Talk:The Clash/Influences

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Influenced by ...

There's no call to mention flash-in-the-pan bands like Blink-182, Green Day and Offspring in the opening paragraph is there? That's a bit like mentioning Martin Amis (or <insert whoever>) in the opening paragraph of an article about Dickens or Shakespeare. Relegate this to the bottom of the page please. And as for REM, U2, and the Cure - in what conceivable way are they "influenced" by The Clash???? One might as well put that the Rolling Stones were "influenced" by Scott Joplin. I'm not giving my opinion of these groups, merely questioning what relevance such wildly unClash-like groups as U2, REM and Cure have to a Clash article. Again, relegate the namedropping to the bottom, if it must be mentioned at all.

Hey bud, not a bad comment, but I have to disagree withn you. Yes, REM and U2 sound nothing like that The Clash, I can assure they influenced by The Clash, The Clash influenced every body that came to music right after that and was considered "alternative"; and both REM and U2 cite the Clash as an influence. Hell, I saw Black 47 play on the street at an Irish festival in NYC, they covered I Fought The Law, Clash-style. I went to go talk to the lead-singer about it, they love and greatly admire the Clash as well, do they even remotely have a hint to that in their sound? As for the flash-in-the-pan bands, oh please, even given them a mention in the article would be sarcilege.

There actually are a number of sources that show The Clash's influence on U2's music. I'll quote two of them from atu2.com:

"The Clash were the absolute greatest band for us. They were the inspiration." from http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=3532&Key=&Year=&Cat=5 and "The Clash was the greatest rock band. They wrote the rule book for U2." from http://www.atu2.com/news/tdih/search.src?TYEAR=2002&Key=&TYPE=&Start=774 Pattrick 19:12, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Green Day is a perfectly acceptable mention at the top of the article anyway. Green Day is (as of the release of American Idiot) as critically-acclaimed, very famous, contemporary band with an attitute similar in many ways to the Clash. They were influenced heavily by the Clash, as much as by the Ramones, and are much more recognizable to young people than the Clash is. As for "flash-in-the-pan", check the number of years the original Clash stayed together and the duration of blink-182, Green Day, and The Offspring. In the case of the former two bands, also check the album sales. Stellis 17:43, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

critically-acclaimed, very famous, contemporary band with an attitute similar in many ways to the Clash.

yes, the clash were multi sqillionaires and total hypocrites as well were they Green Day only went all leftie and anti war when it suddenly became cool but the clash were always in that movement

allmusic.com lists Green Day as being influenced by The Clash. I wouldn't even remotely call Green Day a flash in pan band. Sure, they made have sold their mortal souls to make American Idiot, but they've been around for at least 10 years and probably more than that which is far more than a flash in the pan band (keep in mind The Clash only made music together for 10 years and pretty much died after Cut The Crap in 1984). Blink-182 is not listed as being influenced by The Clash and neither are The Offspring. REM is listed as being influenced by The Clash. I think this is becoming more of a "I Hate Green Day" than the actual fact Green Day were influenced by The Clash. Weezfloyd4

I personally am not a huge fan of Green Day, but I wouldn't deny The Clash's influence on them. I also do see the influence on REM and U2 (if you've ever looked at the chords of the bulk of U2's catalog, it's pretty simple stuff, if layered in such a way to sound elaborate, and this is not a diss, I'm a fan), especially their political outlooks and outspokeness. If anyone does make an Influenced By The Clash category The Pogues as well as Rancid should be mentioned. And about The Clash being "Multi Squillionares", they were highly in debt to the label and were only breaking even, I believe, at about the point of releasing "Combat Rock", their last album (definitely not counting "Cut the Crap"). In England they took a big loss by insisting for their fan's benefit that the multi record albums "London Calling" and "Sandanista!" be released at single record prices (though the american fans did pay the full price). (The info about them being in debt and the album prices are in the book "The Clash, The Return of the Last Gang in Town", by Marcus Gray, but seeing as this isn't the main article, and the main article already does reflect this, I'm going to be lazy, and not cite the exact pages). Phil 16:27, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Some quotes about Joe and The Clash, and how much their music, politic and style influenced a lot of artists (all quotes are available on the www; for example see: [1]):

