How? Everyone "cool" already watches and listens to independent artists. All he had to say was "wake up, wake up." Same shit artists are saying now and have been saying forever. Wake up to what? SJW politics? No thanks. Great voice on Joe, cool songs, but enough with the shit where he was a philosopher or something. Wow, "think for yourself." What a wholly original concept.
You can basically say the same thing about any style of music from any decade starting from Louis Armstrong jazz innovation, but.. really, from the beginning of the Bebop era onward.
I was a big clash fan but I must confess I walked out of the gig at Brixton academy with this line up. It was never the same after topper and then finally mick were sacked.
@@markdennison6345 fucking awful which is just sad. Carving your band up like that never works out for the better. You needed jonesy and topper because of their character. Also these new gizas were just shite
Joe Strummer was a really smart thinking intelligent punk rock rebel man, god bless his soul, he knew music wasnt really about entertainment, it was about communication and a sense of understanding the world and fixing its problems. Plus Joe was a great tap dancer 5:15 😏😃💐💋🌈
So ironic that Joe criticized "overproduction" right before allowing Bernie Rhodes to create that overproduced abomination known as CTC. Joe is one of my favorite people of all time, but he was way too far up his own arse during this period. As he himself would later admit.
The Clash without Jones and Headon were good but nowhere near as good . Former Clash roadie Johnny Green went to a show and Strummer remarked that he was wearing a `crap suit` . Green replied `it`s not as crap as your band ` .Strummer just said `i know`. as you know doubt know he regretted sacking Topper and Mick . I reckon they (the classic line up ) could have made at least another one or maybe even two credible albums.
He tried, he got a bit lost but if you listen to what he said then he had a point. Really, this incarnation of The Clash should have been what the Mescaleros became. Joe had the right idea.
From The Clash to Combat Rock was a short time span ,i don`t think any groups could do that now. They were a 24 hour group . They had it all ,the songs the look the commitment. Sadly something as good as that can`t last .Although i reckon they could have maybe done at least one more `classic ` album with Jones.
Kerch Music the fact is once CTC was finished Joe learnt his mum was dieing of Cancer. He then took time out and in his absence Rhodes post produced the album and released it without Strummers approval. Joe never hear the album until it was already out.
Joe & the Clash definitely communicated to so many people, it was almost like they were your best mates even though you never knew them personally... and yet somehow, you did!
The Clash as a brand and all of them fully aware of it. Joe and Paul knowing they need Mick and Topper back and the 3 "other" guys knowing their days are numbered.
I love Joe but he's trying so hard to keep it going here knowing deep down that the band is done. He's spot on about a lot of things here but at the same time this is hard to watch. Especially with the "New" guys looking like they'd rather be anywhere else.
The new guys didn't even know what to say because apparently Joe and Paul's ideas were ironic for them. Y'know, they were young and probably willing some money and fame. Joe and Paul already had that fame.
The true essence of punk rock is the man or woman breaking their rear end to make a living and feeding their family.....or a guitar player starving on the streets to put out a message.. that's punk
Almost 40 years!! Today, they come across as prophetic. Their points are clear, obvious and comprehensible for everyone who opens their eyes. The sad thing is though, people still haven't understood it!!
Joe is talking up a good game but they were all at sea without Mick. Joe was such a great man and sad to see him entering his wilderness years here. So great he got his dues and mojo back before he passed. The fucking Clash man, never defeated, never bettered.
New-wave pop / MTV era... The most creative New Wave was good, artistic, experimental & original and was related to the aesthetic ferment of fertile late-punk/postpunk period but he’s spot on about the ascendance of pop by then and the persistent corporatization of rock.
No,it already happened in the 70s with pop rock band like pink floyd,led zeppelin,fletwood mac and co,in fact punk was already a reaction to that,problem is that clash were not punk,they were pop rock.
I knew it was the end when Joe sacked Mick. I bought “Cut the Crap” anyway, but other than “This Is England,” I was disappointed. I’m happy for Mick as his brilliance as a lyricist and vocalist played out with BAD. Even some of his stuff with Carbon Silicon. As for Joe, so happy that he got his mojo back with the Mescaleros.
