'Working for the clampdown is an excellent piece of work. To speak personally for a brief moment: it reminded me why I love The Clash so much but also why I should continue to analyse my motives for loving them. It is intellectually challenging, wide-ranging, readable and expertly edited. In a field that remains distressingly small, it is set to inspire future critics and to make its own lasting impact.'
James Peacock, Keele University, Popular Music, Vol. 39, Issue 1 (February 2020)
'What gives this volume its strength is its unpacking of the mythological milieu around the band, not least in the complex relationship between the Clash, punk and the emerging political landscape of the late 1970s. [...] Working for the clampdown is a valuable addition to the critical examination of the political, social and aesthetic milieu of punk and, within those complex surroundings, the Clash. Its openness about its subject is refreshing, whilst its chapters are well-written and intriguing.'
Mike Dines, Middlesex University, Punk & Post-Punk, Vol. 9, Issue 1 (2020)
'Colin Coulter's invitation to (re)examine the political impact and the contemporary relevance of the band by rejecting the sanitised, dehistoricised vision of it proposed by the culture industry is to be welcomed.'
Jeremy Tranmer, Transposition: Musique et sciences sociales