"He was the White Man in Hammersmith Palais who influenced the Two Tone Movement." - Billy Bragg

"The Clash arguably gave punk a classic pop sensibility and their vital spirit in turn influenced later bands such as the Manic Street Preachers." - Billy Bragg

"the band that helped define the punk movement and influenced a myriad of artists musically and politically, including U2, Rage Against the Machine, Moby and Rancid" - Billy Bragg

"He was a pillar of the music industry and has influenced more than twenty-five years of music and musicians." - The Pogues

"He was a brilliant lyricist and the electric focal point of the greatest live band of all time,... He played as if the world could be changed by a three-minute song, and when I saw the Clash play, my world was changed forever. His idealism and conviction instilled in me the courage to pick up a guitar and the courage to try to make a difference. Joe Strummer was my greatest inspiration, my favorite singer of all time and my hero. I already miss him so much." - 'Tom Morello Audioslave's guitarist

"It's worth remembering that Joe and the Clash made music that was emotional and political and challenging and experimental and exciting and wonderful" - Moby

"For another generation, Bob Dylan awoke some sense that you can sing songs that weren't just about crying in your beer,.... For us, it was Sandinista! A song like Straight to Hell remains totally ingrained of how you can create a whole other world, but another world that wasn't necessarily escapist. For me, he brought ferocity and relevance to music." - Stephan Jenkins, Third Eye Blind

"The last time that I saw Joe was in Los Angeles,... We were dancing together in a nightclub, and I kept rambling on about how important his music was to me. He had such a big heart and was without question one of the most important musicians of the last 50 years." - Moby

"That heart of his always worked too hard. He's been making great music lately. I will really miss him." - Pete Townshend, The Who

"As we all got older I realized what a nice person he was. He was a very important musician. The Clash will be endlessly influential." - Bob Geldof, Boomtown Rats

"Back when we first started playing punk music, the Clash had one of the most powerful sounds out there, ... Joe was the hardest working man in the business. He would be comparable today to James Hetfield of Metallica or Billy Joe from Green Day. He sang, he played and he didn't stop. He's someone to be admired. We all took a little bit of Joe. God bless him." - Jerry Only, Misfits

"The Clash, more than any other group, kick-started a thousand garage bands across Ireland and the U.K. For U2 and other people of our generation, seeing them perform was a life-changing experience. There's really no other way to describe it.

I can vividly remember when I first saw the Clash. It was in Dublin in October 1977. They were touring behind their first album, and they played a 1,200-capacity venue at Trinity College. Dublin had never seen anything like it. It really had a massive impact around here, and I still meet people who are in the music business today - maybe they are DJs, maybe they are in bands - because they saw that show.

U2 were a young band at the time, and it was a complete throw-down to us. It was like: Why are you in music? What the hell is music all about, anyway? The members of the Clash were not world-class musicians by any means, but the racket they made was undeniable - the pure, visceral energy and the anger and the commitment.

They were raw in every sense, and they were not ashamed that they were about much more than playing with precision and making sure the guitars were in tune. This wasn't just entertainment. It was a life-and-death thing. They made it possible for us to take our band seriously. I don't think that we would have gone on to become the band we are if it wasn't for that concert and that band. There it was.

They showed us what you needed. And it was all about heart.

The social and political content of the songs was a huge inspiration, certainly for U2. It was the call to wake up, get wise, get angry, getm political and get noisy about it. It's interesting that the members were quite different characters. Paul Simonon had an art-school background, and Joe Strummer was the son of a diplomat.

But you really sensed they were comrades in arms. They were completely in accord, railing against injustice, railing against a system they were just sick of. And they thought it had to go.

I saw them a couple of times after the Dublin show, and they always had something fresh going on. It's a shame that they weren't around longer. The music they made is timeless.

It's got so much fighting spirit, so much heart, that it just doesn't age. You can still hear it in Green Day and No Doubt, Nirvana and the Pixies, certainly U2 and Audioslave. There wasn't a minute when you sensed that they were coasting. They meant it, and you can hear it in their work." - The Clash by The Edge (RS 946, April 15, 2004) - (IMO) U2 were not influenced by The Clash because they are the soons of The Clash. They have "The Clash" in their music, and in their blood too. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is my favourite U2's songs, but it sounds like a song of The Clash (my personal humble opinion - a mixture of "Guns Of Brixton" and "London Calling").

