A difference of opinion; Gorillaz and other projects
Welcome back good people, it really felt like a Monday today didn’t it? Bad night of sleep, burned my finger, sore back from digging the pond (I think) and the strange sense that you left something behind on a shelf called ‘the weekend’. Ah well…too late to look back now let’s tackle the week head on. I know there’s an 80% chance you’ll not be reading this on a Monday but trust me that the sentiment was there as I write this.
Speaking of sentiment I saw some comments on our facebook page that made me wonder if I’ve been treating the recruitment of Mick Jones and Paul Simonon to Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz with the legislation of sentiment?? Was I simply happy that not only had these two pillars of The Clash played on a track on the new Plastic Beach album but then rumour was cemented into fact by the two Clash boys becoming part of Gorillaz at least in the live setting for the Spring and the Summer? Was I immersed in this unlikeliest of reunions to such an extent that I didn’t see it as opportunistic and even insulting to the legacy of The Clash? Did I let my judgment get clouded by events and ignore the facts? As you’ll see below I’ll reproduce some of the discussion we’ve been having on the FB page – and while not wanting to ratchet this up to a full on debate I do admire the conviction and reasoning of ‘Johnny Heartbreaker’. I did contact Johnny and he’s a good man and I asked if he’d object to his comments being part of this post and he was fine with that.
Now as to a lot of his thoughts, he’s probably trying to convince the wrong person. I’ve been a fan of Blur since first seeing them in 1993 and remained a great admirer of them throughout their time together, purchasing all their albums, meeting them a few times and feeling that along with Pulp and Supergrass they were amongst the best music England had to offer throughout the 1990’s. While I was raised on The Clash a few bands have held my interest long enough to watch their entire careers since and Blur would fall into that category. I’ve since enjoyed (most) of Graham Coxon’s solo work, adored The Good The Bad and The Queen (one of the best albums of the last decade for me) and watched Gorillaz evolve into a fascinating soup of musical influences wound around the songwriting and arrangement of Albarn. If you take the three Gorillaz albums as a composite work they are as fresh as anything else released in the last decade. Of course these are just my opinions after all, but yeah I was thrilled that Damon would work with Paul and Mick, and to me it’s rather brilliant to see them performing live together again with Damon. As I said I’m the wrong person to ask, Johnny sees the heart and soul of The Clash as Joe Strummer – end of story. His point of view is laid out beneath, although its fair to say he sees Mick’s work in the intervening decades as lackluster. He also feels that Strummer continued to maintain all of the integrity and quality post Clash – which I don’t agree with. While I fiercely enjoyed his later work nothing came close to the chemistry of The Clash (for me). Strummer was without a doubt one of a kind but did he ever burn as brightly as he did with The Clash?
The Clash were unlike any other band, it was specifically the balance between those four that led to a concentrated output of music, passion, ideas that can never be matched. I think Jones had to have Strummer to put the fabric on his song structure, I think Strummer needed the compositional skills of Jones to make songs that are as timeless as granite. I think both needed the personalities and vastly different skills of
Topper and Paul to put the roof on the building that the Clash created. I’ve never looked for any member of The Clash to match what they did with The Clash, nor do I think any of them have succeeded for more than a fleeting moment. I also think the combined output of Strummer and Jones (which strangely always seemed to ebb while the other flowed) since the split has brought us music that was vital to the last 30 years. While not matching the pinnacle of The Clash it was still pretty bloody good – and that includes contributions this decade with Carbon Silicon, The Good The Bad and The Queen and now Gorillaz. If the value of The Clash ended with a brick wall in 1983 they’d still have had a great impact but I do think it runs deeper than that and not just from Joe’s work.
There’s no right or wrong in this discussion – just thoughts and ideas, but I wondered if I was in the minority feeling very rewarded by the post Clash career of Jones and Simonon and not just Joe? As for Topper – his comments below are sound as a pound.
Below are the comments from the FB page, apologies if this is old to some of you – and yes I welcome your opinions, of all stripes.
(posted in response to old live footage of The Clash around 1980)
Sad to see Mick and Paul go from this – to prancing around a stage with the Gorillaz in ridiculous sailor outfits! Still, it was as equally sad to see them go from this to BAD and Havana 3am as well.
I think it’s not unfair then to say that they always needed Joe more than he ever needed them. Joe wasn’t just the main man in the Clash, but also in the 101′ers and the Mescaleros. And of course he set up Strummerville, keeping true to his life-long values of giving back to the people i.e. you and me, who gave him so much in return.
