Good morning once more and I trust your Monday was consigned to the place all Mondays really belong, over your shoulder. Mine ended up being quite good as logic and a bit of good old fashioned justice meant the day in court was time well spent. I don’t understand why people lie about everything, but I do understand you have to be very good at that trade to actually prosper from it and even then what sort of prosperity would that possibly bring? Weighty topics from someone who has yet to have his first cup of coffee for the day so let me move right along.

Just a note about the sad passing of Norman Wisdom, although relatively unknown this side of the pond I suppose he was to some degree England’s Jerry Lewis (in terms of film appeal) but his career predated that even, as he was a celebrity of the long gone music hall era and of the very highest level. One of my earliest memories is my mum laughing madly at his films and myself following suit, an outstanding man and a perfect blueprint for the history of British comedy. He was 95. Easy trivia question – what connection does Norman Wisdom have to The Ramones?

With Mick Jones and Paul Simonon now on tour with Gorillaz (as current members of Gorillaz I should more correctly say) it is safe to assume we are going to have a lot of coverage relating to that in the weeks ahead and now that the tour has kicked off the flow of news will accelerate along with it. I’ll probably check every few days and share it with you but I’m hoping we’ll see some interviews in the mix. This week for starters as the band hit New York they will also be appearing on the David Letterman show on Thursday October 7th and I believe that against normal protocol for the show two songs will be performed. What is confirmed is that a special Letterman ‘full concert’ performance will be taking place at the famed Ed Sullivan theatre that afternoon and will be broadcast online. If you happen to be near New York City you might feel inclined to enter this competition to win free tickets for the event. It gets better though, in one of those strange coincidences that ties everything back to The Clash – CBS (which is a terrestrial television network in the US) hosts The Letterman shows and will be offering a free online webcast of the entire concert the same day simultaneously. I know…kinda cool and you get to save $75+ and watch/drink from the comfort of your own living room.

The broadcast will go out live this Thursday at 8 PM EST (5PM PST) which equates to 1am London time (Friday). Here is the link for you!!

I’ll have much more shortly about Gorillaz and everything else, just wanted to get a quick update out. Its shaping up to be one of those weeks, but stay tuned. If you happen to see Gorillaz during any of the earlier tour dates and want to submit a short summary ( or longer if you like) please get in touch as I’d be happy to share it with everyone.

Reminder – tomorrow, Oct 6th, is the Don Letts film at the ICA in London! Don’t forget if you’re back in the smoke!!

Cheers – Tim – *(Still free – not a criminal)

Good afternoon to you, thought I’d add a wrinkle by loading a new post at a strange time of day. Its October and I feel reckless so things like this just might happen from time to time. I also have great confidence that Arsenal will win tomorrow at the bus stop in Fulham and thus not ruin my weekend, i.e. I may as well write in happy and optimistic mode. I watched that video from yesterday 3 times in the last 36 hours also and if that doesn’t make you feel a bit peppier about life then there’s something wrong with you. It also reminded me that the issues of 1980 are not significantly worse than they are today, if at all (disastrous economies dominating the world, Russians occupying Afghanistan, racism, unemployment and jingoistic fear of terrorism although the proponents then were from across the Irish Sea and not the back alleys of Luton or Riyadh). Which was sort of what I wanted to write about briefly today but first…that landmark I mentioned yesterday.

I was aware a few weeks ago that soon I’d be posting my 500th story on the blog and thought to myself “must make an event of that one” – which categorically failed as this Wednesday just gone did mark the 500th update. (*I’m sure none of you had noticed either, but there we have it) 500 posts strong or in the vicinity of  37,000 words written in anger or peace, laughter or fury about the only band that matters. If you’ve been with us since the earliest days thanks for the loyalty and if you are newer to the blog please keep coming back and better still get involved if you like. Always happy to hear from you via the comments section or email. The blog is a bit like brushing my teeth or brewing coffee now, part of my routine and a good outlet to write, research and communicate with some great people about some cool stuff. If I get around to it I’ll do some sort of summary of the most popular posts in that time…or I might not. What I will say is thanks for continuing to share it with others, in September we again had the most visits in a single month that the blog has ever seen, not unreasonably beating the marks respectively set in August and July. So thanks…I appreciate it!!