"...the incendiary lyrics of The Clash inspired 1,000 more bands on both sides of the Atlantic to spring up and challenge their elders, and the man we all looked to was Joe Stummer." - Billy Bragg

"My band, Gang of Four, was one of those 1,000 bands that took Joe’s blueprint and took to the streets with our own brand of post-punk invective from playing on the back of flatbed trucks in central London in support of Rock Against Racism to playing shows to raise money for the families of striking miners in northern England’s coal fields. And it is safe to say that had Joe Strummer and his band not opened the doors before us, we may not have had quite the success that we and many of the other bands were able to achieve.

His legacy lives on, but in a world of political apathy in which artists refuse to bite the hand that feeds, his message will be sorely missed." - Dave Allen, Gang of Four

"...I saw Joe and the Mescaleros last year and it was the best rock show I'd seen in a long while. He was entering that Neil Young/Johnny Cash/Tom Waits growing-old-gracefully period..." - Jeff Ament, Pearl Jam

"Pete, Lou, Craig.... The passion he exuded in his performances and his courage to defy stereotypes with his songs will inspire musicians forever. We played a few shows with his band last year, and were honored to hear that he had become an avid Sick of it All fan. To gain the respect of a man of his background was incredible.

I prefer to celebrate someone's life when they pass, rather than focus on our depressingly fragile mortality, so please take a moment to thank Joe Strummer for what he started and what he gave of himself to the world." - Armand, Sick of It All

"The Clash turned punk into a proper political movement..." - David Bowie

"The most profound voice of any musician I have ever heard, Joe took his message to the world and the world listened. He managed to influence more than one generation with his innovative and determined manner and I am not alone in repeatedly turning to his thoughts and lyrics when searching for inspiration.

The Clash was the greatest rock band.

They wrote the rule book for U2. Though I was always too much of a fan to get to know him well, we were due to meet in January to finish our Mandela song with Dave Stewart. It's such a shock." - Bono, U2

"The Clash were the greatest rebel rock band of all time. Their commitment to making political pop culture was the defining mark of the British punk movement. They were also a self-mythologizing, style-obsessed mass of contradictions. That's why they were called The Clash. They wanted desperately to be rock stars but they also wanted to make a difference. While Paul Simon flashed his glorious cheekbones and Mick Jones threw guitar hero shapes, no-one struggled more manfully with the gap between the myth and the reality of being a spokesman for your generation than Joe Strummer. All musicians start out with ideals but hanging on to them in the face of media scrutiny takes real integrity.
Tougher still is to live up to the ideals of your dedicated fans. Joe opened the back door of the theatre and let us in, he sneaked us back to the hotel for a beer, he too believed in the righteous power of rock'n'roll. And if he didn't change the world he changed our perception of it. He crossed the dynamicism of punk with Johnny Too Bad and started that punky-reggae party.

He drew us, thousands strong, onto the streets of London in support of Rock Against Racism. He sent us into the garage to crank up our electric guitars. He made me cut my hair. The ideals that still motivate me as an artist come not from punk, not even from the Clash, but from Joe Strummer. The first wave of punk bands had a rather ambivalent attitude to the politics of late 70s Britain. The Sex Pistols, The Damned, the Stranglers, none of them, not even the Jam, came close to the radicalism that informed everything the Clash did and said. The US punk scene was even less committed. The Ramones, Talking Heads, Heartbreakers and Blondie all were devoid of politics. Were it not for the Clash, punk would have been just a sneer, a safety pin and a pair of bondage trousers. Instead, the incendiary lyrics of the Clash inspired 1,000 more bands on both sides of the Atlantic to spring up and challenge their elders and the man that we all looked to was Joe Strummer.

