joe strummer
Watch Joe Strummer Frolic Around the World in ‘Fantastic’ Video
Late Clash vocalist/guitarist Joe Strummer can be seen rocking out and meeting fans all over the world in the video for the song “Fantastic,” which was released earlier this month on the Dark Horse Records archival project Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years. The Lance Bangs-directed video includes footage shot by Strummer, Dick Rude, Julien Temple, The Clash documentarian Don Letts and Josh Cheuse, as well as a brief appearance by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, who previously covered Strummer’s “Long Shadow” in tribute to what would have been the artist’s 70th birthday. “Fantastic” begins with a Strummer monologue about how “people can do anything” instead of “following our own little mouse trail. It’s time to take the humanity back into the center of the ring and follow that for a time.” T...
Joe Strummer’s 10 Best Non-Clash Songs
If punk rock’s heart belonged to any one person, it beat in the chest of Joe Strummer. At a time when the movement was largely defined as a glue-sniffing “blank generation” with no future, the Clash’s frontman shaped it into something more purposeful, empathetic, ambitious, and even idealistic. In their brief time together, The Clash made six albums, five of them groundbreaking classics, incorporating ska, reggae, and hip-hop into their omnivorous sound. After the Clash split, Mick Jones continued making hits with Big Audio Dynamite, and Paul Simonon rubbed elbows with stars, backing Bob Dylan and joining Damon Albarn’s supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen. But Joe Strummer seemed to restlessly bounce around from one project to another: continuing to seek out international sounds, ...
Eddie Vedder Salutes Joe Strummer’s 70th With ‘Long Shadow’ Cover
Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder has paid tribute to late Clash frontman Joe Strummer ahead of what would have been the latter’s 70th birthday with a cover of “Long Shadow,” from the posthumous Strummer and the Mescaleros album Streetcore. In the Lance Bangs-directed video, Vedder performs the song solo acoustic next to a campfire, and afterwards burns his handwritten lyric sheets in the flames. “I just think that what Joe did with the Mescaleros and those records, and those songs, and those words, it was a very communal sound,” Vedder says at the end of the clip. “I think when you have a communal sound, the listener feels like they can be part of that community.” Strummer played a major role in Vedder’s eventual membership in Pearl Jam, thanks to a chance meeting at a San Diego club in 1989. At t...
Joe Strummer’s Mescaleros Albums, Rarities Bundled for New Boxed Set
In honor of what would have been his 70th birthday next month, late Clash co-founder Joe Strummer will be celebrated with the boxed set Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years, which rounds up his three studio albums with that band plus a disc of 15 previously unreleased tracks. The project arrives Sept. 16 from Dark Horse Records, the label founded by George Harrison in 1974 which now oversees not only the late Beatle’s archival releases but Strummer’s as well. Joe Strummer 002 follows the 2018 release of the 32-song compilation Joe Strummer 001, which included 12 previously unreleased tracks. Strummer died of a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 50, leaving behind a vast archive of music and memorabilia dating back to his time in The Clash. “There’s so much great music that Joe left us in...
The 100 Greatest Rock Stars Since That Was A Thing
Three of the 100 are in this picture! The Rolling Stones, in 1964, from left to right: Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones. The problem with lists like this is they are invariably bullshit. So our prime objective was to make sure we didn’t do a bullshit list. I’m not saying we did a scientific one either. Because that isn’t possible — actually, it is, if you wanted some compilation of who sold the most records/concert tickets/has the most fans/got the most death threats, etc., and someone could come up with a bunch of very empirical metrics and create a “heat index” or something, and could deliver an actual scientific ranking! But we, um, didn’t do that. In fact we didn’t even, technically, do the “we...
The Reissue Section: Spring 2021
A pair of classic comedy albums from a revolutionary standup, a previously unreleased live recording from one of Germany’s most influential bands, a new collection honoring a post-disco R&B queen and the “Ultimate” edition of a John Lennon masterpiece are just a few of the archival gold hitting retail this Spring. But first, we dive headlong into a box set that classic rock fans have been anticipating since the news broke of its existence. The Who, The Who Sell Out: Super Deluxe Edition (UMe) When you listen to The Who with a 21st-century mind, especially the 1967 concept album The Who Sell Out, it’s easiest to think of them in the context of a group like Van Halen or Aerosmith when it comes to their lusty feelings about young women. By the mid-60s, teenage girls across Ameri...
Joe Strummer and George Harrison Meet in the Afterlife With Strummer’s Assembly
In The Future Is Unwritten, Julian Temple’s 2007 documentary on the late Joe Strummer, there are scenes in which the former Clash frontman’s friends gather around a campfire to reflect on the rock ‘n’ roll legend born John Mellor. When news arrived that George Harrison’s reactivated Dark Horse Records was releasing the new Joe Strummer compilation, Assembly, on March 26, a question arose: why? Did the Clash frontman and the late former Beatle also once gather around a campfire, acoustic guitars in hands, and jam on “Rock the Casbah” and “What Is Life”? <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”width”:”480″,”height”:R...
Joe Strummer’s Home Recording of ‘Junco Partner (Acoustic)’ Unearthed
A song deep in Joe Strummer’s vaults has been unearthed. “Junco Partner” was a constant throughout Stummer’s career, and now “Junco Partner (Acoustic)” arrives ahead of Assembly, a newly remastered LP of The Clash frontman’s solo tracks. This intimate, previously unreleased home recording of “Junco Partner” features Strummer on an acoustic guitar and is available on all streaming services. The 16-track Assembly arrives March 26 via Dark Horse Records. Strummer first discovered the song on an R&B compilation in the 1970s and it became a staple on the setlist of Strummer’s first band, the 101ers, according to press materials. It was recorded by The Clash for the 1980 Sandinista! album in 1980 and it became a mainstay of live shows until the end of Joe’s career with his ban...
Tom Morello, Josh Homme and More Cover Joe Strummer in Honor of His 68th Birthday
August 21 would have been Joe Strummer’s 68th birthday, and to celebrate, singer-songwriter Jesse Malin, Strummer’s estate manager David Zonsine, and radio DJ Jeff Raspe put together A Song for Joe: Celebrating the Life of Joe Strummer — a livestream filled with performances, birthday wishes, and never-before-seen footage of the Clash singer/guitarist in action. The two-hour event began with Strummer’s voice talking over a montage of photos. “Music is not the point. What matters is how much spirit you put into it, how much intelligence you put into it,” he said. “Does it have any meaning? Will it communicate to other people? When you really communicate with other people, that’s when they say you’re the greatest rock and roll band in the world. ‘Cause we’re doing, really, is tryin...
Joe Strummer Tribute to Include Josh Homme, Bruce Springsteen and More
Never-before-seen footage of The Clash’s Joe Strummer, along with performances and testimonials from Lucinda Williams, Steve Buscemi, Bob Weir, Bruce Springsteen, Josh Homme and more will highlight a benefit for Save Our Stages on Aug. 21 at 3 pm EST, on what would be the late singer/guitarist’s 68th birthday. A Song for Joe: Celebrating the Life of Joe Strummer, will be produced by Jesse Malin along with Jeff Raspe and Joe Strummer estate manager, David Zonshine. Malin will host the free, two-hour event, which will stream here. Stummer’s wife, Lucinda Tait, said in a statement: “To see so many musicians and artists come forward to honor Joe is really touching. Community was always important to him. Whether it was playing music with friends, organizing all night campfires, or hijacking fes...
