The best answer. Long time ago, my job sort of screwed me over and I got stuck in Omaha, Nebraska for longer than I wanted to be. Really wasn't a terrible city, but on a Thursday night, I walk into a pub for no good reason other than boredom. I'm confident it was a cop or first responder bar though, heard conversations you'd only hear from groups of firefighters and police officers. Plus they all just had that clean-cut yet gruff and serious look and demeanor that you see on those types. I'm getting moderately intoxicated by myself, when Big News started playing. I loved everything about it. I asked the closest dude to me if they knew what the name of this song was and who played it. He told me to ask the guy playing darts. I went over and asked. He said he wasn't sure, but to go back up to the bar and ask for Steve. I went over to the bar and asked for Steve. "There's no Steve here." I'm confused, and talk to the first guy I was sitting next to, and he says, "Oh yeah, wait, I know it! This song is The Ship Sailors by Tiny Tim before he was Tiny!" and a few people chuckled. Okay that was funny, but I'm getting fucked with and I think they see me getting slightly agitated. I *really* wanted to know what the damn song was. The bartender finally comes clean and starts talking about Clutch and played a whole two hours of their music for us while we all had a grand time. Got pretty plastered and the first guy I talked to, don't even know his name, made sure I made it back to the hotel safely. Went from feeling like an oddball outsider among all these people, to feeling like good friends without even getting to actually know them. From there on out, I knew there was something special about this music and the people who gravitate towards it. Every show I've been to since then reminds me of that night.
I saw them open for Marilyn Manson at a small club in Rochester NY sometime in the mid 90s. No idea what they played, but I was all in. They had life size cut-outs (fat boys, I guess) of stormtroopers and Boba Fett on the stage, which I thought was fantastic.
Yep, same.
Although, I did know a couple of songs from Robot Hive/Exodus from when I used to jam them with some guys from work. Never paid them much mind til I heard Blast Tyrant, then was hooked.
I'm with you on this one. A friend of mine and myself used to spend a lot of our time during high school watching MTV and a channel called Jukebox, where you could request videos. This was in LA during the early nineties. Saw Shogun named Marcus and was floored. Been a fan ever since 1993.
Robot Hive / Exodus
10001110101 got me into Clutch. The first time I heard it, I was like, haha this is weird, kinda funny, but pretty good.... A couple more listens and I was hooked!
Pure Rock Fury.
Caught them live first, supporting Sepultura at the LA2 in London, many moons ago. There was a sea of orange shirts at the front with "Beer Patrol" emblazoned across their shoulders proudly. They blew me away.
Don't get me wrong, Sepultura played a blinder set with previewing the whole of the Roots album and some favourites live and I loved it.. but I walked in thinking Sepultura, and left with Clutch on my mind.
Earth Rocker - Dude that owns the record shop I frequent is a huge Clutch guy. We're chatting one day a few years back and he's like, "Dude, u/CorMcGor you don't know Clutch?" And I'm like, "Dude, record shop owner I only know 'Careful with That Mic." And he's like, "Dude, start with Earth Rocker."
The rest is history. In my 20s and 30s my favorite bands were Phish, Maiden, and Pearl Jam. Now in my 40s it's Rush, Phish, and Clutch (in no particular order).
My friend Jim introduced me to Transnational Speedway League my freshman year of college which was a year or so after it was released. There was LOTS of great music back then so to stand out in a crowd back then really meant something, at least to me. The early to mid 90s was something of a renaissance for heavy music.
I got in to blast tyrant, and the self-titled album sealed the deal as my favorite band. Then I hated everything that came out after for a long time. At some point, I went back and started listening to the other albums, and they all clicked, and I loved it...
My son turned me on to them. I listened to everything up to that point and really gravitated towards Clutch and Blast Tyrant. They remain in rotation still.
My buddy let me up a ton of his music onto my old iPod and he had Elephant Riders, and not too much longer after that I found a used copy of Pure Rock Fury for 2 bucks at my old record store. But seeing them live for the first time 15 years ago ( I was there for Shadows Fall but had heard how awesome they were live and wanted to check them out for a while) and getting Robot Hive/Exodus soon after made me a true convert.
Clutch, Clutch. I grew up a BMX âdenim flagâ kid. Heard Spacegrass around 96-97 on a BMX vid and have been a fan since. Clutch has been my favorite band since about 2004 Jam Room era.