He was the White Man in Hammersmith Palais who influenced the Two Tone Movement. He kept it real and inspired the Manic Street Preachers. And he never lost our respect. His recent albums with the Mescaleros found him on inspiring form once again, mixing and matching styles and rhythms in celebration of multi-culturalism. At his final gig, in November in London, Mick Jones got up with him and together they played a few old Clash tunes. It was a benefit concert for the firefighters union. One of the hardest things to do in rock'n'roll is walk it like you talk it.
Joe Strummer epitomized that ideal and I will miss him greatly." - Billy Bragg

"Joe to me was a great political inspiration. The first political thing I ever did was to go a Rock Against Racism concert in Victoria Park, Hackney, in 1977.

I really went to see the Clash and it politicised me. I have a great admiration for the man. His most recent records are as political and edgy as anything he did with the Clash. His take on multi-cultural Britain in the 21st century is far ahead of anybody else.

This is a terrible tragedy, particularly for his family. If you look at the first rank of British punk bands, they weren't really that political. Their relationship to politics was rather ambivalent - The Sex Pistols, the Damned and The Stranglers - and the American punk bands had politics at all - The Ramones, Blondie and Television. It was The Clash that struck the strong political stance that really inspired a lot of people, and within The Clash he was the political engine of the band.

Without Joe there's no political Clash and without the Clash the whole political edge of punk would have been severely dulled. The thing about Strummer was he walked it like he talked it. He didn't cop out. He didn't show one face to the public and have a different face in himself. It's very difficult to play big stadiums in America and stay true to what you believe in. It's very difficult but I think the Clash stayed true to that." - Billy Bragg

"He was the inspiration not just for the musical style I adopted but his attitude informed my own with regard to many aspects of the music business. Not least the respect you owe the people who buy your records and tickets etc. Although I found a lot of Joe's politics somewhat naive, there was no doubting the passion, sincerity and commitment he felt towards them. To ally that intensity of feeling with some of the most incendiary rock music ever written made The Clash the vitally important band they were (and still remain.)..." - Jake Burns, Stiff Little Fingers

"...I am usually a bit apprehensive to meet people I have idolized, and since the whole goal of The Cadillac Tramps was to be the "American Clash", Joe was pretty high up on the idol list. But he, like the greatest of all great people, was nothing but kind, humble, and so worthy of my respect. It was truly a highlight of my music career to shake his hand and talk with him. Thanks Joe. For the inspiration and for never letting me down. You'll be missed." - Brian Coakley, The Cadillac Tramps

"I'm very, very sad at the news of Joe's death. I cannot pretend that we were that close but I am a great admirer of his songs and lyrics...." - Elvis Costello

"Alot of the records I loved when I was younger no longer hold up as great records. They take you back, but they've lost the thrill. Not The Clash. Not Joe Strummer. I really believe they were the greatest band of them all...." - Jakob Dylan, The Wallflowers

"I remember seeing The Clash at Sheffield Top Rank in 1977 & thinking … Wow!!! …compared to what was usually on at the Top Rank they couldn’t really play (in the sense of what was the norm back then) but the excitement that came off the stage was phenomenal !!! …I went in a totally different direction music wise, but nevertheless, The Clash left a lasting impression on me to the point that every time I'm on tour I end up buying "The Clash" & "London Calling" over & over again because I left them at home !!!! ..." - Joe Elliot, Def Leppard

"When we were driving to the Fuji festival in Japan a few months ago we got into this conversation about Joe Strummer. It went like most conversations we have ever had about Joe something like this:

Joe is the coolest guy with the most integrity
...

My favorite record is Sandinista!, really you think London Calling?

and so on.

...

The Clash are my favorite band. They never stopped growing and changing. Their music means so much to me. It makes me feel so good when I hear it. The sound of it. I know it is supposed to be political but that's not what it seems like to me. To me it is purely humanitarian, it is all love. To me Politics means playing games to get what you want. Joe sang about people he didn't think were getting a fair shake, it is obvious that he cared deeply about them.

