IN MEMORIAM
Joe Strummer: 1952-2002
BY MATT ASHARE
On Sunday, December 22, at the age of 50, punk legend Joe
Strummer died at his home in Somerset, England. He leaves behind a wife, two
daughters, one stepdaughter, and a body of some of the most important and
influential rock and roll ever recorded. It was as a member of the Clash that
Strummer first rose to prominence, fronting an explosive band that featured
Mick Jones on guitar, Paul Simonon on bass, and at various times Terry Chimes
and Topper Headon on drums. Though their recording career only lasted five
years -- from 1977 to 1982 -- the five albums and assorted singles the band
released during that vital period left an indelible mark on rock and roll as
both an art form and a social force. Indeed, it was the unique idealism that
Strummer brought to the corrupt world of pop music that tore the band apart, as
a stubborn Strummer refused to concede to the forces of commercialism that
overtake every popular band. Even at his lowest point -- when, after firing
Jones, he led a second-rate Clash on a US tour in support of the deeply flawed
1985 album Cut the Crap (Epic) -- Strummer refused to admit defeat.
Strummer didn't invent punk rock. In fact, he didn't even really found the
Clash -- he was actually recruited from his pub rock outfit the 101ers to front
a band Mick Jones was putting together. But more than anyone else from that
original class of '77, Strummer gave punk a purpose, turning the Clash into a
musical force who could rightfully claim they were "the only the band that
mattered" -- and mean it. It was the little things that Strummer did that
mattered so much: the true fervor and compassion with which he fought racism in
rock; his insistence on exposing Clash fans to new ideas and new sounds, from
socialist politics to Grandmaster Flash. In his hands, a Mick Jones song called
"I'm So Bored With You" became "I'm So Bored With the U.S.A.," and maybe that's
all you really need to know about how crucial Strummer's impact on the Clash
and punk rock really was. Out of the anarchy of the moment, he alone emerged as
a rebel with a cause, laying the foundation for bands like U2 and a frontman
like Bono. And while there were questions about the veracity of the tales he
told of his formative years, there was no doubting Strummer's integrity when it
came to his belief in the power of rock and roll to change lives, and the
relevance of punk as a means for anyone, Strummer included, to reinvent him- or
herself.
In many ways, Strummer was a product of his times, which saw a hopeless
recession in England and a world seemingly perched on the brink of annihilation
at the hands of two cold-warring nuclear superpowers. And, yet, to those who
knew him or even made the smallest connection with him, he could seem timeless.
He simply was who he was, and it was our good fortune that he happened to come
around at a time when some of us were willing to listen to his songs, to share
in his rebel rock. It's a pity he passed away just as his long-stalled solo
career had begun to gain momentum: over the past three years he'd released two
solid solo albums on the American punk label Epitaph, and his tour behind
1999's Rock Art and the X-Ray Style (Hellcat/Epitaph), which featured a
number of Clash tunes, was a triumph. On the other hand, he lived long enough
to hear the punk he'd preached reinvigorated and reaching a new mainstream
through Epitaph bands like Rancid. It was this, in part, that convinced him
that it was again worth making music. There's a certain beauty there that
Strummer himself certainly appreciated.
Issue Date: December 27, 2002 - January 2, 2003
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