The Nudge Salutes: Joe Strummer

I would like to start this edition of The Nudge Salutes by declaring this. If you don't know who Joe Strummer is/was, leave. Leave, now. There is a lot of band's that I wouldn't listen to, although you probably have them on your IPOD Playlists, that are adored all over the world for some strange reason. Guess what? They all owe our boy Joe royalties.

Number 15 on the Rolling Stones top 500 songs of all time. Know what it is? No, it's not More than a Woman by the Bee Gees or Every Rose Has it's Thorn by that hot blond chick. The number 15 song of all time according to Rolling Stone magazine. London Calling. Now if you play guitar you know that this song might not be the hardest to play,HOWEVER, turn your dad's old amp he bought before he met your mom up as loud as it goes and strike those chords. Ya that pretty much equals to a full blown explosion. Why is that you say? The passion and attitude that goes into Strum-ming those chords is like no other.

John Graham Mellor, a.k.a, Joe Strummer grew up bouncing around different countries such as Mexico, Iran, Turkey before finally settling in London as a teen. A brief period working in true tough guy fashion as a gravedigger, Strummer decided he was going to start his first band, "The 101 er's" (named after the address of his flat). An original lefty and mohawk wearer, Joe Strummer was taught how to play right confining him to STRUM chords (how he got his alias), rarely breaking into solos.

April 3rd, 1976 some un-known band named, The Sex Pistols, opened for The 101 er's and from that night on the rest was history. Mick Jones, The Clash's other guitarist and singer, approached Strummer about joining another band, The Clash. Two months later The Clash opened for The Sex Pistols and every kid in London was introduced to punk rock.

If you listen to The Clash's music you know from the first time you hear a guitar ring out that these guys were not talking about holding a girls hand. "Phoney Beatlemania had bitten the dust". These true artists talked about a world decaying right in front of their eyes. The music sounded angry, but it was really a cry for something better. Tired of seeing racism, unemployment, poverty, The Clash gave kids something to rebel about. Although, Joe seemed quiet off the stage, you definitely didn't want to mess with him while he was playing.

During his time with The Clash, Strummer, along with his bandmates, became notorious for getting in trouble with the law. On 10 June 1977, he and Topper were arrested for spray-painting "The Clash" on a wall in a hotel. On 20 May 1980, he was arrested for hitting a violent member of the audience with his guitar during a show in Hamburg, Germany. This incident shocked Strummer, and had a lasting personal impact on him.

Strummer stated, "I nearly murdered somebody, and it made me realize that you can't face violence with violence. It doesn't work".

Just as The Clash was winding down in 1982, they released a disco style, almost early hip hop sounding track named Rock the Casbah. Although a track you could shake your caboose to, Strummer wrote lyrics that meant something more serious to him. He explains in an article from Rolling Stone magazine:

“I got back to the hotel that night and wrote on a typewriter, ‘The King told the boogie men You gotta get that raga drop,’ ” Strummer said shortly before he died in 2002. “I looked at it and for some reason I started to think about what someone had told me earlier, that you get lashed for owning a disco album in Iran.”

Just before his death Strummer did work with another icon in the history of music, Johnny Cash. He also covered Bob Marley's Redemption Song with his raspy, years of inhaling cheap cigarette voice, that no one has been able to duplicate since. So next time you see a Green Day, Fall Out Boy video or see some guido rocking a faux hawk with a glitter tee shirt remember this. Joe Strummer did it more than 20 years ago and looked tough as nails doing so. You, well just go back to your Ed Hardy shirt and Bon Jovi box set because The Clash just might not be for you.

I Never Felt So Much Alike,

Mike Love

****London Calling song facts