I love him. If anyone was ever my role model it is him...." - Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers
"You changed our lives..." - Mick Hucknall, Simply Red

"The Clash were innovative, radical and helped drive a change in music that was ground-breaking. In comparison to some of the music today they sounded like they meant it. I still listen to their music today to remind myself what music made with commitment sounds like..." - Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders

"Their voices reminded me of the time when I first saw Strummer play live. He held up a small transistor radio to the microphone, British politicians discussing the latest IRA outrage, followed by a news report detailing the carnage. '1, 2, 3, 4', and the band crashed in, three guitars like sonic razors cleaving the smoke. The Clash were playing their first gig in London, it was 1976, next up, The Sex Pistols in all their ragged glory.

I was nineteen and transfixed. This was IT! I had taken my little bother Kevin down to the 100 Club, driving the seventy miles south from Northampton down the M1. He too was gob smacked. We decided to form our own punk band there and then. To this day, that gig remains the single most exciting live event that I have ever witnessed and the band's future trajectory, soaring on the wings of passionate idealism, forged the standard for all time.

...

The first time we met was in 1989. He turned up, out of the blue, at the KCRW radio studio in Santa Monica, where I was recording a live session with Max Eider and Owen Jones (poached from The Jazz Butcher) Jones is a massive Clash fan and it was highly amusing to see his reaction as he turned around to face the sound proofed window only to be confronted by a maniacally gurning Strummer...." - David J, Bauhaus and Love and Rockets

"For another generation, Bob Dylan awoke some sense that you can sing songs that weren't just about crying in your beer. For us, it was Sandinista! A song like “Straight to Hell” remains totally ingrained of how you can create a whole other world, but another world that wasn't necessarily escapist. For me, he brought ferocity and relevance to music." - Stephan Jenkins, Third Eye Blind

"...I related to the Sex Pistols music very much, but didn't really take to the Clash in that instant - it was much later, in retrospect, that I began to enjoy their stuff. ... And by that time I knew enough about the Clash to talk sensibly about his group too!..." - Brian May, Queen

"...Joe was truly a visonary with passionate, political lyrics and incredible songs. His influence has helped many make sense of life." - Mike McReady, Pearl Jam

"Like thousands of teenagers growing up in the 70s, punk and The Clash changed my life in a fundamental way. Their mixture of politics and music shaped my beliefs and tastes and made me the person I am today...." - Moby

"... The last time that i saw joe was in los angeles. we were dancing together in a nightclub and i kept rambling on about how important his music was to me. he had such a big heart and was withoutquestion one of the most important musicians of the last 50 years.

can you even imagine a world in which the clash hadn't existed? the clash were one of those bands who were so amazing and so wonderful that people are often tempted to take them for granted. but it's worth remembering that joe and the clash made music that was emotional and political and challenging and experimental and exciting and wonderful...." - Moby (Journal 12-23-02)

"The first time I heard of the Clash was in high school. I was working on the school newspaper, and one day a fellow named Dave Vogel came in with a copy of London Calling that he was showing off to anybody who was willing to listen. I thought the cover of the album was really cool, and asked him "is it heavy metal?" He said "no, but it's really great." I doubted him, but asked if I could borrow it, and I made myself a cassette copy. This low-grade Dolby-suffering cassette tape burned its way into my head, heart and soul, and the Clash soon became my favorite band.

At the time, I was playing in a punk rock band. Most of our songs were amusing, funny ditties with names like "She Eats Razors" and "Beat Me, Whip Me, Make Me Feel Cheap." A week after my first listen to London Calling, I penned the first political song of my life, a song called "Salvador Death Squad Blues," a rocking commentary on the Reagan administration's egregious practices in Central America. Shortly thereafter, there was a rebellion at the school paper. The conservative teacher didn't want us writing articles about apartheid, or U.S. support of death squads, or the fact that the dean was a dick. There was a mass exodus from the paper and a very popular underground paper was born called "The Student Pulse." The Clash pushed me into making political music and taking a political stand as a teenager.

Later that year, I got the chance to see the Clash at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, and was totally blown away. Not only were they the greatest live band of all time, but they also cured my musical inferiority complex. Before this show, I had thought that you had to have a $10,000 Les Paul and a huge wall of Marshall amplifiers in order to make "real" rock and roll music. But Joe Strummer had the same cheap little Music Man amp that I did. It was just sitting on a chair, much like my amp sat on a chair at my high school band's rehearsals. And yet they were making the most passionate and compelling music I had ever heard. A lot of kids left the hall that night knowing that they could do it too. The Axis of Justice motto, "the future is unwritten" is taken from a t-shirt I purchased that night.