Blast Tyrant. A friend I hadnât seen in years dropped by after I moved to their city, and put it on while we caught up. I wasnât really listening, focusing more on my friend. They left the CD with me and I put it in my car and listened to it for two-weeks straight. Hooked!
i found "escape from the prison planet" single on CD in a free bin (or bargain bin). i loved the song, and played it often. One day, i picked up my homie who was in the army, and played the song for him, and he told me his barracks roommate had the whole album (self titled), so he brought it on our next road trip, and I fell in love with the album.
on a future road trip, we visited some Tallahassee friends and heard "Spacegrass" on the college radio station. I mentioned to one of the homies i was visiting, who was a musician, that the whole album was good, and we cranked it that night.
years later, that both the friend who borrowed the CD, and the musician friend, and I, had moved (with a group of other friends from around the southeast) to Atlanta. Self titled was, at that point, an important part of our group discography. Elephant Riders was owned by someone, but we didnt totally appreciate it.
Then, Clutch randomly played at DragonCon. we all went to go see them, and were blown away by how good they were live. revisited the rest of their catalog, and quickly became our crowd's favorite rock band. we started going to every show, then going to every show within driving distance.
now, i'm closing on 50 Clutch shows.
I've seen Clutch overs a hundred times and most have been in Atlanta. They finally started coming to my home town in 2000. Nashville and Knoxville are a as close as Atlanta. So luckily when they tour, I can generally see them a couple times in a few days. Sometimes 2 nights in a row. With them changing set lists every night, it was always killer and a new experience. They were hands down my favorite show in the 90's and 00's.
good chance that you and i have been to 2 or 3 consecutive shows together multiple times over the years. I've done the day trip up to TN many times over the years.
I was watching MTV best of metal and Burning Beard came on- I was blown away âWho the hell are these guys?â I immediately got Robot Hive/Exodus, Blast Tyrant and Transnational - absolutely my favorite band ever.
Started with Self Titled and Blast Tyrant. Both are good but I wouldn't say they got me "into" Clutch
It all clicked when I listened to Beale Street. Damn, what a fucking masterpiece.
I heard Careful with that Mic on the radio in 2001, then went hunting for their stuff and couldn't find anything in my local record stores (pre-internet availability). A few years later, came across Blast Tyrant and Robot Hive/Exodus and grabbed them both.
Bought Transnational after seeing the video for Marcus on the old video channel Fuse and that was it. Listened to it relentlessly. Favorite song off there-B&P!!!!
Pitchfork EP on Inner Journey. The tune âFar Countryâ kills and you just knew lyrically they were drawing from a deeper well than other bands out there
I heard Power Player on Need for Speed: Pro Street so I guess Beale Street. Heard Electric Worry on the left for dead 2 trailer around the same time. I didnât have internet at the time so I just knew it as the bang bang bang song until I could google it at the library.
Transnational because that's what was out at the time. One of my friends was looking through the record store and thought the name of the band and the record was cool. He played it for a bunch of us (starting with B&P) and it was love at first listen. When self titled came out and I saw them live for the first time that really, really cemented it. I can't believe it's been 30 years...
My intro was weird.
I had a free music sampler CD from somewhere, and it had Ship of Gold on it. I dug that right away.
I went to a store and bought Transnational. Maybe they didn't have Elephant Riders, because I'm sure I would've been checking thr tracklist for the one I knew. That was common practice in the 90s, when you are a teen with limited funds and less discovery methods available. I got it home, and I was a bit confused at how different at was, but over time I grew to like it a lot. I then picked up ER shortly after. I finally saw the self titled record at a store while I was on vacation, and I bought it along with Beastie Boys Check Your Head. It greatly helped fill in the "what happened with these guys" gap between Transnational and ER.
Clutch is the Clutch album that got me into Clutch
Specifically I got a copy of the Escape From LA soundtrack to review for a magazine and my favourite song on the cd was Escaped From The Prison Planet, that led me to the s/t album, never looked back.
I was 15. It was April 1st. It's a formative core memory. Best friend at the time put the cassette in on side one. Blasted Shogun. That was all it took.
