It’s been 20 years since The Clash frontman Joe Strummer sadly died from an undiagnosed congenital heart condition at the age of 50. While the band was known for transforming the musical landscape of both their native England and later America by ushering in the new wave and alt-rock eras, The Clash was first and foremost a punk rock band.
As the band’s primary lyricist, Joe Strummer, born John Graham Mellor, is often seen as the prototypical punk frontman and the Clash as punk pioneers. The group was one of the genre’s progenitors to be sure, but they were inspired by and came up with the Sex Pistols.
One of punk’s central tenets is attitude. The Sex Pistols had that in spades. Strummer, who came out of London’s pub rock scene and could easily have been a forgotten character in “Sultans Of Swing,” took note of the Sex Pistols when they opened for his pub rock band The 101ers on April 3, 1976. Here’s Joe recalling seeing the band in a 2000 interview.
“I knew something was up, so I went out in the crowd which was fairly sparse. And I saw the future—with a snotty handkerchief—right in front of me. It was immediately clear. Pub rock was, ‘Hello, you bunch of drunks, I’m gonna play these boogies and I hope you like them.’ The Pistols came out that Tuesday evening and their attitude was, ‘Here’s our tunes, and we couldn’t give a flying fuck whether you like them or not. In fact, we’re gonna play them even if you fucking hate them.’”
Joe and the Clash would use that attitude to devastating effect against the establishment, championing the downtrodden and marginalized peoples of the world. While the Sex Pistols famously leaned toward anarchy on the political scale, Strummer sought to use the establishment against itself. The Clash’s billing of “The Only Band That Matters” is an apt one for their time and place.
Just a few months after seeing the Sex Pistols, Joe Strummer was out of the 101ers and in the Clash along with guitarists Mick Jones and Keith Levene, bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Terry Chimes. On August 29, 1976, the Clash played a show with their fellow punk pioneers the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks. A recording of the Clash’s set is the earliest known live capture of the legendary band. The setlist contains a number of songs that would appear on the group’s 1977 self-titled debut album including “Janie Jones,” “London’s Burning,” “What’s My Name,” “Protex Blue” and “Deny” alongside other early tunes.
To remember Joe Strummer, listen to the Clash’s first known recording below:
Setlist
Set: Deny, I Know What To Think About You, I Never Did It (I Don’t Want Your Money), How Can I Understand The Flies, Janie Jones, Protex Blue, Mark Me Absent, Going To The Disco (Deadly Serious), What’s My Name, Sitting At My Party, 48 Hours, I’m So Bored With You, London’s Burning, 1977
