(1952 – 2002)
Former Clash member and rock pioneer Joe Strummer is dead at the age of 50. He died of an apparent heart attack on Sunday December 22, 2002 in his home in Somerset, England.
Strummer and fellow Clash-mates (Mick Jones – guitar, Paul Simonon – bass and Topper Headon – drums) blended punk with a world beat pulse topped with politically and socially charged words.
Although I knew of the Clash early on, it was the release of Combat Rock that really sparked my interest. My buddies and I ripped that album to shreds in a kind of musical autopsy.
Their work taught my budding musical brain that it was possible, even in the murky wasteland of pop music, to create something new.
Strummer had a fair amount of success with his solo work, movies, producing the Pogues and finally with the Mescaleros. However, it is the music of the Clash that will forever define his place in history.
Unfortunately, the much anticipated Clash reunion (tentatively set for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in March ’03) will now just be a faded wish for all fans.
One lucky crowd of Mescaleros fans got a taste of what it would have been like on November 15, 2002. Mick Jones joined Strummer for the first time in nearly twenty years to perform several Clash songs at London’s Acton Town Hall.
Strummer is survived by his wife, two teenage daughters and a stepdaughter.