The original 'Woody'

So back to my original intention of this post….I hope that most of you have had some exposure to Manic Street Preachers. Somehow the Welsh band have now been going for over 20 years (yes it is that long) and quickly found a niche market for their strident, political, energetic but also brilliantly creative music. For many in the press (and for fans alike) they filled in some ways the exact same void that The Clash had left wide open and nobody had properly filled during the 1980′s. Don’t tell me U2…just don’t get me started. What the Manics have done is not only create some of the best albums of the last two decades but also worn that heart on the sleeve with the concerns of our society and the refusal to just sit down and shut up…in the best spirits of The Clash. They also overcame something that would probably see most bands implode and admittedly it caused them time to take stock about continuing when founder member Richey Edwards went missing on Feb 1, 1995. He was never found and has been presumed dead for most of that time since, its one of modern musics biggest mysteries and I think just as significant a loss as Kurt Cobain of Nirvana less than a year earlier. I realise that’s a very debatable opinion but Manic Street Preachers are by far the better band (for me) and the apparent death of Edwards (although never confirmed) was one of those strange pieces of news that became so protracted you just reluctantly accept he must have died. Unlike the band I mentioned previously the Manics regrouped and have continued in releasing one great album after another for all these years since, although not as frequently as I would have liked. If you are new to the band I would suggest you start with 1994′s ‘The Holy Bible’ and then work backwards or forwards, I’ve just read reviews of the newest release ‘Postcards From a Young Man’ which was released 10 days ago and they are universally stellar. You can find out more about them via their official site if you need to but I’m really writing about what Nicky Wire of the band said a few days ago in an interview when discussing current events:

“The middle of the greatest economic recession ever witnessed and no guitar bands whatsoever who seem able to engage with that”     Nicky Wire

That sentence echoes exactly what I’ve heard Don Letts saying in recent months too, Damon Albarn has said similar things and I’m sure if you believe that music has more value than being the backing track to American Idol or X Factor then surely you can relate. In fact you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog if your place for music was just something that was on in the background during your latest Julia Roberts romantic comedy. Think about what Nicky Wire is saying though…and I’m sure there are lots of smaller bands, unsigned bands, garage bands that would disagree with him entirely. However we’re not seeing them or hearing them. I know music with some bite still exists and that music and politics don’t have to be the angular bedfellows that the popular press would have us believe. 30 years ago we had The Clash, but not just The Clash looking at the state of the world and the state of our culture. But we also had The Specials, The Beat, R.E.M., The Jam, Talking Heads and so many others who not only were able to ‘engage with that’ but staked much of their careers on it. Have the bands changed or has the audience changed? Does a 16 year old not want to hear songs that look at the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan or the corruption of Wall Street, MPs or BP? Does massive immigration and poverty just breed anger and racism in 2010 rather than activism and ideas? Are we really that disengaged now – does music still have a part to play?

Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and on to Joe Strummer and Billy Bragg all wanted a reaction but most importantly sought desperately to spread some form of awareness. Joe Strummer wasn’t always right, God knows nobody can be but he was trying…genuinely trying. When I was 16 I thought Joe Strummer would lead us to the doors of Downing Street and get the change we sought. Five years later I thought Billy Bragg was going to do the same, five years on Bragg reminded his audiences he wasn’t going to change the world – we were. Indifference and apathy are as dangerous as corporations and politicians he pointed out, it took me until my late 20′s to work that one out. But now…in 2010, does anyone of a certain age think things have ever been as overtly shit, immoral and corrupt as they are today? Do we really think that sending young men and women off to a desert to die is securing anyone against anything? Do we even vote to say we disagree anymore? I hope we are at the nadir of apathy, I really do, surely we must be? Or is the biggest con of all convincing us en masse that Simon Cowell and ‘House’, American Idol and Grey’s Anatomy are the most important things going on around us? That these sings say more to us about our lives. Every once in a while like a tortoise having a rock thrown at us we come out of our shell and say how tragic the Tsunami/9-11/Haiti is and then we go back to our downloaded movies,  I-pods and our ridiculous phones to watch a video of a dog that can talk.

Where are all the protest singers and will anyone still listen to their songs?

Good Day to you on this Monday which happily is a holiday today in the States and Canada and I believe just another Monday elsewhere. It is Labour Day here and in Canada which is designated to recognise the social and economic achievements of workers. Seeing as most on the right recoil at the concept of worker’s rights and benefits and positively shudder when you mention unions I am almost surprised that the national day of workers hasn’t been renamed by now in the US, less the upstart working class get any ideas above their station. Rumours that the class system isn’t alive and well in the new world are thoroughly unfounded, all the while there has been a severe degradation of the middle class in the States it is still the backbone of the country. Sadly many who consider themselves middle class are now living from paycheque to paycheque and paying minimal balances due on credit card accounts that should never have been taken out in the first place. Simultaneously living in houses that have lost 25-65% of value in the last 4 years leaving people in homes that might take a decade to regain the value lost. On this Labour Day with unemployment sitting at 9.6% and underemployment probably triple that, I worry for the health of the American worker and of the seeming lost balance as more and more people step into the class of the working poor as employers provide benefits with higher premiums if at all. The global economy turned out to  be a bigger threat than unions, minimum wages or workers rights after all and yet the reinvention of the economy seems slow on the uptake.

