Joe Strummer - a very important man

Joe Strummer was not only a musical pioneer, a radical political commentator, and an award winning songwriter but he is my primary inspiration and one of the driving forces behind everything musical I have done from learning the guitar, the style of music I play through to the lyrics I write.

The thing about Strummer is he is important...very important - he is not simply a footnote to the music revolution of the last century but he was a key player in shaping a whole music genre and his name will forever be endelibly linked with both the punk movement and the iconic image of him front of stage, electric leg pumping to the beat, singing his heart out for a cause he truly believed in.

He stood for what he believed in throughout the course of his musical career and his lyrics both informed and shaped the minds of the disconsolate youth of the 70's. He sang about social injustice, the unemployment levels and strikes that blighted the early Thatcher years, and championed racial harmony and acceptance. His music crossed genre boundaries and included influences as diverse as rockabilly, ska, reggae, jazz and world music. In fact his lyrics still stand the test of time today as important social and political commentaries on the 70's and 80's and this is what elevates him above many of his peers both past and present. For example, take the modern bands of the britpop era with their songs about drugs working/ not working, everything being alright and cool and the convenient rhyming couplets of Noel Gallagher - in years to come they will not be remembered as anything other than catchy tunes which in itself deserves rich merit but Strummers contribution to musical history works on so many more levels.

He never let any musical project he was involved with become stale and mundane and shied away from a formulaic approach to his art. Take, The Clash - their star shined bright and burned with a fierce intensity for ten years. Strummer however intuitively knew when to call time on both various band members and the project as a whole. The Clash went out on a high.

In a world where you can still watch The Rolling Stones with their ever bloated, over produced stage shows tour the world, or listen to the latest Oasis album with it's ever diminishing musical returns, The Clash are stuck in the era they defined and The Clash's Joe Strummer will always be a rake thin thirty something with a glint in his eye.

Post Clash, he moved on to a new challenge musically and began examining world music with his new band The Mescaleros. He assembled a group of gifted multi-instrumentalists and brought a new sound and cultural reference point to his eager fan base.

He also never forgot his musical routes and knew instinctively how to play to his fans' hearts. He would pepper The Mescaleros live sets with old Clash songs which would bring the roof down. This may seem like an obvious decision to make but how many people, myself included, have watched Paul Weller live and wished that he would play 'Going Underground', 'Down in the Tube Station at Midnight', or any of the other big Jam songs from his back catalogue.

The Mescaleros officially split up mid 2002 but on November 15th of that year, they reunited to play a benefit gig for the striking fire fighters at the Acton Town Hall. It was at this gig that he was finally joined by Mick Jones on stage after a 20 year hiatus. Mick happened to be in the audience and was spontaneously called up on stage by Strummer. They played 3 Clash songs and finally mended the bridges that had been broken for two decades. This was the last life performance The Mescaleros ever gave.

In later years, he became a regular visitor to the Glastonbury festival and began setting up his own campsite there. He would invite friends, relatives and other festival goers to join him as he erected giant flag poles, built the largest fires and sat round evening and evening talking music, politics and life with anyone who wanted to join in.

After his death, the Strummerville foundation was established with the goal of providing "rehearsal space and studio time to individuals, groups and organisations to enable the production of music by creative young people who would otherwise be preventing from doing so simply because they lack the necessary funds." The foundation also runs a stage at Glastonbury which has helped launch several of the big name acts of the last few years including The Holloways, Dirty Pretty Things and Jamie T. The foundation also released a cover of The Clash song 'Janie Jones' performed by amongst others Babyshambles, Carl Barat and The Guillemots.

The essence of Strummerville is very much in keeping with the values that Joe Strummer held dear and the equality and encouragement given to all new acts, whatever genre their music would have made him proud.

His final gig was on November 22nd in Somerset near his home. He died on the 22nd of December sat in his favourite armchair having just walked his dogs. A peaceful and fitting end to a great man.

My favourite Joe Strummer story concerns The Clash, in their heyday at a large festival in the United States. They were all stood around in the backstage hospitality area drinking free beer and champagne and generally having a good old time. They realised that Joe was missing and turned around just in time to see him scaling the fence that separated the hospitality area from the rest of the festival crowd. This was not an uncommon site at large festivals years ago except that people were usually trying to get in to the hospitality area, not out. He was last seen running into the melee of people and was found hours later sat around a camp fire with a group of hippies talking animatedly about music and hanging on every word they had to say. I think this captures the essence of the man and is a shining example of why he will be fondly remembered.

He was and is very important.

I have written a song about Joe Strummer called Citizen Joe. The lyrics can be found here.