Thanks Harry ...

For the links to the Socialist Workers Party Joe Strummer tribute pages. The Clash were the ideal band for the Student Grant generation - from the idiotic cliches -

"After taking part in the riot at the end of that summer’s Notting Hill Carnival, lead singer Joe Strummer proudly announced:

“I think people ought to know that we’re anti-fascist, we’re anti-violence ..."

to the carefully concealed upper middle class background and the decision to forsake the Westway for rural Somerset. Turning revolt into not so much an art as an attitude struck - a pose, albeit one maintained for years ... you think it's funny ? Turning webellion into money ?

And the Clash could NOT do reggae. 'White Man In the Hammersmith Palais' is as embarrassing as the Boomtown Rats 'Banana Republic' or the Members dire 'Offshore Banking Business' ('kinda financial t'ing, yeah ?').

The Ruts were miles better.



UPDATE - Apologies for this descent into old animosities. But the Clash and the SWP were made for each other.