It might have been a touch of the Rip Van Winkles, or it may have all happened before I launched the blog last summer but every now and then something that was seemingly important just passes me by. I also may well be telling you something you knew about last Spring and if that’s the case sorry – if not then you’ll be glad you dropped by. I think the reality was I read about this briefly, meant to return to it and then got distracted by the need to pay a bill or visit the dentist or something.

I’m coming at this project from the sidelines but if you’ve read the book or been involved with ‘Let Fury Have the Hour’ please feel free to write in and let me know what you thought. I’d seen the book online and added it to my bucket list of Clash tasks which seems to somehow grow as the years roll by. The book had mixed reviews and perhaps the documentary film project is a natural (or better?) outcome for the compendium of research undertaken by author Antoninio D’Ambrosio. The official blurb on the book does little to capture you but the more objective Publisher’s Weekly overview does leave you wanting to read more (the risk being you may have read much of it before).

“Were it not for the Clash, punk would have been just a sneer, a safety pin, and a pair of bondage trousers,” writes Billy Bragg, and documentarian/activist D’Ambrosio proves it with this gathering of skillfully selected articles and essays on Clash front man Joe Strummer (1952–2002), from the likes of Lester Bangs, Chuck D, Greil Marcus and D’Ambrosio himself. Most contributions consider the highly politicized early years of “the only band that mattered,” its commercial U.S. breakthrough in 1983 as well as its imminent demise, and Strummer’s role as lyricist and political agitator. Although a few essays discuss the political ambiguity of some of Strummer’s songs, they mostly praise the outspoken singer/guitarist’s commitment to confronting racism, classism and capitalism at a time when punk bands were apolitical or nihilistic. In a 1979 essay, Lester Bangs credits the Clash with forging “the missing link between black music and white noise.” Other pieces chronicle Strummer’s stints as a film score composer and actor and his ongoing forays into multicultural music. Some essays lean toward a preachy interpretation of Strummer’s humanist philosophy, but the best invoke irresistible excitement as they describe beer-soaked early Clash shows and the message of hope the band gave to kids rebelling against what they saw as the oppressive conservatism and systemic self-loathing of Thatcherite England”

I think the premise for the book was worthy of applause, it takes the vehicle of Joe Strummer and specifically the ‘message’ of The Clash to assess the power of rock music to filter to the great unwashed a message of inclusion, activism and change, but from a platform of democracy. During my reflective moments I know that The Clash altered my stance on so many things – arriving in my life a few years before girls distracted me and at an age where questioning and challenging the status quo was germinating in me waiting to see the light of day. Whether this ability was something that The Clash sat down and planned/plotted (research suggests yes with the active boot up the arse of the band’s management)  wasn’t the point. Music is a results based service and The Clash were broadcasting to legions of bored, agitated and primarily younger men and women who wanted a band that mattered – a band that were worth caring about.

Do you even remember being 14 years old? I do, at that age a year following a band seemed to be a significant commitment of time, a 3 or 4 year relationship signified a band that reflected who you were and what you valued, it seemed they had been there for you forever. For me – I had the Clash as a daily active concern from early ’79 to late ’83 within a year of Mick Jones being kicked out I understood the initial band were finished but my loyalty to the ideas remained. I’d gone from being twelve to leaving home, from having no clue to feeling aware of unions, central america, and the wrongs of the corporations that bashed around the working man. The US was no longer just the home of hamburgers and Disneyland but now had the shadow of Vietnam and the Cold War dragging behind it. My education in addition to school was The Clash, my need to learn more initially came from a band – some would call that naive but I thought it was pivotal.

I’ll do more research on the book and film….so this post was a bit premature eh? One thing I’m finding myself less and less comfortable with however is the separation of The Clash and Strummer – especially as a political artist – I think it is one and the same entity.

Further reading:  Link to the official site is here. An in-depth article about The Clash by D’Ambrosio appears here. LA Weekly blog article is also good.