On the early Rage Against the Machine tours, Clash tapes and bootlegs were always the most important part of my on-the-road music collection. They were a tremendous inspiration and consolation on those long, freezing European bus rides. And in listening to those crappy quality bootleg tapes, you could still always hear in Joe Strummer's voice that he did truly believe that the world could be changed with a three minute song, and that each night, he was up there not playing for ego, self-gratification, money or rock star glory. He was playing with the determination to save the soul of everybody in the room, his included.

The Sex Pistols were the flashpoint that made the world notice punk rock. The Clash, sewed politics into punk and rock and roll irreversibly. And Joe Strummer was the heart, the soul, and the conscience of the Clash.

No one had more of a true punk rock look than Joe Strummer. I always thought he had the greatest no-sell-out teeth in the business. The Clash were great because they realized that it did not in any way impinge their integrity to be a "performing" rock and roll band, and they looked, sounded and dressed the part of the rebel rockers they were.

One thing I always admired about the Clash was their great attention to what it meant to be a band, outside of the music. They would have countless meetings where they would discuss their lives, their opinions, their political views, what they meant to each other, and what it was important for them to say in their songs and how to maintain the highest level of integrity and commitment to continuing to be 'the only band that matters.

Joe was also insistent on choosing singles not based necessarily on their potential hit value, but rather based on their relevance. The Clash wrote and released "The Call Up" as a single in response to the reinstitution of draft registration in the United States. It was a huge issue at the time and with the shadows of Vietnam creeping across Central America, a song like "The Call Up," with its poetic and brutally true lyrics helped a lot of young people make up their minds about what they would do if a draft actually came.

I've always been really pissed at the way that the British press turned its back on the Clash. There seemed to be a real petty jealousy that British publications had towards the Clash after their debut album. Once the rest of the world caught on to their hometown little secret, they stomped their feet like spoiled brats and turned their backs on such amazing albums as London Calling and Sandinista! ( The London Calling album, by the way, was voted the album of the decade by Rolling Stone magazine).

The Clash always resisted the temptation to reunite for the big money. And their reasons spoke to the greatness of the band and the people in it. It wasn't out of some elitist pomposity that they dare not reconvene for fear of besmirching their "legend," but rather because their friend and drummer Topper Headon, a heroin addict, wasn't healthy enough to do it. And as Joe says near the end of the great Clash documentary "Westway to the World," a band's chemistry is everything. Joe gives a tearful speech lamenting the dismissing of first Topper Headon and then Mick Jones. It's a speech worth listening to, because it truly is a band chemistry that matters. There is a potency to that classic Clash line-up that, had they stayed the course, it is likely that to this day, U2 might still be opening for them.

Throughout my time in Rage Against the Machine, journalists would always ask the question, "what the hell is a band with the politics of Rage doing on Epic Records?" I would often answer with long and flowery sermons about spreading an important message around the globe. But I really could have answered with two words: The Clash. I was energized and politicized and changed by the Clash. And the reason I heard about them was because Dave Vogel bought London Calling at Musicland Records at the local Hawthorne Mall in tiny Libertyville, Illinios. And the reason Dave could get his hands on this album at a nearby mall was because the band was on Epic Records. If in the history of Rage Against the Machine we were able to energize or politicize one person in the same way that the Clash effected me, the decision to sign with Epic Records was not just well worth it, but was crucial.

A couple years ago, I had the opportunity to play on a Joe Strummer record. He was doing a song for the South Park soundtrack, and Rick Rubin asked me to come down and play guitar, because the guy that they had doing it (who incidentally plays in a very popular rock-rap band) just couldn't cut it. I had never been more nervous in my life as I drove up in my 1971 muscle car to the studio and was introduced to the great Joe Strummer. Joe did not disappoint. While the song was not the best, he certainly was. It seemed like very little recording got done, but a lot of storytelling over quickly ingested bottles of red wine did. Joe told us the story of how he used to always travel with an enormous flight case filled with all his music. Everywhere he went, he carried every cassette and album he owned, so they would always be at the ready for him to listen to. After a couple of decades of doing this, he had grown very weary of having to show countless customs agents his entire reggae collection. So he had boiled it all down to one scratchy 30-minute cassette of an obscure Mexican band that he played for us. He absolutely loved it, and it was the only tape he brought with him from then on. I sat there listening and beaming like an idiot.

