance at the Sex Pistols Screen on the Green concert – "The Clash are the kind of garage band who should be returned to the garage immediately, preferably with the engine running".

[11] The Clash was unusually musically varied for a punk band, with reggae and early rock and roll influences plainly evident.

[29] NME also ranked The Clash number three on its list of the Greatest Albums of the '70s, and wrote in the review that "the speed-freaked brain of punk set to the tinniest, most frantic guitars ever trapped on vinyl.

In 1999, Q magazine wrote that the Clash "would never sound so punk as they did on 1977's self-titled debut", calling it a "lyrically intricate" album that "still howled with anger".

Noted Jamaican producer Lee Perry heard the album while in London in 1977, and played it to Bob Marley,[citation needed] who in turn mentioned the Clash on his own track "Punky Reggae Party".

Owing to its inclusion of non-album singles, the US edition of The Clash could be considered a de facto compilation album.

It was another moderately successful album for the Clash in the United States, even though the sales were likely diluted by the longstanding popularity of the UK version on the import market.

The Clash peaked at number 126 on the Billboard charts,[43] setting the stage for the commercial breakthrough of London Calling later that year.