Joe Strummer Left Us Ten Years Ago Today
Marc Arsenault
Joe Strummer with The Pogues. Photo by Masao Nakagami
Joe Strummer passed away ten years ago today. He died suddenly, the victim of an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. He would have been sixty years old now had he skipped that one.
Hellcat Records recently reissued the three classic releases he made with the Mescaleros. You should track those down.
There’ve been many remembrances of the man and his work online. Check out these:
Joe Strummer’s Last Recorded Concert on BBC 6Music
1976 interview in The Guardian’s Rock’s Back Pages
Poplie: Ten Years Without Joe
NPR: Joe Strummer’s Life After Death
SPIN (no longer a print) Magazine: Joe Strummer’s Complex Legacy
If you haven’t ever, I urge you to watch the documentaries The Future Is Unwritten and The Clash – Westway to the World.
You should also check out the activities of Strummerville.