Willow
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I meant to post this last night...
From the BBC website:
Clash star Strummer dies
Joe Strummer, the leader of legendary Seventies punk band The Clash, has died of a suspected heart attack aged 50.
A spokesman for Strummer, real name John Graham Mellor, said the singer died at home in Broomfield, Somerset, on Sunday.
Strummer formed The Clash in the mid Seventies. Along with the Sex Pistols, they were the figureheads of the punk scene that put London on the map as the centre of the musical world.
U2 frontman Bono paid tribute to Strummer on Monday saying: "The Clash was the greatest rock band. They wrote the rule book for U2. It's such a shock." Bob Geldof - a musical contemporary as frontman for the Boomtown Rats - said he admired their refusal to sell out. "I know for a fact they were offered huge amounts of money," he told the BBC's One O'Clock News. "They just said no, that isn't really what we stood for. That's truly admirable. They were very important musically but as a person, he was a very nice man." <table align=right bgcolor=#ffffcc border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 width=150> <tbody> <tr> <td bgcolor=#cccc99> The Clash's hits
</td></tr> <tr> <td align=middle bgcolor=#cccc99 valign=top>
</td></tr> <tr> <td> London Calling
Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Rock The Casbah
White Riot
Tommy Gun
Bank Robber
White Man In Hammersmith Palais
</td></tr></tbody></table> Left-wing singer Billy Bragg said: "Within The Clash, Joe was the political engine of the band, and without Joe there's no political Clash and without The Clash the whole political edge of punk would have been severely dulled." The Clash arguably gave punk a classic pop sensibility and their vital spirit in turn influenced later bands such as the Manic Street Preachers. They were politically aware and became known as champions of left-wing causes. They even called their 1980 album Sandinista, after the left-wing guerrilla movement in Nicaragua. They were anti-racist and noted for inflammatory, intelligent punk songs such as London Calling, White Riot, White Man In Hammersmith Palais and Tommy Gun. In recent years, apart from The Mescaleros, Strummer played with The Pogues and featured in several films, including Alex Cox's Walker and Straight To Hell, and Jim Jarmusch's 1989 Mystery Train. Strummer's family have asked that instead of floral tributes, money is paid to the Mandela SOS fundraising concert, which is aimed at raising awareness of the Aids epidemic in Africa. The artist had been due to take part in the show on 2 February, from Mandela's former prison on Robben Island. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Clash were a very important part of my teenage upbringing and exposed me to whole new world of music with bands being influenced by them in the inner-city areas of Sydney in 1977. While many people were buying records from 'The Wombles', a disgusting English group that dressed up in furry animal outfits and sang low grade bubble gum pop, I managed to get hold of the Clash's first album entitled, "The Clash"... it was like a breath of fresh air for kid living in the suburbs. It sent me on my way to search out everything that was there to be explored. RIP Joe Strummer... one bloke who died too young.
From the BBC website:
Clash star Strummer dies
Joe Strummer, the leader of legendary Seventies punk band The Clash, has died of a suspected heart attack aged 50.
A spokesman for Strummer, real name John Graham Mellor, said the singer died at home in Broomfield, Somerset, on Sunday.
Strummer formed The Clash in the mid Seventies. Along with the Sex Pistols, they were the figureheads of the punk scene that put London on the map as the centre of the musical world.
U2 frontman Bono paid tribute to Strummer on Monday saying: "The Clash was the greatest rock band. They wrote the rule book for U2. It's such a shock." Bob Geldof - a musical contemporary as frontman for the Boomtown Rats - said he admired their refusal to sell out. "I know for a fact they were offered huge amounts of money," he told the BBC's One O'Clock News. "They just said no, that isn't really what we stood for. That's truly admirable. They were very important musically but as a person, he was a very nice man." <table align=right bgcolor=#ffffcc border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 width=150> <tbody> <tr> <td bgcolor=#cccc99> The Clash's hits
</td></tr> <tr> <td align=middle bgcolor=#cccc99 valign=top>
Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Rock The Casbah
White Riot
Tommy Gun
Bank Robber
White Man In Hammersmith Palais
</td></tr></tbody></table> Left-wing singer Billy Bragg said: "Within The Clash, Joe was the political engine of the band, and without Joe there's no political Clash and without The Clash the whole political edge of punk would have been severely dulled." The Clash arguably gave punk a classic pop sensibility and their vital spirit in turn influenced later bands such as the Manic Street Preachers. They were politically aware and became known as champions of left-wing causes. They even called their 1980 album Sandinista, after the left-wing guerrilla movement in Nicaragua. They were anti-racist and noted for inflammatory, intelligent punk songs such as London Calling, White Riot, White Man In Hammersmith Palais and Tommy Gun. In recent years, apart from The Mescaleros, Strummer played with The Pogues and featured in several films, including Alex Cox's Walker and Straight To Hell, and Jim Jarmusch's 1989 Mystery Train. Strummer's family have asked that instead of floral tributes, money is paid to the Mandela SOS fundraising concert, which is aimed at raising awareness of the Aids epidemic in Africa. The artist had been due to take part in the show on 2 February, from Mandela's former prison on Robben Island. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Clash were a very important part of my teenage upbringing and exposed me to whole new world of music with bands being influenced by them in the inner-city areas of Sydney in 1977. While many people were buying records from 'The Wombles', a disgusting English group that dressed up in furry animal outfits and sang low grade bubble gum pop, I managed to get hold of the Clash's first album entitled, "The Clash"... it was like a breath of fresh air for kid living in the suburbs. It sent me on my way to search out everything that was there to be explored. RIP Joe Strummer... one bloke who died too young.