Joe truly was the beating heart of the (in it’s widest meaning) socialist claims of the Clash. He not only talked but also walked, lived and breathed his convictions …Whereas – and stepping back from rose tinted glasses – Mick, Paul and Topper haven’t quite lived up to their claims. Being rather self-centred and obsessed in their non-Clash interests and pursuits. Still trying to play rock stars. Still acting like rock stars.
But then – outside of Joe – I can’t think of any other member of the 1970s UK punk scene giving anything back either. Lydonville? Purseyville? Cornwellville? TV Smithville? Idolville?
Nope, as I said. Great to see posts like this. But not so when it’s also a bitter reminder that, in Joe, the only true and genuine light of the 1970s UK punk scene went out, the day he died. But that’s just my opinion – and it may be said that I’m a little biased. Not least as I named my eldest son after Joe – and Joe is one of the only two genuine heroes I’ve ever had in my life …
And he’s a hero because (as stated above) he walked,talked, lived and breathed everything he ever believed in – and gave something back. So, shame on Mick, Paul and Topper. But then again you’ve still got time guys …!
Then a few replies -
Mick needed Joe but not the other way round??? I don’t think The Clash would have offered a third of what they did if Strummer’s songwriting partner wasn’t Jones ~ and I think Joe would have said the same.
And as for Paul being irreplaceable? Debate still rages on in regards to how much he contributed to the Clash’s studio work, from ‘London Calling’ onwards. Although there does seem to be general agreement that it became less and less as time went on. Good looks and an excellent private record collection hardly constitute irreconcilability.
BAD ‘important innovators’? Hardly. Simply a mismash of bands like 1980s Parliament, Funkadelic, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, early American hip-hop artistes and late Clash style tunes. Come on (again) let’s be honest, if Mick hadn’t been in BAD would you REALLY be making such claims? I think it wouldn’t be unfair to say that you wouldn’t be.
But I completely concur with the statement that there will never be a band like The Clash again. Because there will never be a Joe Strummer again ( Rage Against The Machine the only other band I’d ever put in the same category as the Clash – not least after yesterday’s FREE London concert: it was something that Joe would have done without even thinking about it. Because he loved us, the fans from the bottom of his heart and never abandoned us. But how many of us abandoned him?!).
So, sorry, to be brutally honest Mick and Paul lowering themselves to the level of wearing sailor outfits with the AWFUL Gorillaz, breaks my heart. They’ve become horrible caricatures of themselves – and I’ve no doubt that this complicity on their part lies in that old age trait of those who’ve experienced fame: trying to regain their glory years at all costs (just look at Lydon’s recent butter advert. A greater example of becoming a caricature of yourself it would be hard to find).
It’s a tragedy. Not knowing when to let go and accept that you’re ‘last years thing.’ Sadly, something that happened to Mick and Paul the moment the Clash – and Joe – disappeared off the radar (and the main reason I don’t take part in all these ridiculous old school punk festivals or reunions).
As for Topper? Well what can you say about him that he hasnt said about himself a dozen times over since? A great drumming talent destroyed by Heroin addiction. A classic case of pushing that self-destruct button, despite having it all.
Ultimately, I stand by what I’ve said. For a moment in time the Clash ruled both our lifes, and the world. But as quickly as they came, they’d gone – and pages like this are a wonderful reminder of those early, heady, drug & alcohol fuelled, militant days of teenage angst & convictions that we were going to change the world, for ever! Did we? Well, I changed myself and my world – and perhaps that’s the greatest tribute any of us, as fans, can ever make to the Clash’s existence …
Because it was the one thing that Joe especially stressed time after time: don’t live your life’s through us, or expect us to live your life for you. Go out and live your life the way you want to live it … but don’t forget to buy our records and come and see us live at the same time!
My comments aren’t meant to insult other members of the Clash. But Joe was, is and will always be the engine room and heart of the Clash. Simply because he inspired me the most and extolled the same values and dreams that I had, and still do.
I don’t miss seeing the Clash – I miss seeing Joe. As I said one of the only two heroes I’ve ever had in my life (my paternal Zionist, Marxist, Jewish grandfather being the other one) …
And Strummerville remains both a wonderful legacy Joe left behind, and a reminder to all those who pick up a guitar and stand on a stage that it’s not simply about just take, take, take -but in GIVING SOMETHING BACK!!!
The cold and brutal truth in the light of day shows that Mick, Paul and Topper (or Pursey, Lydon et al) haven’t and continue to play the rock star fame game, and play it for every penny and ounce of ‘respectability’ that it offers.
As I said a tragedy – and a heartbreaking memorial to what they both once were.



