John Graham Mellor
ferguson
Joe Strummer dies of heart attack
Gethin Chamberlain
THEY may once have believed that there was no future, but yesterday, the
punk generation was left reeling at the news of the death of Joe Strummer,
the man many regarded as the musical and political voice of their era.
Drink and drugs had taken its toll on some of his contemporaries, most
notably Sid Vicious, but the shock of the Clash frontman's death at the age
of only 50 was greater because of the way he had been transformed into a
punk icon.
Born the son of a diplomat, it was the public school-educated Strummer -
real name John Graham Mellor - who was credited with giving punk a political
edge. Intelligent and passionate, the electrifying singer-songwriter helped
transform the stale musical scene at the end of the 1970s. With their mix of
crashing guitars, melodic riffs and political rhetoric, the Clash influenced
many who came after them.
Even last month, when Strummer appeared in Edinburgh with his new band the
Mescaleros, he could still command a rapturous reception form the capacity
crowd which squeezed into the Liquid Room.
Strummer, who was born in Ankara, Turkey, died on Sunday of a suspected
heart attack at his home in Somerset. In keeping with a man who wore his
politics on his sleeve his family asked that instead of floral tributes,
money should be paid to the Mandela SOS fundraising concert, which is aimed
at raising awareness of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. He had been due to take
part in the show on 2 February from Mandela's former prison on Robben
Island.
His death was greeted with shock and disbelief by fans, musicians and those
associated with that era.
U2 singer Bono called the Clash "the greatest rock band" and said they
"wrote the rule book" for later acts. Billy Bragg said Strummer was the
driving force who helped give punk its "political edge".
Bob Geldof - a musical contemporary as frontman for the Boomtown Rats - said
he admired their refusal to sell out. "I know for a fact they were offered
huge amounts of money. They just said, 'No, that isn't really what we stood
for.' That's truly admirable," he said.
From an early age, Strummer had been fascinated by music and the guitar and,
after dropping out of art school in the early 1970s, he spent his time
busking on the London Underground before forming a pub-rock band called the
101'ers.
A defining moment in his musical life came when he saw the Sex Pistols in
1976 and decided the pub-rock scene was dead. He quit the 101'ers and joined
up with three musicians he had met earlier, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and
Nicky "Topper" Headon who were in a band called London SS. They changed
their named to the Clash and later that year, signed to CBS Records.
The band's self-titled debut a year later had the seeds of the sound that
would bring them international success within a few years. The "hundred
mile-an-hour" sound of White Riot became a punk anthem and they included a
cover of Junior Murvin's reggae classic Police and Thieves.
The Clash sold records by the millions, but the deal they had struck with
their record company meant they never raked in the sort of royalties that
others did. A string of 16 top 40 hits included Rock The Casbah, Bankrobber
and I Fought The Law, but their sole number one, Should I Stay Or Should I
Go?, only made it to the top of the charts after it was used in a Levi's
advert. By that time, the band had split up.
Their third album, London Calling, is widely regarded as one of the finest
albums of all time and was named the greatest album of the Eighties by the
music bible Rolling Stone - even though it was released in 1979.
Strummer - singer, guitarist and songwriter - was the creative force behind
the Clash, along with Mick Jones. The pair were seen as the Lennon and
McCartney of punk and, like the Beatles stars, would alternate singing
duties.
They quickly matured from writing brief three-chord wonders to filling
double and even a triple album with ever more diverse tracks embracing
reggae, funk, blues and even early rap. In many ways they were at the
forefront of world music.
But the pair had a strained relationship and Strummer - famed at the time
for his mohican haircut - ousted Jones from the line-up in 1983.
The band limped on with new members but called it a day in the mid-Eighties.
They always resisted lucrative offers to reform, unlike their
contemporaries, the Sex Pistols.
After the demise of the Clash, Strummer went on to a solo career and even
acted in a number of films, including a cameo in Martin Scorsese's The King
Of Comedy. He and the Clash had become huge stars in the US by the time the
film was made in 1983.
He also appeared in films and on soundtracks for his film director friend
Alex Cox, including Walker and Straight To Hell. In 1989, Strummer released
his first solo album, Earthquake Weather. He spent a long time on tour with
the Pogues and also played with the Levellers and the Brian Setzer
Orchestra.
And he recorded the single England's Irie with Shaun Ryder's group, Black
Grape, and worked on South Park's Chef Aid album and Keith Allen's Fat Les
project.
After a decade without a release under his own name, Strummer brought out
the album Rock Art and the X-Ray Style which he recorded with the
Mescaleros. The band finished a tour just a month ago, during which he
performed with Jones for the first time in almost two decades.
Geoff Martin, the London convenor for Unison, the trade union, praised the
way Strummer supported trade union struggles at home and abroad.
"Joe was prepared to fight for workers rights from Nicaragua to Newcastle.
It's a fitting tribute to him that one of his last UK shows was a
firefighters benefit that he financed out of his own pocket," he said.
A post-mortem is due to take place today to establish the cause of death,
which is not thought to be suspicious.
Yesterday, Michael Carvill, Strummer's neighbour, described how he was
called to the house on Sunday to find the singer slumped in a chair.
He said: "I was called over to the house just after 4pm on Sunday. Joe was
sitting in a chair in the kitchen and he was unconscious. Lucinda [his wife]
was absolutely distraught. She said she had tried to give him mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation but it hadn't worked. There was nothing we could do."