Short description:

This collection explores the relevance of Joe Strummer within the continuing legacies of both punk rock and progressive politics. It is aimed at those interested in The Clash, punk culture, and the intersections between pop music and politics, on both sides of the Atlantic. Contributors represent a wide range of disciplines and their work examines all phases of Strummer?s career, from his early days as ?Woody? the busker to the whirlwind years as front man for The Clash, to the ?wilderness years? and final days with the Mescaleros. Punk Rock Warlord offers an engaging survey of its subject, while at the same time challenging some of the historical narratives that have been constructed around Strummer the Punk Icon.

Long description:

Punk Rock Warlord explores the relevance of Joe Strummer within the continuing legacies of both punk rock and progressive politics. It is aimed at scholars and general readers interested in The Clash, punk culture, and the intersections between pop music and politics, on both sides of the Atlantic. Contributors to the collection represent a wide range of disciplines, including history, sociology, musicology, and literature; their work examines all phases of Strummer?s career, from his early days as ?Woody? the busker to the whirlwind years as front man for The Clash, to the ?wilderness years? and Strummer?s final days with the Mescaleros. Punk Rock Warlord offers an engaging survey of its subject, while at the same time challenging some of the historical narratives that have been constructed around Strummer the Punk Icon. The essays in Punk Rock Warlord address issues including John Graham Mellor?s self-fashioning as ?Joe Strummer, rock revolutionary?; critical and media constructions of punk; and the singer?s complicated and changing relationship to feminism and anti-racist politics. These diverse essays nevertheless cohere around the claim that Strummer?s look, style, and musical repertoire are so rooted in both English and American cultures that he cannot finally be extricated from either.

"This important contribution to popular music studies is the first collection of critical essays on John Mellor and challenges the existing narratives around the idol Joe Strummer. Overall, the book can be recommended to scholars and fans who have a general interest in punk rock, The Clash, and a critical approach towards the human being behind the ?Joe Strummer? label."

- Dr André Rottgeri, Universität Passau, Universität Paderborn, HfM Karlsruhe

"Barry J. Faulk and Brady Harrison?s edited collection of essays on The Clash?s frontman, Joe Strummer, Punk Rock Warlord: The Life and Work of Joe Strummer, reads much like the experience of a punk rock gig: there are strong, conflicting views expressed in different styles and tones, and excitement and inspiration spring up from the various chapters. The editors have purposefully gathered a group of informed, yet diverse voices-from academics spanning the disciplines of history, English, and communication studies, to public service workers turned teachers, to independent writers, artists, and journalists."

"What this collection of voices adds to the growing field of popular music studies is a new urgency, in the words of the editors, to break away from the universal perspective of modernism that has dominated the study of music and instead to focus on the vexed problem of what constitutes authenticity in music and to offer a critique of musical practice as the product of free, individual expression. Given the explosion of new studies of punk rock and popular culture and the already growing body of work and documentaries on Joe Strummer and The Clash, Faulk and Harrison?s volume is a timely re-assessment of punk?s year zero moment of the mid-to-late 1970s and indeed provides a nuanced, complex account of one of punk rock?s earliest icons."

"A timely, comprehensive portrait of a widely discussed and often misunderstood punk artist. It is an accessible collection of scholarship coming from diverse backgrounds that pushes beyond mere idolatrous popular praise or critics? squabbles about a band?s integrity or worth and informs its audience of Strummer?s real achievements in music and politics as well as the sometimes paradoxical nature of his professed beliefs. The essays also provide sound cultural and historical context of Britain?s complex social, racial, and economic landscapes during the 1970s and 1980s."

Table of Contents:

Contents: Introduction: John Woody Joe Mellor Strummer: the many lives, travails and sundry shortcomings of a punk rock warlord, Barry J. Faulk and Brady Harrison. Part I John/Woody/Joe: ?Don?t call me Woody?: the punk compassion and folk rebellion of Joe Strummer and Woody Guthrie, Edward A. Shannon; Joe Strummer: the road to rock and roll, Lauren Onkey; From the 101?ers to the Mescaleros, and whatever band was in-between: Joe Strummer?s musical journey (or, why Woody?), Brian A. Cogan. Part II I Don?t Trust You: ?This is Joe Public speaking?: why Joe Strummer?s passion is still in fashion, Mark Bedford; Saint Joe: an apostate writes, Alex Ogg. Part III Why Should You Trust Me?: Revolution rock?: The Clash, Joe Strummer and the British Left in the early days of punk, Matthew Worley; The creation of an anti-Fascist icon: Joe Strummer and rock against racism, Jeremy Tranmer; The last gang in town: masculinity, feminism, Joe Strummer and the Clash, Maria Raha. Part IV Strummer on Broadway (and Sunset): ?I am so bored with the USA?: Joe Strummer and the Promised Land, Justin S. Wadlow; Culture clash: the influence of hip hop culture and aesthetics on the Clash, Walidah Imarisha; Mystery train: ?Joe Strummer? on screen, Chris Barsanti. List of references; Index.