London Calling

I just read Chris Salewicz's biography of Joe Strummer. It brought back alot of memories. At the end of the seventies, when punk petered out, The Clash were the one band who took the best of punk and developed it. OK, they filched lots of rock'n'roll postures and gear and were occasionally a little self-aggrandising , but, particularly, around the time of those 1978 singles such as Complete Control and White Man in Hammersmith Palais, and, a year later, with London Calling, they were the best by far. The book is very balanced in terms of how it presents him. Joe Strummer comes across as someone determined not to be taken in by the star trip, unlike Mick Jones in the Clash's heyday, and also someone more open to new experiences than most, especially if they also involved booze, women and staying up all-night. They don't make pop stars like that anymore - those who not only aspire to stay one of the people but are actually able to do it. One of my friends at school went by tube to the Rock Against Racism concert in Victoria Park in 1978 when The Clash were second on the bill. He reported sitting next to Joe Strummer on the tube going to the concert. Can you imagine Thom Yorke or Damon Albarn doing that? The book also implicitly stresses the point that, if you find a good partner in life or business, then don't let the detail get in the way of the big picture. If the partnership works then let the little things go, the big things matter more. This was clearly how Strummer and Jones felt. At least they stayed friends and played together once more before he died.