the clash
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...
The 50 Best Albums of 1982
Looking back at 1982 in music, the headline is obvious: Thriller Sells A Bajillion Copies, Becomes World’s Biggest Album. But is it the year’s best album? Funny enough, Michael Jackson‘s sixth LP hardly even affected the charts that year — it snuck out in late November, just as Men at Work’s 1981 blockbuster, Business as Usual, began its commercial stranglehold in the U.S. Only one record on our list, Fleetwood Mac‘s chart-targeted Tusk follow-up, Mirage, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (Doesn’t it seem weird, looking back, that Prince‘s 1999 peaked at No. 9?) Lots of fascinating shit was happening in 1982, and you didn’t always find it on the radio. On our list, we included everything from early hip-hop (Grandmaster Flash) to horror-punk (Misfits) to lo-fi synth-pop (Solid Space). Revisit...
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 Reissue Section: The Clash’s Videographer Don Letts Looks Back at Combat Rock
The time has come to cut the crap and get your head right about Combat Rock. Why this album — the amalgamation of pretty much everything that made The Clash cool — does not get its proper due in the same way the first album and London Calling do is beyond comprehension. Originally mapped out as a double LP called Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg, the band’s label brought in producer Glyn Johns to whittle it down to a tight, taut 45-minute record that set the scene for their greatest commercial success. Combat was the biggest hit of their run, powered by two all-timers in “Rock The Casbah” and “Should I Stay Or Should I Go.” The 40th anniversary expanded edition adds a second disc and is likely the closest hardcore Clash fans will ever get to an official version of Rat Patrol. This People’s Hall ...
Every Album by The Clash, Ranked
The Clash were “The Only Band That Matters.” But more to the point, they were the only band who’s ever gotten away with calling themselves something so self-aggrandizing, because it felt close enough to the truth. They formed in early 1976 out of the ashes of Joe Strummer’s pub rock band, The 101ers, and Mick Jones’s London SS. That summer, The Clash played their first gig opening for the Sex Pistols, with bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Terry Chimes, and within months punk rock exploded into front page news in the UK. Topper Headon took over as the band’s new drummer in 1977, and over the next five years, they reigned as a relentlessly prolific creative unit. Punk rock’s three most important bands offered their many disciples three vastly different templates for a career. The Sex Pistols...
Ukrainian Punk Band Beton Turn the Clash Classic Into Protest Song ‘Kyiv Calling’
Ukrainian punk band Beton transformed the Clash‘s “London Calling” into a protest song called “Kyiv Calling.” The trio received permission by the surviving members of the Clash to re-record their 1979 hit and changed the lyrics to a call to action for other Ukrainians, and the rest of the world, to rise up and resist the Russian invasion. “The Iron Age is coming, the curtains coming down/ Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin,” Beton frontman Andriy Zholob sings in the chorus. “A nuclear error, we should have real fear/ ‘Cause Kyiv is rising/ We live for resistance.” The video, which you can watch below, shows footage of the war shot by Beton’s friends and family. [embedded content][embedded content] “Kyiv Calling” was recorded in a studio in Lviv, Ukraine on March 17th and 18th,...
Listen to Rostam Cover Lucinda Williams and The Clash
Last week, Rostam released his new album, Changephobia, and just like that, he’s gone ahead and dropped a deluxe version of the record. And it’s a doozy. The ex-Vampire Weekend member unveiled covers of Lucinda Williams’ World Without Tears song “Fruits of My Labor” and The Clash’s “Train in Vain” from London Calling. Check them out below. [embedded content] The songs feature sax player Henry Solomon, who serves as the perfect counterbalance to Rostam’s vocals. Prior to the album’s release, Rostam shared several singles, including “4Runner” and “From the Back of a Cab.” The video from the latter song featured appearances from HAIM, Charli XCX, Kaia Gerber, Seth Bogart, Remi Wolf, Bryce Willard Smithe, Samantha Urbani, Wallows, Ariel Rechtshaid and Nick Robinso...
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...
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