Where's the Book?

[Virtual Bison]

Agree, back in the day The Clash and The Jam were about the best things going. I can remember listening to the "first" Clash album on vinyl (released second in the US) and immediately taping the whole thing because I knew I would wear it out.

Regret to say I never saw them live either. Always figured I'd catch them next time 'round, but eventually they were doing football stadiums and then kaput. The UK bands of that era had a short shelf life, so it was catch 'em when they're hot or not at all.

Did see Public Image once with Keith Levene (ex-original Clash guitarist), but that's as close as I ever got. Somebody in the crowd threw a beer on him and he dropped his guitar faster than you can say Keith Relf.

Never believed that "congenital heart defect" story for Strummer's demise. Funny all the drug-using musicians (Morrison, Kossoff, Entwistle, etc.) who suddenly died of "heart attacks." Strummer claimed he was a "socialist," so admitting he died from drug abuse would only confirm he was a moron.

Like most of these leftist retards, he was good at noticing the ills of society and bad at focusing on the cause. I know it was Jones who used to play in the band "London SS," but these are the same sort of dopes who embrace stylish anarchism and don't quite get the Nazi implications. Since the government is the problem, obviously the solution would not be more government.

As he also did in "Career Opportunities," Strummer powerfully articulated his youthful dilemma, but he never seemed to get that the reason you don't have choices is because the "clampdown" takes them from you. In a free society the marketplace determines product availability, not the government.

Still, his socialist shortcomings notwithstanding, I loved his passion and his lyricism. Another one of those "whole greater than the sum of its parts" situations. Although I do believe it was Jones and Simonon who really drove the sound, none of them ever sounded as good individually as they did together.

Well this getting off track but I do love discussing music. Its my true passion in life.

Mick Jones did have his band Big Audio Dynamite which released a few hits in the 80s. I do not know where he is now.

The Nazi imagery which existed in punk and other forms of underground music was really more for sensationalistic purposes. For example The Joy Division would feature imagery of SS troops, Nazi rallies and swastika in their shows. They were not actual fascists but rather, they enjoyed shocking their audiences.

Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols would often wear shirts with swastikas. John Leyden (Johnny Rotten) was later quoted as saying that the Pistols were not really fascists but just liked doing things to fuck with people's minds.