Hindustan Times
Not Your Average Joe
On December 22, it will be eight years since Joe Strummer suddenly died when he was just 50. Most of us know Strummer as the lead singer (and rhythm guitarist) of one of Britain’s best known early punk bands, The Clash. Although The Clash were a short-lived act – disbanding in less than 10 years – and witnessing many internal quarrels and line-up changes, they were a cult band whose rebelliousness and political lyrics had a long-lasting influence on legions of musicians on the so-called alternative rock scene.
The Clash released six albums but I have only two of them – 1977’s The Clash and 1979’s London Calling. I like the second one better and, as many fans will tell you, it is possibly The Clash’s best album. Not surprising because London Calling showcases The Clash’s musical virtuosity the best. The Clash were not a common garden variety punk band; their music had much more: you can hear influences of reggae, rap, dub, funk and whole lot of other genres. All of that made The Clash stand out among the raucous bunch of bands that made up the first wave of British punk.
American white pop soul band The Young Rascals (Left), Jamaican reggae singer Mikey Dread (Right top); Algerian singer Rachid Taha (Right bottom) were some of the bands and singers I discovered on a radio show hosted by Strummer
But it’s not The Clash that I’ve been excited about over the past week. It’s Joe Strummer. The frontman of The Clash was a remarkable man. Besides being a hugely successful musician, Strummer had eclectic taste in music, spanning all kinds of genres from around the world. That was partly because of Strummer’s childhood – his father, who was incidentally born in India, was in the foreign services and as a result of that, he had grown up around the world; he was born in Turkey and spent his childhood in Egypt, Mexico and Germany. And he was addicted to the radio. As a child he’d always wanted to be a radio host. He was also mad about his music collection. During The Clash’s tours, Strummer was known to carry his entire vinyl record collection, which filled up huge chests, with him wherever the band went.
Last week, while searching for something on the Net, I discovered recordings of what appeared to be a radio show hosted by Strummer. They were recordings of a BBC World Service programme called London Calling. Aired from 1998 through to 2001, Strummer hosted these shows where he played music from his vast collection of records. In all, there are 14 half-hour programmes and you can get them as free mp3 downloads.
Strummer’s shows are quite amazing. He is an excellent host who doesn’t talk too much yet connects very easily and warmly with his audience, offering little nuggets of information as he takes you on a musical tour, which is at once unpredictable as it is enjoyable. And his playlists can do wonders. I’m not much of a world music person with my musical preferences mainly restricted to bands from Europe and North America but courtesy one of Strummer’s programmes, I discovered the music of Rachid Taha, the Algerian singer. The track Strummer played, Rock The Casbah, which I followed up with a few other downloads of his work, opened my ears to Taha’s electronic and punk influenced oeuvre.
Joe Strummer, the frontman of the British punk band, The Clash, had an eclectic taste in music that spanned all kinds of genres from around the world
On his programmes, Strummer surprises you constantly. He picks out, say, a Taha track and then follows it up with Black Sheep Boy by American folk singer Tim Hardin. Next, he’ll roll out Nina Simone doing Love Somebody and, before you know it, you’ve got an outfit that you’ve probably never heard before, Latino Rockabilly War, playing. I later found out that Latino Rockabilly War were a band that backed Strummer on a solo album that he had cut. After Latino Rockabilly, he’ll have you rocking to Senegalese singer Baaba Maal jamming with Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin and before you know it you’re hooked to the 16 episodes and want more.
I wish I’d heard Strummer’s radio sessions earlier. It’s not that he played new or obscure music on his programmes; it’s just that he kept the mix so delightfully eclectic that every time you hear an episode, it’s like a waft of fresh air. I got introduced to a host of musicians for the first time – Mikey Dread, the reggae singer from Jamaica who has sung and produced some of The Clash’s songs, The Young Rascals, an American white pop soul band, and Dust Junkys, a British rap outfit, are three of those that I liked.
Strummer’s episodes are a blend of the old and the new. You’ll have a track by British singer-songwriter Donovan rubbing shoulders with a track from the Punjabi-influenced British indie-rockers, Cornershop; or a song by the Rolling Stones next to one by Ella Fitzgerald. Many of the musicians you may have heard before but to have them served up in an exotic cocktail by one of British punk’s front-runners is something else.
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(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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