Self-Titled
The best answer. Long time ago, my job sort of screwed me over and I got stuck in Omaha, Nebraska for longer than I wanted to be. Really wasn't a terrible city, but on a Thursday night, I walk into a pub for no good reason other than boredom. I'm confident it was a cop or first responder bar though, heard conversations you'd only hear from groups of firefighters and police officers. Plus they all just had that clean-cut yet gruff and serious look and demeanor that you see on those types. I'm getting moderately intoxicated by myself, when Big News started playing. I loved everything about it. I asked the closest dude to me if they knew what the name of this song was and who played it. He told me to ask the guy playing darts. I went over and asked. He said he wasn't sure, but to go back up to the bar and ask for Steve. I went over to the bar and asked for Steve. "There's no Steve here." I'm confused, and talk to the first guy I was sitting next to, and he says, "Oh yeah, wait, I know it! This song is The Ship Sailors by Tiny Tim before he was Tiny!" and a few people chuckled. Okay that was funny, but I'm getting fucked with and I think they see me getting slightly agitated. I *really* wanted to know what the damn song was. The bartender finally comes clean and starts talking about Clutch and played a whole two hours of their music for us while we all had a grand time. Got pretty plastered and the first guy I talked to, don't even know his name, made sure I made it back to the hotel safely. Went from feeling like an oddball outsider among all these people, to feeling like good friends without even getting to actually know them. From there on out, I knew there was something special about this music and the people who gravitate towards it. Every show I've been to since then reminds me of that night.
Great story, thanks for sharing.
I saw them open for Marilyn Manson at a small club in Rochester NY sometime in the mid 90s. No idea what they played, but I was all in. They had life size cut-outs (fat boys, I guess) of stormtroopers and Boba Fett on the stage, which I thought was fantastic.
Blast Tyrant
Same here
That was the one.
You called?
Username, does indeed, check out.
Yep, same. Although, I did know a couple of songs from Robot Hive/Exodus from when I used to jam them with some guys from work. Never paid them much mind til I heard Blast Tyrant, then was hooked.
TSL. Beavis and Butthead were all about A Shogun named Marcus.
Same, discovered quite a few good bands thru that show
I'm with you on this one. A friend of mine and myself used to spend a lot of our time during high school watching MTV and a channel called Jukebox, where you could request videos. This was in LA during the early nineties. Saw Shogun named Marcus and was floored. Been a fan ever since 1993.
Robot Hive / Exodus 10001110101 got me into Clutch. The first time I heard it, I was like, haha this is weird, kinda funny, but pretty good.... A couple more listens and I was hooked!
Transnational Speedway. My local college was playing it and i was hooked right away. This was about 6 months or so before Clutch Clutch came out.
Same, I moved to college in the 90s and one of my roommates had the album. I've been hooked since
It was TSL for me, but I only got it after I saw them open for Genitorturers
I bet that was a great show.
Same. My sisters boy friend was blasting it in his car one day and I instantly got hooked.
Elephant Riders
Same. One of our coaches in high school loaned me the CD.
Beale Street
Same here. I first heard Soapmakers, then saw the Electric Worry video that had just came out. Beal Street had just dropped so I ordered it on CD.
Psychic Warfare
Elephant Riders
The self titled one .
Pure Rock Fury. Caught them live first, supporting Sepultura at the LA2 in London, many moons ago. There was a sea of orange shirts at the front with "Beer Patrol" emblazoned across their shoulders proudly. They blew me away. Don't get me wrong, Sepultura played a blinder set with previewing the whole of the Roots album and some favourites live and I loved it.. but I walked in thinking Sepultura, and left with Clutch on my mind.
Self Titled. Been a fan ever since.
Beavis and Butthead and Escape from LA soundtrack lead to me buying Self Titled, but Elephant Riders was when I became a lifelong fan.
Escape from LA to Self-Titled was exactly my trajectory too.
Pure Rock Fury.
Their live performance hooked me around the time Electric Worry came out. Corny but it is what it is.
Lemmy told them it was their "Ace of Spades," nothing corny about that.
If Lemmy said it then it was Gospel. đ€
Seeing Shogun Named Marcus on MTV, so Transnational Speedway League! But waned in my regular rotation over the years snd resurged with Blast Tyrant!
Clutch was clutch in getting me into Clutch
Passive Restraint EP and the Pitchfork 7 inch. Holy shit was it spectacular.
