Joe Strummer Appreciation Post

Libertine · April 23rd, 2008, 02:36 AM

This may be a complete waste of time, but I just listened to some of my Clash records for the first time in a while, and boy was Joe Strummer really something else. In my opinion the most talented individual to come out of "punk". He was able to merge so many various influences (punk, reggae, ska, rockabilly.) Constantly adapting and making music with a message, that could appeal to a wide range of people. Anyone else here happen to be huge Strummer fans? I was hoping I'd find someone else who shared my affection for the man, seeing as how he was such a proponent of the tele!

Gibson · April 23rd, 2008, 02:57 AM

Joe's the man. One of my main inspirations.

Big John · April 23rd, 2008, 03:45 AM

Count me in !!
I was in my teens during the mid 70's and a big fan of punk AND country too, not many people remember but it was on Joe's insistance that Joe Ely toured the UK with the Clash back then, that really opened a few eye's.

Punk was too easily written off then as 'young thugs making a noise' and it seems now there is enough distance between now and then folk can see just how articulate most of that stuff really was, that counts double for the Clash, Strummer was smart, smart, smart and the later stuff even more so.

'Punk' was groundbreaking for many reasons not least of which was Strummer's almost Woody Guthrie type stance on many subjects which he stuck by all his life, i didn't agree with a lot of it but i admire the way he stuck with it and didn't sell out for the 'fast buck'.

Here's to you Joe !!

markothefish · April 23rd, 2008, 04:15 AM

One of my alltime favorite musicians . Not content to stick with one genre , he embraced many styles . From his early 101 ers days to the end he made simple great music . The album Sandinista stands as one the great political albums during the decadence of the 80's . I learned many musical and life lessons as a young man from him .

"I get good advice from the advertising world
Treat me nice says the party girl
Koke adds life where there isnt any
So freeze, man, freeze"

davidwright · April 23rd, 2008, 05:06 AM

A musical, philosophical, spiritual, political and sociological inspiration.

IMHO - his legacy will be as a motivator - he always meade the point that if you want to get something done - then get on and do it! A simple ideology - but may of us are guilty of sitting around talking about we are going to do instead of actually getting on with it. Its the old Punk DIY attitude.

I also think he would have made the transition to become the UK's answer Johnny Cash and been the elder stateman of the UK music scene if his old ticker hadn't given up.

hamatchi · April 23rd, 2008, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidwright

A musical, philosophical, spiritual, political and sociological inspiration.

IMHO - his legacy will be as a motivator - he always meade the point that if you want to get something done - then get on and do it! A simple ideology - but may of us are guilty of sitting around talking about we are going to do instead of actually getting on with it. Its the old Punk DIY attitude.

I also think he would have made the transition to become the UK's answer Johnny Cash and been the elder stateman of the UK music scene if his old ticker hadn't given up.

Yeah what he said...

Met the man himself backstage at a Clash concert in Alberta, Canada of all places in the 80's. Couldn't be a nicer, more humble, down to earth rocker on the planet. Conversation kinda went like this. Joe, "How you doing man?". Me, "Aaagh, gurh, ugh, orf". All of them were incredibly cool.

BTW my second boy's middle name is Cash, named after the man in black.

Sollophonic · April 23rd, 2008, 06:54 AM

Joe Strummer was a great guy, who made some great music, but he was also very human in that some of his output didnt appeal to me either.

I got into the Clash later on in their career, in the early 1980s. Sandinista is a great album, and opened my eyes at the time to other musics. I remember reading interviews with Joe where he not only came across as a committed activist and campaigner, but as a true eclectic as far as music is concerned. I didnt like Combat Rock though.

Joe did many other things after the Clash split, and my abiding memory of him, was when he played in a small club in Bradford in about 1990, with the early Mescaleros. He did a barnstorming set of both recent and Clash material, and looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself too.

I love his Mescaleros stuff, though on the album I have he doesnt play any guitar, he just sings.

Joe, like a few others was was above many of his punk peers, mainly because he had been playing for a while before the Clash, and I think that you can sort of tell which so called "punk" musicians were destined for better things, partly because of the guitar they chose to play.

I count Joe in with others like Hugh Cornwell, Keith Levine, Robert Quine, all of whom seemed to have the Tele as their guitar of choice.

Joe was ace, and the music world is a lesser place without him.

Kewk · April 23rd, 2008, 08:49 AM

Count me in as a huge fan. The chord progression in Spanish Bombs is the first thing I play when ever I pick up a new guitar.

Birdsnest · April 23rd, 2008, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Joe did many other things after the Clash split, and my abiding memory of him, was when he played in a small club in Bradford in about 1990, with the early Mescaleros. He did a barnstorming set of both recent and Clash material, and looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself too.

