Joe Strummer - Combat Rocker

"Joe Strummer was born John Mellor in 1952, the mostly Scottish, part Armenian, part Jewish son of a self-made diplomat of socialist leanings. After several exotic postings, the family settled in London when John was 7. Scarred slightly by boarding school and immensely by his brother’s suicide in 1970, Mellor slacked through art school, renamed himself Woody Mellor, wandered and squatted and scrounged, renamed himself Joe Strummer, and began his pursuit of stardom by singing in the pub-rock 101’ers. From that rather trad band, he was recruited by the theoretically left-wing schemer-manager Bernie Rhodes to join the punk radicals the Clash in 1976. Other members were the pop-savvy guitarist Mick Jones, the style-setting bassist Paul Simonon and, eventually, the deft power drummer Topper Headon.

Strummer-Jones proved to be one of rock’s great songwriting partnerships, and the Clash produced more exciting, durable music than any punk band except perhaps the Ramones, who didn’t approach their ambition or reach. Recorded quickly and with little forethought, their eponymous 1977 debut LP — 14 fast, tough, hooky, furiously funny protest songs that last 35 minutes, including a six-minute reggae cover — is a masterpiece that defined a youth culture. Rolling Stone named their expansive, two-disc “London Calling” (1980), a loud stylistic mélange that revisits Strummer’s rootsy 101’ers roots, the greatest album of the ’80s. Neither the heavier, tighter “Give ’Em Enough Rope” (1978) nor the spacier, looser, three-disc “Sandinista!” (1981) gets the respect it deserves, and both get plenty. There was also a superb album’s worth of singles and, oh yes, the best-selling “Combat Rock” (1982), which made the Clash almost as rich as they were famous — not to mention their intense live show, with Strummer’s possessed theatrics the focus whether they were vanning through England or headlining Japan…

full article: New York Times Book Review