Joe was fascinated with my muscle car. It's a 1971 hemi-orange Dodge Demon. It was a bizarre site for me to see my greatest rock and roll hero crawling around the front seat of my car marveling over the original Demon-designed floormats with his unique and unchanged accent.

At the studio, he would disappear for hours at a time into his ancient Cadillac, where he would work on lyrics for the song, and listen to the latest mixes that were coming out of the control room. Rick Rubin and I would sit in the control room waiting as a gofer would shuttle notes back and forth from Joe that would read like "I think there could be more treble" or "I've almost got the second verse." Or sometimes they'd be obscure quotations or ramblings that kept us in stitches as we waited for Joe to come back in the room. I took one of these opportunities when Joe was in his Caddy to pick up and strum for myself his famous Telecaster with the "Ignore All Aliens" sticker on it. Joe was of course the reason why I play a Telecaster, and holding this amazing, historic guitar that had written and performed my favorite songs through the years was a sublime moment. And don't think I didn't bring my camera to preserve that moment. Taped to the guitar was an ancient Clash setlist, and I marveled over it and wrote the setlist down to keep for posterity, although Joe couldn't remember what show it was from.

The last time I saw Joe Strummer was when he and his band The Mescaleros played at the Troubadour a year and a half ago. I was truly impressed. Joe played with all the passion and intensity that he had in the Clash's heyday. And his new music and lyrics were forward-looking and challenging. He was clearly a vital artist to the end. And when he threw in the Clash gems Bank Robber and London's Burning, the place went absolutely nuts. I yelled so loud I lost my voice for about a week.

In the song "White Riot," Joe sang:

Are you taking over
or are you taking orders?
Are you going backwards
Or are you going forwards?

Write those four lines down, put them on your refrigerator, and answer those four questions for yourself every day. I do.

Joe Strummer was my greatest inspiration, my favorite singer of all time, and my hero. His passing came as such a shock and surprise, and I am deeply saddened by it. I already miss him so much, and I am grateful to have the tremendous legacy of music he left behind. The Clash was one of those bands that even their most remote b-sides are far superior to anything on the radio today. If you haven't checked out this great band, run don't walk to all the Clash albums. I am certain that Joe Strummer and the Clash will continue to inspire and agitate well into the future...." - Tom Morello, Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine

"...Joe was as huge an inspiration to me now as he was in 1977. He combined cool with an uncompromising stance, infused reggae into punk and taught a whole generation of us more about politics than any number of teachers or politicians. I desperately wish news of his death was untrue...." - Iggy Pop

"As soon as I heard 'White Riot' I knew they were a great band. It was the best band I've seen since 1979 and to this day. Of all the punk bands, I felt closest to him than anyone else from that era." - Johnny Ramone

"They were unique because, here they are, breaking up at the peak of their popularity and having plenty of offers to come back, and not doing it. While other bands always come back for the money, they had a belief in what they were doing, and even though they could've used it, they never really cared about the money." - Johnny Ramone

"The Clash were a major influence on my own music, they were the best rock n roll band. Thanks Joe!!" - Bruce Springsteen

"...The Clash had a massive influence on me in my teenage years and even now, 25 years later, hardly a week goes by without one of their albums featuring on my CD player...." - Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys

"...He was a pillar of the music industry and has influenced more than twenty-five years of music and musicians. His influence on the world will be missed..." - The Pogues

"Thank you for the inspiration I recieved through Joe Strummer and his music..." - Mike Scott, The Waterboys

"The Clash were one of those rare bands like Led Zeppelin who were ready to embrace and absorb all forms of music. That’s the attitude that has kept Strummer vibrant, relevent and happening while other artists that came out of the punk thing have turned into fat old dinosaurs just like the ones they professed to despise in the first place.

...