I love his Mescaleros stuff, though on the album I have he doesnt play any guitar, he just sings.

I saw him play at the Troubadour in LA on the Golbal A-Go-Go Tour. Has to be one of the top two or three live shows I've ever seen. The Mescaleros stuff stands on it's own in the Strummer catalog as some of his finest music. First rate.

The Clash were "the band" for me growing up. If I had a rock n' roll hero as a teenager... it was either Joe Strummer, Joe Strummer, or Joe Strummer.

Cassady · April 23rd, 2008, 01:12 PM

Joe was great. I love the Clash and the Mescaleros.

The song "Bhindi Bhagee" off of "Global a Go-Go" is simply stunning and one of my favorites. He's one of the artists that I really miss and he died far too young.

Cassady

Birdsnest · April 23rd, 2008, 04:34 PM

+1 on Bhindi

Here's a great live version from youtube. Sound quality is only OK...but they sure were cookin' on stage...

With tele content to!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUtus...eature=related

Classic:

Quote:

So anyway, I told him I was in a band
He said, "Oh yeah, oh yeah - what's your music like?"
I said, "It's um, um, well, it's kinda like
You know, it's got a bit of, um, you know."

Ragga, Bhangra, two-step Tanga
Mini-cab radio, music on the go
Um, surfbeat, backbeat, frontbeat, backseat
There's a bunch of players and they're really letting go
We got, Brit pop, hip hop, rockabilly, Lindy hop
Gaelic heavy metal fans fighting in the road
Ah, Sunday boozers for chewing gum users
They got a crazy D.J. and she's really letting go

Bob Mc · April 23rd, 2008, 05:15 PM

Big Clash fan in the day, I still spin "London Calling" occasionally,
but Global A Go Go is never far from the top of the play list.

and Birdsnest, that section in particular just gets me in the gut every time;
the guitar switches from a highlife sound to some big crunchy power chords and then back again to the highlife, great vocal, Joe sounds like he is having a blast.

macdog · April 23rd, 2008, 06:18 PM

Joe is my all time rock hero. Plenty of others who I love, but Joe contributed so much to my sense of myself and the world. He is the greatest.

Billy Claire · April 23rd, 2008, 07:22 PM

Well, I've gotten into The Clash and Joe Strummer kind of late- I've had London Calling on CD for about 4 years without really listening to it, and I always liked what I heard on the radio back in the day but never REALLY listened. Then a couple of things happened- the Joe Strummer mural on the side of Niagara NYC and playing the Joe Strummer tribute Tele (and buying one). Made me go back and listen and really appreciate what Joe believed in and what he stood for. I wish I had gotten into his music more long ago....

JohnnyCrash · April 23rd, 2008, 07:34 PM

I loved the Clash.

Not so much the Mascaleros, so I guess I'm not exclusively a Joe Strummer "fan."

Mick was a great guitar player, and Paul is easily one of my top favorite musicians of all time.

Just-Jim · April 23rd, 2008, 08:45 PM

Clash fan here as well.

I had Sandanista on vinyl and have been wanting the CD. It still amazes me they came out with a 3 record set that was not a "best of" collection way back then. It actually had a lot of good songs on it.

Lost interest in them when Combat Rock came out. Was just way over played. Every where you went it was playing and I got burnt out on them.

Recently bought London Calling on disc and getting back into them.

wooderson · April 23rd, 2008, 09:10 PM

When I was 16 and bought my first truck, first thing I did was put in a cheap CD player - for the first year it only played two CDs, London Calling and the Descendents' Milo Goes To College. No matter how interested I get in dub or country-blues or rap or whatever, it always comes back to punk rock for me, and then Joe and the boys.

Dillon · April 23rd, 2008, 10:07 PM

The guy could stand and deliver. Love the Clash. Love his earlier band, the 101'ers.

Killer Tofu · April 23rd, 2008, 10:34 PM

Joe Strummer has long been one of the most important musicians in my life. His work with the Clash is so undeniably brilliant and then afterwards with the Mescelaros... He never lost his touch. A truly gifted lyricist, too.

One of my favorite songs, out of all of them, is his cover of Redemption Day. I've read that it was the last track he ever recorded. If that truly is the case, I can't think of anything more fitting.

MandyMarie · April 24th, 2008, 12:27 AM

Count me in too!

hamatchi · April 24th, 2008, 01:29 AM

Nice to see that we're not "mostly Country" on this forum after all

MarkV · April 24th, 2008, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MandyMarie

Count me in too!

Yes, me too. Great (Tele, which always helps

) guitar player and overall a great influence.

Sollophonic · April 24th, 2008, 09:38 AM

"Nice to see that were not "mostly Country" on this forum."

I think Joe had a fair number of "Country" influences as well as many others in his music

If he was still alive I think he would dig this forum, and maybe even post on it.

