Ten Favorite Songwriting Teams: Strummer/Jones (#9)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (62096)
United States
April 3, 2017 9:33am CST
In part three of my three-pronged look at my favorite songwriters across the spectrum of music, I come to my favorite teams -- songwriters that were usually credited together. So far today I've posted Hank Williams -- grade-A country -- and Gordon Lightfoot -- grade-A folk/soft rock -- as favorites. So how do I complete the trifecta? Here's today's team.
#9: Joe Strummer & Mick Jones
Yeah, with the Clash. (And yes, I'm the same person who just posted "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." 
)
The record company gave the Clash a moniker: "The Only Band That Matters." That's a boast and a tall order to live up to, but the Clash certainly did.
Although branded as "punk" (which is certainly true), the Clash combined elements of numerous other forms of world music into their repertoire. In fact, the first "rap" you may have heard was "The Magnificent Seven" on the Clash's triple album Sandinista! They had reggae and even pop (listen to "Hitsville UK," with its children's chorus and happy melody that underlie the lyrics that take the music industry to task).
At the helm of all of this was the creative force of Mick Jones, the lead guitarist and occasional lead singer (he sang lead on two of the Clash's biggest hits), and Joe Strummer, majority lead singer and guitarist. Although the songwriting credits shifted to say "The Clash" on Sandinista! and Combat Rock, everyone pretty much knows who the brains of this outfit were. And, if there is any doubt, listen -- if you dare -- to Cut the Crap, the album Strummer made under the name "the Clash" after the other original members had left.
After the Clash broke up Strummer and Jones went in two distinct directions. Strummer did some soundtrack work (pick up a copy of Permanent Record if you can find it: Strummer's songs encompass all of side one) and solo material; while Jones co-founded General Public (and played on their US hit "Tenderness") but left before the band's first album was released. He then founded Big Audio Dynamite, which continued the eclectic sounds the Clash had become famous for.
There was a lot more to the Clash than just punk. Some of the most biting and brave lyrics of the 70s came from these two.
Joe Strummer & Mick Jones
Strummer: born John Graham Mellor, August 21, 1952, Ankara, Turkey; died December 22, 2002, Bloomfield, Somerset, England (heart attack)
Jones: born Michael Geoffrey Jones, June 26, 1955, Wandsworth, London
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - 2002
Best-known songs: "Train in Vain (Stand By Me)," "Should I Stay or Should I Go," "Rock the Casbah."
I already counted down my ten favorite Clash songs, so here's another great tune from the classic London Calling album:
)
The record company gave the Clash a moniker: "The Only Band That Matters." That's a boast and a tall order to live up to, but the Clash certainly did.
Although branded as "punk" (which is certainly true), the Clash combined elements of numerous other forms of world music into their repertoire. In fact, the first "rap" you may have heard was "The Magnificent Seven" on the Clash's triple album Sandinista! They had reggae and even pop (listen to "Hitsville UK," with its children's chorus and happy melody that underlie the lyrics that take the music industry to task).
At the helm of all of this was the creative force of Mick Jones, the lead guitarist and occasional lead singer (he sang lead on two of the Clash's biggest hits), and Joe Strummer, majority lead singer and guitarist. Although the songwriting credits shifted to say "The Clash" on Sandinista! and Combat Rock, everyone pretty much knows who the brains of this outfit were. And, if there is any doubt, listen -- if you dare -- to Cut the Crap, the album Strummer made under the name "the Clash" after the other original members had left.
After the Clash broke up Strummer and Jones went in two distinct directions. Strummer did some soundtrack work (pick up a copy of Permanent Record if you can find it: Strummer's songs encompass all of side one) and solo material; while Jones co-founded General Public (and played on their US hit "Tenderness") but left before the band's first album was released. He then founded Big Audio Dynamite, which continued the eclectic sounds the Clash had become famous for.
There was a lot more to the Clash than just punk. Some of the most biting and brave lyrics of the 70s came from these two.
Joe Strummer & Mick Jones
Strummer: born John Graham Mellor, August 21, 1952, Ankara, Turkey; died December 22, 2002, Bloomfield, Somerset, England (heart attack)
Jones: born Michael Geoffrey Jones, June 26, 1955, Wandsworth, London
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - 2002
Best-known songs: "Train in Vain (Stand By Me)," "Should I Stay or Should I Go," "Rock the Casbah."
I already counted down my ten favorite Clash songs, so here's another great tune from the classic London Calling album:
A Clash Slideshow, on the fabulous Rudie Can't Fail's music...
5 people like this
4 responses
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
3 Apr 17
You are just amazing me with these "surprise" selections! The Clash. Those were the days.
2 people like this
@FourWalls (62096)
• United States
3 Apr 17
There may be a shock coming...not that they're on the list but who I rank them above.
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
3 Apr 17
@FourWalls - I'm going to take a wild guess here, but keep it to myself. I'll let you know if I'm right or not.
2 people like this