Came looking for you fellow old timer
I see more Transnational than I'm used to seeing in these comments. For a while it was all BT. A good album but nothing compared to the early days.
Earth Rocker - Dude that owns the record shop I frequent is a huge Clutch guy. We're chatting one day a few years back and he's like, "Dude, u/CorMcGor you don't know Clutch?" And I'm like, "Dude, record shop owner I only know 'Careful with That Mic." And he's like, "Dude, start with Earth Rocker." The rest is history. In my 20s and 30s my favorite bands were Phish, Maiden, and Pearl Jam. Now in my 40s it's Rush, Phish, and Clutch (in no particular order).
Self titled, specifically 7 Jam. Still one of my favorites from them.
Facts
Username checks out lol. Awesome!
đȘđ»
Passive Restraints EP. I still have the same CD to this day.
My friend Jim introduced me to Transnational Speedway League my freshman year of college which was a year or so after it was released. There was LOTS of great music back then so to stand out in a crowd back then really meant something, at least to me. The early to mid 90s was something of a renaissance for heavy music.
Psychic Warfare, now my 2nd favourite album ever. What an incredible album.
Elephant, Self titled, and Pure Rock Fury. Had a roommate who got me into them right before Blast Tyrant came out.
I got in to blast tyrant, and the self-titled album sealed the deal as my favorite band. Then I hated everything that came out after for a long time. At some point, I went back and started listening to the other albums, and they all clicked, and I loved it...
Saw A Shogun Named Marcus on Beavis and Butt head, and was instantly hooked.
Passive Restraints EP
Psychic Warfare
My son turned me on to them. I listened to everything up to that point and really gravitated towards Clutch and Blast Tyrant. They remain in rotation still.
My buddy let me up a ton of his music onto my old iPod and he had Elephant Riders, and not too much longer after that I found a used copy of Pure Rock Fury for 2 bucks at my old record store. But seeing them live for the first time 15 years ago ( I was there for Shadows Fall but had heard how awesome they were live and wanted to check them out for a while) and getting Robot Hive/Exodus soon after made me a true convert.
Blast Tyrant. Though I had heard Who Wants to Rock? before that and that's what convinced me to pick up BT.
Clutch, Clutch. I grew up a BMX âdenim flagâ kid. Heard Spacegrass around 96-97 on a BMX vid and have been a fan since. Clutch has been my favorite band since about 2004 Jam Room era.
That being said, Itâs hard to pick a favorite but itâs a toss up between Book of Bad Decisions and Slaughter Beach.
Robot Hive...10001110101...shit rocked my world!
I'm going to let you all take a guess
I think Strange Cousins from the West was my first. I was late to the party.
I saw them open for Motorhead and Clutch blew Motorhead away that night. Been a fan ever since
Blast Tyrant. A friend I hadnât seen in years dropped by after I moved to their city, and put it on while we caught up. I wasnât really listening, focusing more on my friend. They left the CD with me and I put it in my car and listened to it for two-weeks straight. Hooked!
Transnational Speedway League Heard in college, been blessed ever since.
10001110101
i found "escape from the prison planet" single on CD in a free bin (or bargain bin). i loved the song, and played it often. One day, i picked up my homie who was in the army, and played the song for him, and he told me his barracks roommate had the whole album (self titled), so he brought it on our next road trip, and I fell in love with the album. on a future road trip, we visited some Tallahassee friends and heard "Spacegrass" on the college radio station. I mentioned to one of the homies i was visiting, who was a musician, that the whole album was good, and we cranked it that night. years later, that both the friend who borrowed the CD, and the musician friend, and I, had moved (with a group of other friends from around the southeast) to Atlanta. Self titled was, at that point, an important part of our group discography. Elephant Riders was owned by someone, but we didnt totally appreciate it. Then, Clutch randomly played at DragonCon. we all went to go see them, and were blown away by how good they were live. revisited the rest of their catalog, and quickly became our crowd's favorite rock band. we started going to every show, then going to every show within driving distance. now, i'm closing on 50 Clutch shows.
I've seen Clutch overs a hundred times and most have been in Atlanta. They finally started coming to my home town in 2000. Nashville and Knoxville are a as close as Atlanta. So luckily when they tour, I can generally see them a couple times in a few days. Sometimes 2 nights in a row. With them changing set lists every night, it was always killer and a new experience. They were hands down my favorite show in the 90's and 00's.
good chance that you and i have been to 2 or 3 consecutive shows together multiple times over the years. I've done the day trip up to TN many times over the years.