Don Letts wrote just the other day about how all the ingredients that existed for punk in the first place are very much back on the agenda in 2010. High unemployment, anti-immigration sentiments, inner city decay, lack of confidence in the job markets and our politicians plus an undercurrent of violence of boredom in many cities. He seemed bemused that something as exciting wasn’t happening to sweep away X-factor and American Idol, Playstations and TV addiction. Maybe that’s part of the difference, in 1976 was it perhaps an easier task to convince a 16 year old he or she was bored and pissed off.  No future (courtesy Sex Pistols) was a phrase that people related to and responded to. Now do youth know they are pissed off but the boredom seems less of an issue? Where am I going with this….I’m not quite sure….work, yes that was it….work….finding a career you love…doing a job that fills you with pride and satisfaction, having the chance and the choice to find a career that you will be excited to do. Finding a job that truly brings your greatest skills and creativity to the fore in a job that makes a difference to others and makes you feel a valuable part of a community.

Perhaps that’s the biggest failing of society – not matching people to jobs that fill them with pride. I fear that may now be even more likely, I hear younger people who wanted to be teachers or work with animals, who wanted to help in a hospice, paint or write, or promote concerts but they are faced with not being able to pay off their student loans or get a mortgage if they pursue what they love. Then the choice of taking a job that doesn’t match your spirit, or taking any job they offer you…because you still need to make rent. Today should recognise the millions of people who do jobs we couldn’t imagine having to do, jobs that still have to be done. We should honour generations of people who worked for decent and safer working conditions and shortened the working week and got benefits to an acceptable level, sadly now many of these benefits are being taken back, corporations are saying how it will be and employees are left too scared to speak out. The gap between rich and poor is growing again and executive salaries have no relation to company performance.

This Labour Day should be about seeing the pendulum swing back in the right direction, workers rights and benefits shouldn’t be ground that is being lost. I am amazed to see things moving backwards in so many ways, are you going backwards…or forwards? Is your workplace asking for more and giving less? Is this any sort of way forward? I don’t know….I just know it looks bad from where I’m sitting. So then…to The Clash.

The Clash were a workers band, the lineage runs from their earliest lyrics to the worker’s cause that put Joe and Mick on stage that one final time in 2002 as they played for striking firemen who were looking for an equitable salary increase. Where did The Clash get much of their feelings from then….I have to trust all I’ve read and remembered, Bernard Rhodes was a critical figure in forming the opinions of a young and impressionable Clash in 1976 and beyond. Rhodes was constantly quoted as saying ‘write about what you see…write about what you know’ rather than giving Strummer a political agenda or bullet list of topics to build songs around. They did as he suggested, writing about lack of career opportunities and boredom making London the grayest backdrop for young people without enough A levels or the right accent.

Joe Strummer was criticised for coming from a ‘privileged background’ which really rings bloody hollow. It hardly worked for him when he started busking in London, or digging graves in Newport or squatting in London. He drifted around for a time and saw people with those jobs that held little glamour, perhaps more importantly The Clash (certainly for the first four years) remained very in touch with their fans, understood what they were like and the jobs they held. All of this certainly helped shaped Joe’s lyrics as he sought to add an edge…but an edge that could be related to within his lyrics.

Talking about the mundane jobs so many endured in factories, the bosses keeping you down and in your place and the sheer boredom of doing a job that you didn’t love were all explored in Clash songs and interviews. I think Bernie Rhodes helped Strummer realise that you couldn’t write about the social condition without commenting on workers and they jobs they do. The list of Clash songs which talk about work are numerous and consistent but take an insiders view of dead end jobs and the need for something more. All the lyrics are from observation and experience as far as Strummer goes as the rest of the band had previously primarily been students up to that point followed by time on the dole.

Clash Songs that focus on work and workers were integral in the success and appeal of the band and the glamour (ironic perhaps?) of joining a band and being part of something. I think the fact of the matter was  that fans related to lyrics, for many if they weren’t in a dead end job the fear of that being the most likely outcome after school or the dole always loomed large. As a teenager then still in school the lyrics of The Clash did influence me…they told me to find a job you loved at all costs.

Career Opportunities and its tale of what the job centre offered for you versus staying on unemployment benefits. Clampdown and its call to action about getting out before your best years are stolen from you, Magnificent Seven and the urgency of getting out of the office at all costs. The band aligned themselves to causes because they thought they should or because their own experience of the DIY ethos of punk showed them it could be done? Janie Jones and need for excitement outside work, then of course they wrote about the options of being in the military or turning to crime for kicks.

When the band were active they had critics scoffing at the politics of Joe Strummer and accusations of sell out surrounding the band and the eventual success they achieved. I argue that they tried to achieve something, sought to inspire change and succeeded for so many of us. Strummer wrote his lyrics from his heart and was inspired by social observation. The fact that one of his last gigs in Acton was a benefit for firemen on strike says it all to me, Mick Jones being in the audience that night and joining Joe a final time on stage also seems to ring with added significance. Labour Day is a day to play The Clash loud and proudly – we are all workers after all, that’s the way the system is. If you or someone you love is currently seeking work I wish you good fortune and timely resolution. To work is to feel worthwhile…

The offered me the office, offered me the shop
They said I’d better take anything they’d got
Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?
Do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?

Thanks for listening to my rant….I’ll be back.