Rizo · April 24th, 2008, 12:07 PM

I just wanted to get my avatar in here.

Joe is the reason I play a tele... a black one at that.

hamatchi · April 24th, 2008, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sollophonic

"
If he was still alive I think he would dig this forum, and maybe even post on it.

I think your right on about that.

My comment about Country had to do with another poster inferring that most TDPRI'ers are Country influenced. Obviously I like country on a personal note if you look at my earlier post.

April 23rd, 2008, 02:36 AM	#1 (permalink)
Libertine TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Honolulu, HI Age: 19 Posts: 26	Joe Strummer Appreciation Post This may be a complete waste of time, but I just listened to some of my Clash records for the first time in a while, and boy was Joe Strummer really something else. In my opinion the most talented individual to come out of "punk". He was able to merge so many various influences (punk, reggae, ska, rockabilly.) Constantly adapting and making music with a message, that could appeal to a wide range of people. Anyone else here happen to be huge Strummer fans? I was hoping I'd find someone else who shared my affection for the man, seeing as how he was such a proponent of the tele!

April 23rd, 2008, 03:45 AM	#3 (permalink)
Big John Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Suffolk UK Posts: 5,951 38 Photos	Count me in !! I was in my teens during the mid 70's and a big fan of punk AND country too, not many people remember but it was on Joe's insistance that Joe Ely toured the UK with the Clash back then, that really opened a few eye's. Punk was too easily written off then as 'young thugs making a noise' and it seems now there is enough distance between now and then folk can see just how articulate most of that stuff really was, that counts double for the Clash, Strummer was smart, smart, smart and the later stuff even more so. 'Punk' was groundbreaking for many reasons not least of which was Strummer's almost Woody Guthrie type stance on many subjects which he stuck by all his life, i didn't agree with a lot of it but i admire the way he stuck with it and didn't sell out for the 'fast buck'. Here's to you Joe !! __________________ If you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly !!

April 23rd, 2008, 04:15 AM	#4 (permalink)
markothefish Friend of Leo's Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Greenville, Rhode Island Age: 43 Posts: 2,362 7 Photos	One of my alltime favorite musicians . Not content to stick with one genre , he embraced many styles . From his early 101 ers days to the end he made simple great music . The album Sandinista stands as one the great political albums during the decadence of the 80's . I learned many musical and life lessons as a young man from him . "I get good advice from the advertising world Treat me nice says the party girl Koke adds life where there isnt any So freeze, man, freeze" __________________ Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. Groucho Marx

April 23rd, 2008, 05:06 AM	#5 (permalink)
davidwright TDPRI Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Age: 45 Posts: 33	+1 A musical, philosophical, spiritual, political and sociological inspiration. IMHO - his legacy will be as a motivator - he always meade the point that if you want to get something done - then get on and do it! A simple ideology - but may of us are guilty of sitting around talking about we are going to do instead of actually getting on with it. Its the old Punk DIY attitude. I also think he would have made the transition to become the UK's answer Johnny Cash and been the elder stateman of the UK music scene if his old ticker hadn't given up.

April 23rd, 2008, 01:12 PM	#10 (permalink)
Cassady Tele-Holic Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Lincoln, Nebraska Posts: 624	Joe was great. I love the Clash and the Mescaleros. The song "Bhindi Bhagee" off of "Global a Go-Go" is simply stunning and one of my favorites. He's one of the artists that I really miss and he died far too young. Cassady Last edited by Cassady; April 24th, 2008 at 07:50 AM.

April 23rd, 2008, 02:57 AM	#2 (permalink)
Gibson Tele-Meister Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 464	Joe's the man. One of my main inspirations.

April 23rd, 2008, 06:54 AM	#7 (permalink)
Sollophonic Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Skipton, N. Yorkshire, England Age: 45 Posts: 609	Joe Strummer was a great guy, who made some great music, but he was also very human in that some of his output didnt appeal to me either. I got into the Clash later on in their career, in the early 1980s. Sandinista is a great album, and opened my eyes at the time to other musics. I remember reading interviews with Joe where he not only came across as a committed activist and campaigner, but as a true eclectic as far as music is concerned. I didnt like Combat Rock though. Joe did many other things after the Clash split, and my abiding memory of him, was when he played in a small club in Bradford in about 1990, with the early Mescaleros. He did a barnstorming set of both recent and Clash material, and looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself too. I love his Mescaleros stuff, though on the album I have he doesnt play any guitar, he just sings. Joe, like a few others was was above many of his punk peers, mainly because he had been playing for a while before the Clash, and I think that you can sort of tell which so called "punk" musicians were destined for better things, partly because of the guitar they chose to play. I count Joe in with others like Hugh Cornwell, Keith Levine, Robert Quine, all of whom seemed to have the Tele as their guitar of choice. Joe was ace, and the music world is a lesser place without him.