I first saw the Clash in September 1976, a few weeks before I signed to Stiff and made my first record. They left a deep impression. Here’s an extract from my book. It’s not a plug for the book, it’s meant as an illustration of the kind of impact the Clash, and particularly Strummer, had at the time. I’ve left some stuff around either side of the Clash event to give a bit of social context or whatever:

LONDON 1976

...But we did see the Clash at the Roundhouse, supporting the Kursaal Flyers. Why we went to see the Kursaal Flyers I don’t know - probably because they came from Southend which gave them a tenuous Dr Feelgood connection. The Clash were a life-changing experience. Most of the bands I saw around that time were totally harmless, but not the Clash. It was one of their first gigs - September 5th 1976. Keith Levine was still in the band, so there were three guitar players. They were the most confrontational thing I’d ever seen. They looked like stick insects in their tight, straight-legged jeans and short, home-made haircuts. Strummer wore a black shirt with the legend Chuck Berry Is Dead bleached into the back of it. From the moment they came on there were adverse comments and snide remarks about the regular Sunday At The Roundhouse audience sitting on the floor in their smart seventies apparel, smug in their cosmopolitan self-complacency:

‘I like your jeans - didja get them at the Jean Machine?’

After a few numbers Joe Strummer said, ‘I suppose you think you can pay your one pound fifty and just come in here and sit down like it was a fucking TV set…I mean, you could get off your denims in case you wear ‘em out’

Then they played a song that I later found out was called Janie Jones. Their sound was an aggressive cacophany of slightly out of tune guitars and ragged vocal chants. I wasn’t sure that I liked it but I found it very attractive. They weren’t going down at all well, and after a few more numbers Strummer addressed the audience again:

‘…well now it’s time for audience participation, right? I want you all to tell me what exactly you’re doing here.’

Somebody shouted, ‘…to drink beer.’

There was a silence. You could hear the amplifiers buzzing…

‘Well listen,’ replied Strummer, ‘I don’t know what size you are around the waist but I guess it’s in advance of thirty-six, so if you want to carry your corpulent body out to the bar and stuff it with a few barrels of whatever you fancy then go ahead.’

I was impressed, even though it was only about five o’clock and the bar didn’t actually open until seven, and despite the fact that I could’ve done with drinking some beer myself. I had a moment of difficulty reconciling my need for beer with the messages that the Clash were sending out, but when seven o’clock rolled round I saw Joe Strummer propping up the bar with a dangerous looking individual who I later realised was Sid Vicious. I would have liked to have talked to Strummer but I was too shy. I almost felt that I should make some pledge of allegiance - there was something going on. I wasn’t sure what it was, but this air of dissatisfaction was something I could identify with.

‘Get on with it!’

‘Get on with what, you big twit – haven’t you got any brains at all? All right then, so you might’ve got five A levels - what do I care? That’s just a dirty trick.’.." - Eric Wreckless

"I can't say how life changing London Calling was for me. I'll never forget the day I bought it while on a trip to NYC in 1980. My parents took my brother and I to see a musical and I was lucky to find a copy that didn't have an (pre-Tipper) advisory sticker while browsing through a store that sold sheet music. It was a fairly long train/subway/car ride back to rural PA and I spent the entire time looking at Pennie Smith's black and white photos which adorned the inner sleeves. I got home and listened to the entire album start to finish. After finding "Train In Vain" (the one song I'd heard from it -"TIV" was a super-last minute addition to the record and the sleeves had already been printed, hence no mention of it anywhere in the package) I sat there thinking how good the rest of the album was. That record was the soundtrack of my life for the next couple years and is still my favorite album of all time.

I got to see the Clash in '83 and Strummer solo at the Palladium in NYC (where the cover photo of "LC" was taken) in '89. The latter still stands as one of the top five best live shows I've ever seen. I never met him but he was by all accounts a great guy. On par with Dylan as a lyricist in my humble opinion...." - Jon Wurster, Superchunk

Sorry for the tome, format errors, and (probably?) copies! I think that quotes from other musicians and rivals are better than a biography made by a critic (like the one who "created" the "postpunk" term!!! What is an era???) - (Pjoef 23:46, 2 November 2007 (UTC))

This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.