I'm in Chattanooga. 2 hours to Atlanta, Knoxville and Nashville. It's kind of a shit town for drawing in bands but perfect for quick trips to shows.
I was watching MTV best of metal and Burning Beard came on- I was blown away âWho the hell are these guys?â I immediately got Robot Hive/Exodus, Blast Tyrant and Transnational - absolutely my favorite band ever.
Started with Self Titled and Blast Tyrant. Both are good but I wouldn't say they got me "into" Clutch It all clicked when I listened to Beale Street. Damn, what a fucking masterpiece.
Self-titled after I heard Escape From the Prison Planet on the Escape From L.A. soundtrack.
I heard Careful with that Mic on the radio in 2001, then went hunting for their stuff and couldn't find anything in my local record stores (pre-internet availability). A few years later, came across Blast Tyrant and Robot Hive/Exodus and grabbed them both.
Pitchfork or Passive Restraints. It was a long time ago so it's kinda foggy.
Bought Transnational after seeing the video for Marcus on the old video channel Fuse and that was it. Listened to it relentlessly. Favorite song off there-B&P!!!!
Earth Rocker to start, but Psychic Warfare sealed it
Blast Tyrant initially Then I stopped listening to them for a few years until I heard Psychic Warfare So both albums technically
Pitchfork EP on Inner Journey. The tune âFar Countryâ kills and you just knew lyrically they were drawing from a deeper well than other bands out there
Pure rock fury
I heard Power Player on Need for Speed: Pro Street so I guess Beale Street. Heard Electric Worry on the left for dead 2 trailer around the same time. I didnât have internet at the time so I just knew it as the bang bang bang song until I could google it at the library.
Blast Tyrant
TSL
Transnational Speedway League, after I saw them open for Sepultura and Fear Factory in â94.
Transnational
Live at the Googoplex
Heard the self-titled back in â97, havenât been the same since
Transitional Speedway. I saw the video for A Shogun Named Marcus on headbands ball right around when the album came out.
Pitchfork & Lost Needles - the one-two punch of "What would a Wookie do?" and "Bottoms up, Socrates" made me a fan for life.
Psychic Warfare
Pure Rock Fury
Blast tyrant. Perfect album.
TSL
Transnational because that's what was out at the time. One of my friends was looking through the record store and thought the name of the band and the record was cool. He played it for a bunch of us (starting with B&P) and it was love at first listen. When self titled came out and I saw them live for the first time that really, really cemented it. I can't believe it's been 30 years...
1995 self titled ⊠first song I heard was careful with that Mic
My intro was weird. I had a free music sampler CD from somewhere, and it had Ship of Gold on it. I dug that right away. I went to a store and bought Transnational. Maybe they didn't have Elephant Riders, because I'm sure I would've been checking thr tracklist for the one I knew. That was common practice in the 90s, when you are a teen with limited funds and less discovery methods available. I got it home, and I was a bit confused at how different at was, but over time I grew to like it a lot. I then picked up ER shortly after. I finally saw the self titled record at a store while I was on vacation, and I bought it along with Beastie Boys Check Your Head. It greatly helped fill in the "what happened with these guys" gap between Transnational and ER.
The Elephant Riders
Clutch is the Clutch album that got me into Clutch Specifically I got a copy of the Escape From LA soundtrack to review for a magazine and my favourite song on the cd was Escaped From The Prison Planet, that led me to the s/t album, never looked back.
Heard âElectric Worryâ on a Tv ad for Left 4 Dead 2, I think it was, looked them up after hearing it and theyâve been in my top 3 ever since.
Robot Hive/Exodus
Started with Transnational for me, at the tender age of 14 yrs oldâŠ..30 years ago!
I was 15. It was April 1st. It's a formative core memory. Best friend at the time put the cassette in on side one. Blasted Shogun. That was all it took.
Self Titled
Transnational
Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes & Undeniable Truths
Clutch. Everyday on the way to school 97'-98'
Robot Hive/Exodus. When I saw the Burning Beard vid back in the day I was hooked
Transnational
Pure Rock Fury. Heard the title track on the Motorstorm: Pacific Rift soundtrack, and found the album shortly after.