April 23rd, 2008, 08:49 AM	#8 (permalink)
Kewk Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Boston-ish Age: 38 Posts: 157	Count me in as a huge fan. The chord progression in Spanish Bombs is the first thing I play when ever I pick up a new guitar.

April 23rd, 2008, 05:15 PM	#12 (permalink)
Bob Mc Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Mo'town NJ Posts: 1,764	double +1 on Bhindi Big Clash fan in the day, I still spin "London Calling" occasionally, but Global A Go Go is never far from the top of the play list. and Birdsnest, that section in particular just gets me in the gut every time; the guitar switches from a highlife sound to some big crunchy power chords and then back again to the highlife, great vocal, Joe sounds like he is having a blast. __________________ All of us contain Music & Truth, but most of us can't get it out. Mark Twain

April 23rd, 2008, 06:18 PM	#13 (permalink)
macdog Tele-Meister Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 155	Joe is my all time rock hero. Plenty of others who I love, but Joe contributed so much to my sense of myself and the world. He is the greatest.

April 23rd, 2008, 07:22 PM	#14 (permalink)
Billy Claire Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Marlborough MA Posts: 958	Well, I've gotten into The Clash and Joe Strummer kind of late- I've had London Calling on CD for about 4 years without really listening to it, and I always liked what I heard on the radio back in the day but never REALLY listened. Then a couple of things happened- the Joe Strummer mural on the side of Niagara NYC and playing the Joe Strummer tribute Tele (and buying one). Made me go back and listen and really appreciate what Joe believed in and what he stood for. I wish I had gotten into his music more long ago.... __________________ www.myspace.com/sherylamour www.theallens.theallens.com tear off my arms and beat me to death with them...

April 23rd, 2008, 07:34 PM	#15 (permalink)
JohnnyCrash Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Fullerton, CA Posts: 8,091	I loved the Clash. Not so much the Mascaleros, so I guess I'm not exclusively a Joe Strummer "fan." Mick was a great guitar player, and Paul is easily one of my top favorite musicians of all time.

April 23rd, 2008, 08:45 PM	#16 (permalink)
Just-Jim Tele-Meister Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: SoCal Posts: 471	Clash fan here as well. I had Sandanista on vinyl and have been wanting the CD. It still amazes me they came out with a 3 record set that was not a "best of" collection way back then. It actually had a lot of good songs on it. Lost interest in them when Combat Rock came out. Was just way over played. Every where you went it was playing and I got burnt out on them. Recently bought London Calling on disc and getting back into them.

April 23rd, 2008, 09:10 PM	#17 (permalink)
wooderson Tele-Meister Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: DFW, TX Age: 27 Posts: 177	When I was 16 and bought my first truck, first thing I did was put in a cheap CD player - for the first year it only played two CDs, London Calling and the Descendents' Milo Goes To College. No matter how interested I get in dub or country-blues or rap or whatever, it always comes back to punk rock for me, and then Joe and the boys.

April 23rd, 2008, 10:07 PM	#18 (permalink)
Dillon Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Diego County Posts: 311 92 Photos	The guy could stand and deliver. Love the Clash. Love his earlier band, the 101'ers.

April 23rd, 2008, 10:34 PM	#19 (permalink)
Killer Tofu TDPRI Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Age: 24 Posts: 66	Joe Strummer has long been one of the most important musicians in my life. His work with the Clash is so undeniably brilliant and then afterwards with the Mescelaros... He never lost his touch. A truly gifted lyricist, too. One of my favorite songs, out of all of them, is his cover of Redemption Day. I've read that it was the last track he ever recorded. If that truly is the case, I can't think of anything more fitting. __________________ Lucifer Sam.. Siam Cat.. Always sitting by your side Always by your side That cat's something I can't explain

April 24th, 2008, 12:27 AM	#20 (permalink)
MandyMarie Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Indianapolis, IN Age: 29 Posts: 2,999 64 Photos	Count me in too! __________________ our wacky little hillbilly band

April 24th, 2008, 01:29 AM	#21 (permalink)
hamatchi TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: singapore Age: 47 Posts: 10	Nice to see that we're not "mostly Country" on this forum after all

April 24th, 2008, 09:38 AM	#23 (permalink)
Sollophonic Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Skipton, N. Yorkshire, England Age: 45 Posts: 609	"Nice to see that were not "mostly Country" on this forum." I think Joe had a fair number of "Country" influences as well as many others in his music If he was still alive I think he would dig this forum, and maybe even post on it.

April 24th, 2008, 12:07 PM	#24 (permalink)
Rizo Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Athens, OH Posts: 1,150	I just wanted to get my avatar in here. Joe is the reason I play a tele... a black one at that. __________________ "You say you want to play country, but you're in a punk rock band."