December 30, 2002
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
11:15 AM (Pacific)
I would like to write a small eulogy for Joe Strummer, who died this year of a heart attack at age fifty.
In some way, I'll admit I was surprised how little fanfare seemed to greet his sudden departure. I'm 37 now...granted, the Clash were big a full twenty-five years ago. But, twenty-five is a relative number. John Lennon died twenty-two years ago and to me it still feels like yesterday.
I suppose, since I was there, and saw for myself how enslaved so many young Americans were to the Clash, at the time, and far beyond the time...I suppose you could say I was also disappointed.
However I do not wish to drone on about the relative fairness of corporate-owned American media, or of death for that matter. The Clash were basically Communists. If every teenager I knew worshipped the Clash or at least respected them, they were never played much on mainstream radio anyway.
And death...is a fact of life. You can't live without knowing that you'll die someday.
I would much rather write about how Joe Strummer's life impacted me, one of the biggest Clash fans in all of Virginia, personally.
I did see them once in concert. I can't remember the exact date or place...I was around fifteen, and my father took me. How cool is that?
It was nothing like the typical arena rock concert, where you pay your money, sit way in the back, and are treated to a lot of noise and a tiny glimpse of whom you came to see. I was right up front, jumping up and down with everyone else who cared to come that close to the stage.
The music...it was great.
About halfway through, I lost my shoe...a tennis shoe, admittedly, and old, and ratty. I could not find my shoe. Somehow I could not leave without my shoe, so I started looking for it...an impossibility, given the press of the crowd. I started asking the people around me if they'd seen my shoe.
I don't know quite how to put this, because subsequent to that, I did attend other concerts...and hated them. The fans were not friendly; it was more of a butt-pinching sort of thing. But this concert--no one pinched anything. They crowded, they danced, they were joyful...and they helped me look for my shoe.
Suddenly...several of them lifted me onto the stage. I suppose so's I could ask the Clash about the shoe! It was hilarious. Right in the middle of the set.
Here was my brush with greatness...Joe Strummer.
Remember...I was fifteen at the time. Not fifteen-rich nor fifteen-financially-secure, nor fifteen in the age of the Internet and cable TV...I was fifteen-barely-still-in-school. I was fifteen sitting in my room with my manual typewriter, trying to write Cold War novels. Why did kids love the Clash? Wasn't it because they were the only musical group in the world who knew that and still cared? knew that not everyone lived inside the bubble with the two parents, two cars and college in their future?
Let me inform those who were not there. Every other group was after one thing only--money. U2 would put out an album, and a bazillion singles and mini-records that were rehashes of whatever was on that album, with one new song buried in there...forcing the fans to spend, spend, spend.
The Clash stuffed two records into the same album sleeve, for the price of a single album; three records into another, for the price of a double. Their concert tickets were always cheaper than anyone else's.
The Clash...did not dress well. I doubt I ever saw Mick Jones in an Armani suit (or whatever everyone was wearing at the time). They wore black and white--stuff anyone could find and piece together, even in Virginia.
All of this runs against the grain of our ultra-capitalistic economy...and yes, they were outspokenly against the draft. Just in time for Reagan.
Needless to say, I did worship them and still do.
But I am digressing here. I made eye contact with Joe...whose name was really John Mellor...and he did something. He smiled. He gave me this little bump, like the dance the bump (ask your parents)...before the roadies came to escort me off the stage. Which they were very nice about.
Yes...the Clash disbanded. Mick Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite, and Joe tried to keep the Clash, the Clash. You can't really, not without Mick Jones, but he did try.
In the end, it's funny. Until I sat down to write this blog, indeed to make this blog specifically because I wanted to write something for Joe Strummer...I have spent years hiding behind my Web work rather than writing purely about myself...I had forgotten those days. It's easy to forget what it's like to be alone in your room every day with nothing but the radio to listen to. I'm looking at it now...he was...wonderful.
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