Music can have no words at all and still be sincere, because it's an abstract language. I love the Clash but it's also fine to connect with music entirely viscerally, rather than filtering the meaning through your brain.
I generally don't think that music needs justification to exist, he's being a bit of an elitist. Music (with some exceptions) is just another form of expression, whether you want to express your political thoughts or "less meaningful" things. A song doesn't have to communicate life changing philosophies to be good.
Rafael Henriquez: back then he was saying the music was equally as shitty. 30 years before then people were saying pop music was shitty. Focus on what you like and listen to that, dont gotta look down on others for doing the same
He’s talking about these rock and pop star life styles being promoted by these corporate entities, that constantly play on the radio, tv, internet, causing people to be syncophantic idol worshippers, becoming a bunch of imitators, doing nothing unique but to just party and act mindlessly and forget about critical thinking and thinking for yourself. He’s talking about the message, intelligence and feeling into music, being produced organically. With that said the stones are a classic band. But I know what the fuck strummers saying.
Duff Baker i Think He will not give a shit if someone will listen it without thinking about what it is about. He generally try to say. Think what you listen.
I looked through the comments and didn't see it, but in the opening seconds of Big Audio Dynamite's "E=MC2", a voice can be heard saying 'I don't like music.' I often wondered who/what that is. It seems to be from this interview. Mick busting Joe's chops.
I think this might be the most interesting and highest quality, most intelligent music-industry 'indie' discussion recorded in the entire 1980's, It seems like it could almost be Nirvana and not The Clash. Sad I only found it in 2019.... But happy I found it all the same. Thank you for the upload. I now see Mr Strummer in a whole new light. BRAVO 🏆
I asked Joe for a support to The Clash, he said "Do I look like a promoter?" What's the name of your band? I said 4 Minute Warning.. He replied "4 in the mornin' eh? True story from one of the many times we met. love this blokes honesty and hate of the pop world.RIP Joe
Mick Jones was the music of the Clash. Fact! Joe had the lyrics but without the music, regardless or genre, you don’t have anything. See Cut the Crap. They seemed to avoid their own advice there.
He saw it when he was alive.... He knew it was all b*******... And he was part of the game too.... That's right the reason he knows so much about it is because he was in it...
He is both right and wrong at the same time. All music has a message, that includes metal. Grant it that not all of it is profound, but it's still communication.
This was a sad point in the band's "career arc" or whatever you want to call it. Still love the first 3 or 4 albums. This video should be titled Joe and Paul and three dudes who AREN'T the Clash. Christ, watching Joe struggle to remember these dudes' names is agony.
London Calling, to take an example, communicates to me, yes.. It communicates a great musical experience, with incredible voice performances and great adaptations. So yeah, music.. it IS the point, dear Joe, before any other meaning. But I love you.
5:10 That's the truth!!! I don't fin d myself rushing out to buy a new record either. Why? Because the music of today 2022/2023 is a mess. Give me bands like The Clash anyday. I'd rather look for and buy second hand albums than most of the modern bands today.
the clash were on epic. a cooperation id love to be so fartunate. corporations can be benificial. ya feel me? cooperatives can be too. community loving u all.
It's because it's embarrassing and not really the Clash. It's basically a Joe Strummer solo band. CTC was such a disaster I think they all just wanted to pretend it didn't happen.
By the time this interview was made, the Clash, as we knew and loved them were done. Combat rock was decent in parts, Cut the Crap should have stayed as studio demos and never been released. they, to quote the pistols were "flogging a dead horse" by this point - just sad. Thankfully Joe went on to better things in his solo career - this to me will never really be called the Clash...
Well... yeah... he is sort of putting out his punk persona. But in reality you cannot make great songs and big hits to it as well, such as The Guns of Brixton or London Calling without any musical talent or will to do it. There were tens of thousands punk bands in the 70s, 80s but very few made such commercial success or popularity as the Clash. Also the punks had that attitude that it wasn't about the music at all, well it really was beacuse as soon as their music faded out of the youth, their influence and short seighted philosophies faded away as well, or morphed into sonething else.
