Topper Headon

Topper Headon (2008)

Topper Headon (born May 30, 1955 in London ), actually Nicholas Bowen Headon , is a British drummer and member of the British punk band The Clash . He got his nickname “Topper” from Paul Simonon , whom he reminded of the character “Mickey the Monkey” from the “Topper” children's comics through his clothes and manner.

Topper Headon joined The Clash in 1977 shortly before the "White Riot" tour, which began on May 1, 1977 , whose members he knew from a brief interlude with the London SS . Headon wrote the piano riff of the famous clash song Rock The Casbah . He took the position of singer in The Clash only for one song, namely Ivan meets GI Joe . Headon is said to have had the idea of ​​the machine gun sound at the beginning of the song Tommy Gun . As a musician, he was by far the most versatile and talented within the band. Without Topper Headon the musical range, as it was realized for the first time on the "London Calling" LP (first published December 14, 1979), could not have been achieved. Sandy Pearlman (the previous producer of Blue Öyster Cult ), as producer of the “Give 'em enough rope album” said of Topper Headon: “Topper was an unbelievable drummer. After we´d finished "Tommy Gun", I said to him `Let's try and play the snare drum part backwards! ´ So he did it in two takes! It was inconceivable! Nobody else has ever been able to do that since. It's something that I could only do now with technology. "

Topper Headon began his The Clash career with a drug use that was standard for a 22 year old man in a punk band. His drug use became a real problem from 1981 onwards. With the band's performance at the Bonds International Casino in New York (May 28, 1981 - June 3, 1981), Headon embarked on a more extreme route of drug use that now devoured 100 pounds a day and resulted in him throwing televisions and chairs out of the hotel room.

On May 14, 1982 the LP "Combat Rock" was released (the cover picture was taken during the Asian tour in January / February of the same year in Thailand) and The Clash was supposed to be the headline band at a festival in May 20, 1982 Playing Lochem , Holland. There were also Saxon , Tenpole Tudor , Bow Wow Wow and the Stray Cats . This was Topper Headon's last gig for The Clash.

Decisive for his expulsion were his physical condition and his extreme antics, as well as the fact that in this condition he could not get through the upcoming US tour as the opening act for The Who . The band decided that Topper should get his drug problem under control first, and then play in the band again. It definitely didn't come to that, if it was a real intention at all.

After the end of The Clash he released a single with Drumming Man and the solo album Waking Up in 1986 , which he recorded with guitarist Bob Tench . In addition to big band sound, the record combined a number of different influences; Monkey On My Back , for example, was based on the song Police on my Back by The Clash.

For many years, Topper Headon couldn't get his drug addiction under control, and was even sentenced to 18 months in prison in 1987. Since The Clash renegotiated their contracts with CBS , CBS Corporation in the 1990s, money is no longer an issue for any of the band's ex-members. This is especially true for Topper Headon, who as the songwriter for "Rock the Casbah" was able to benefit from the remake of Will Smith , "Will2K", in which large parts of the song were taken over and which became a million seller in 1999.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ quoted from: Gilbert, Pat: Passion is a fashion. The real story of The Clash. Aurum, London 2006, p. 194.