Joe Strummer
As the lead singer, songwriter and spokesman for The Clash, Joe Strummer was among the most incendiary and substantial figures associated with punk rock -- although his band's sense of purpose and musical ambition lifted it head and shoulders above most of its colleagues in that demimonde and deposited it squarely in the mainstream.
Born John Mellor to the nomadic life of a foreign-service officer's family in Turkey, he grew up loving the pop of the Beach Boys and the protest folk of Woody Guthrie. He played in various bands, taking on the nom de rock "Joe Strummer " due to his ham-fisted rhythm guitar playing. The Clash, formed in London in the wake of a Sex Pistols show in 1976, peaked with the sprawling, acclaimed multi-disc albums London Calling and Sandinista, though they achieved considerable pop success thereafter. Their hits, including " London Calling," "Lost in the Supermarket," " Train in Vain," " Should I Stay or Should I Go," "This Is Radio Clash" and " Rock the Casbah," were consistently among the most passionate, provocative and musically unpredictable songs on '80s radio.
After the band split, Joe Strummer went on to create a handful of highly personal solo records and other passion projects, appear in films and engage in environmental activism before his untimely death of a congenital heart defect in 2002. The following year saw The Clash inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; in 2004, Rolling Stone gave them the #30 spot on its 100 Great Artists of All Time.
Joe Strummer's dream of marrying Woody Guthrie's fiery, uncompromising message music to the joyous, mass-appeal pop of the Beach Boys had not only come to fruition, but achieved a prominent place in rock history.
Worn Free is proud to offer two designs worn by Joe Strummer, Out of Control and Dragon. Our Joe Strummer T shirts are fully licensed, endorsed and made from the softest, prewashed and shrunk cotton jersey. We faithfully reproduce the original article.
|
Joe Strummer T-Shirts
|
|
|