I always wondered what happened to the Clash as they were so great and successful and rightfully so and now I know.....Guess that's why he died so young God bless him....
Loved the music but in reality, the Clash were stage managed from beginning to end. They like all the rest are and were part of the entertainment complex. It really is all a load of bollox. The really rebels and misfits in this world are never written about, or remembered.
i suppose you have to make a living in a capitalist world, might as well do that and say what you think at the same time, i dunno more fun than working in a factory....its not that easy to live outside the system
Very accurate comment. End of the day. It’s all show business. If your music makes people want to dance, (Whatever the lyrical content is), kids will dance. Think you’ve got political power in your music? You’re a dreamer.
I think this is a very relevant point today, not by the point itself, but by its existence since music became an industry. Saying that the music of today is simplistic, bad or too commercial is ignoring that music has always been simplistic, bad and too commercial. Even at that time Joe Strummer was pointing out overproduction as an issue with artists, not caring much about live performances. It has always been this way, but it seems that music from yesterday was better due to pure survival bias. Simply put, bad music has always been made. It's just been washed away with time, along with being less noticeable because music wasn't as accessible as it is today.
Part of what he said is so well said and some of it isn’t well said at all but the main message is still very intelligent way of thinking abt the clash and punk in general
“You’ve got to do a lot of work to even do any of your own thinking.” That revelation epitomizes Joe for me. This thought-for the 16-year-old kid I was in ‘78-radically changed my life. White Riot. Gates of the West. Armageddon Time. Cheers to you, Joe.
Big fan of the The Clash here, and especially of the great John Mellor. This is one of the rare moments, however, where he is 100% full of shit. This is the first time I've seen this interview. If you peel away the thin veneer of this nonsense, I think you'll see that Paul and Joe are still on shaky ground, unsure of themselves and where they're going with their post-Jones Clash incarnation. Let's take a couple of specific points from this interview. Paul asserts that Mick was content with Combat Rock and wanted to keep producing music in that manner (in fact he wanted to be even more pop oriented, as evidenced by BAD), while he and Joe were "just getting started" and eager to elevate their music...well...not "music" apparently...their Clashness, let's say, to new heights. And just how firm was that conviction? This unit churned out one great single and an album that was self-referential in its apt title. Joe couldn't even arrange for the new crew to play on CTC. It was a disgrace. Within a year and a half or so the Clash dissolved for good. Some new direction. Then you have Joe claiming that The Clash aren't "musicians," and that he doesn't really like music. Yeah, sure. Just how many Clash fans would there be if it weren't for the great music, mainly arranged by Mick Jones? I mean "music" as most reasonable people consider it. Would y'all have loved The Clash just as well if Joe mainly ranted on the albums like he did at the US Festival? Joe in this entire interview sounds like a guy who's desperately trying to convince himself that The Clash has a long future in store, full of revolutionary new ideas that will transform the social fabric of the entire world. I mean, God bless Joe for his spirit, but this is just rubbish.
you miss the point buddy the music biz is like the government controlled by a few mega corporations who lay down the law and say that no popular music should have any real meaning. that is the Reagan and Thatcher era reality of the Clash and the current Bojo and Adolf Trump era. The clash were not musicians, they were social revolutionaries, who saw how corrupt our AMERIKKKAN CAPITALISTIC SOCIETY WAS AND STILL IS. SO WAKE UP SUCKER, JOE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH, THE TRUTH THAT YOU YUPPIE WANNABEEES STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND. SMOKE THE HOLY HERB, LISTEN TO THE CLASH AND REVOLT AGAINST THE RICH PIGF ELITE THAT CONTROL OUR BODIES AND MINDS.
They're unique, people relate to the honesty of what they are. They care about life,,, thru the music, the music is utilized to change life & humanity. That's what resonates, that's what helps humanity & Destiny IS within our hands,, we will prevail. 🔭📡🎺🚀
