Joe Strummer 21/8/52-22/12/02. In memoriam.
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When I was going through my teenage years and listening to a lot of punk and new wave, one group consistently stood head and shoulders above not only the other bands in their genre, but above any group of the era. As someone who was becoming increasingly politicised, but who recognised the futile nihilism of those who advocated anarchy, the lyrics of The Clash struck a chord with a young mind eager for some depth and meaning to my music.They sang about real things; whether the problems facing Thatcher's dispossesed, the angst of adolescence or the horrors of war and fascism.While many of his contemporaries viewed enthusiastic use of offensive language to woo their fans, Joe never once preached to you, or lectured, but sang his thoughts and feelings in such a way that you listened intently and thought about what he had said.He certainly influenced me a great deal in those years. I am lucky enough to have listened to tales of the Spanish Civil War from veterans of the International Brigade; civilians from mainly the UK and Ireland who fought fascism in Spain.I grew out of other artists, or disliked their new directions, or sometimes just realised just how sh*t they were! But Joe was like a lifelong friend; every project he undertook I would be guaranteed to like at least a few of his songs.From The Clash he went solo then went into other groups, briefly being the singer for the Pogues after Shane McGowan was kicked out, as well as his other projects such as the 101'ers and The Mescaleros.I would (vehemently) argue that Joe was the finest lyricist of his generation. His great hero was Woody Guthrie, and there are a lot of comparisons between the 2 of them.I saw Joe live a couple of months before his sudden and unexpected death (he had an undiagnosed heart defect) He was as vibrant live then as he had been 20 years previously; all of the commitment and spirit were still there.Rather than mourn his passing, this journal celebrates the life and work of an old, trusted and sorely missed friend. I have posted a variety of his work here tonight and also paste a couple of bits from his bio below; Joe Strummer was born as John Graham Mellor in Ankara, Turkey on 21 August 1952. His mother Anna Mackenzie, a crofter's daughter and one of nine children born and raised in the Scottish Highlands, was a nurse. His father Ronald Mellor, was a British foreign-service diplomat who had been born in Lucknow, India. Ronald Mellor had an Armenian maternal grandfather and a German Jewish paternal grandmother. [1]The family spent much time moving from place to place, and Mellor spent his childhood in places such as Cairo, Mexico City, and Bonn. At the age of 9, Mellor and his older brother David, 10, began boarding at the City of London Freemen's School in Surrey. Mellor rarely saw his parents during this time. He developed a love of rock music listening to records by Little Richard and The Beach Boys as well as American folk-singer Woody Guthrie (Mellor would even go by the name "Woody" for a few years). Throughout his career, Strummer was noted for his devotion to fans. It has been said that Strummer never left a venue until everyone who had waited around got an autograph and talked with him personally, a process which often lasted for hours. In fact, even after being hit in the leg with a cherry bomb in Asbury Park, when he was being driven to the hospital, he made the driver stop the car so he could talk to some fans first.[citation needed]Strummer was instrumental in setting up Future Forests (recently rechristened The Carbon Neutral Company), an organization dedicated to planting trees in various parts of the world in order to combat global warming. Strummer was the first artist to make the recording, pressing and distribution of his records carbon neutral through the planting of trees. Many other artists such as Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Pink Floyd have followed suit and fans can visit the Carbon Neutral Company website to buy trees to be planted in their favourite artist's forest (Strummer's being christened "Rebel's Wood", a specially selected section in Orbost, on the Isle of Skye). In his remembrance, Strummer's friends and family have established the Strummerville Foundation for the promotion of new music.At the Grammy Awards in February 2003, "London Calling" was performed by Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, Dave Grohl, Pete Thomas, and Tony Kanal in tribute to Strummer. In March 2003, The Clash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[5]At the time of his death, Strummer was working on another album, which was released posthumously in October 2003 under the title Streetcore. The album features a tribute to American music icon Johnny Cash ("Long Shadow"), which was actually written for Cash to sing and recorded in Rick Rubin's garage, as well as a remembrance of the 11 September 2001 attacks ("Ramshackle Day Parade"), and a cover of Bob Marley's classic "Redemption Song", which Strummer had also recorded as a duet with Cash. (The Cash/Strummer duet version appears on the 2003 box set Unearthed).   and for a bit of extra fun, the scene from Alex Cox's 'Straight to Hell' where Joe has a gunfight with The Pogues!!!
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