Joe Strummer Day 2020: Revolution Clash! Retrospective and Rare Selections From Joe Strummer & The Clash (Show #861)

For the last several years, CJAM FM has held an annual Joe Strummer Day Marathon on their airwaves. Every year at this time, we focus on issues of homelessness and poverty in the Windsor/Detroit area and wrap them around the music of Joe Strummer and The Clash to help raise awareness and to address these issues. Revolution Rock did a music program this year, in addition to providing some information on resources for poverty/homelessness in the Windsor/Detroit area. For this year’s contribution to Joe Strummer Day, Dave & Adam of Revolution Rock did a retrospective of Joe Strummer and The Clash. It has differed from past specials. We decided to play a selection of some of our favourites from The Clash and Strummer’s catalogue. On the episode there is rare live Clash material, selections from The Mescaleros, the Joe Strummer 001 Box Set and more. View the playlist and download/stream link to the episode below. 

In Other Clash News:

On December 11th, a new music video appeared for The Clash’s 1980 single “The Magnificent Seven". It has been 40 years since The Clash released Sandinista! their fourth album, which was actually a triple album. The song is also found on this album. “The Magnificent Seven” featured a funk influence, but also the influence of 80s New York hip hop. This was also the first rap record by a rock group. The album Sandinista! delves into a wide variety of genres and exposed many listeners to different sounds that they may not have discovered otherwise.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sandinista! filmmaker Don Letts put together a new music video for "The Magnificent Seven". Letts has directed numerous music videos for bands such as Public Image Limited, The Clash, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello, Eddy Grant and Bob Marley to name a few. He also released the award winning documentary Westway To The World in 2000 and Punk: Attitude in 2005. The video for “The Magnificent Seven” compiles footage from The Clash in that time period, featuring footage from when the band appeared on The Tom Synder Show and previously unseen footage from when The Clash played a 17-night residency at the Bond’s International Casino in 1981. This was a surprise for many Clash fans due to the fact that much of this footage was said to have been lost years ago. 

Letts, who was also a frequent collaborator with The Clash (having done all their music videos) had this to say of the band: “They were always ahead of the game,” Letts said of The Clash. “‘Sandinista!’ signposted the multi-cultural way music was going and the elements that make The Clash great are still a currency that’s recognised by youth in the 21st century.” 

  

JSD 2020 Playlist (Originally Aired On December 22nd, 2020)(The Clash & Joe Strummer Retrospective):

1.  Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Gamma Ray (Global A Go-Go - 2001)
2.  Pearl Harbour - 2 Bullets (Joe Strummer 001- 2018)
3.  Joe Strummer & The Latino Rockabilly War - Love of the Common People (Live) (Live The Fridge Brixton, South London 1988)
4.  The Clash - Good Times Roll (Rude Boy - The Director's Cut - 2003)
5.  The Clash - Garageland (Demo) (Rude Boy - The Director's Cut - 2003)
6.  The 101ers - Silent Telephone (Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited - 2005)
7.  Joe Strummer - Tropic of No Return (Walker Soundtrack - 1987)
8.  Johnny Cash (With Joe Strummer) - Redemption Song (Unearthed - 2003)
9.  Strummer, Simonon & Howard - Pouring Rain (Joe Strummer 001 - 2018)
10. The Clash - Rockers Galore/Bankrobber (Live)  (Live at Brixton Fair Deal 1982)
11. The Clash - Charlie Don't Surf (Live) (Live at Brixton Fair Deal 1982)
12. The Clash - Capital Radio (Live) (Live At The Lyceum - January 3rd, 1979)
13. The Clash - The Gates of The West (Cost of Living EP - 1979)
14. The Clash - The Leader (Sandinista! - 1980)
15. The Clash - City of the Dead (Super Black Market Clash  - 2000)
16. The Clash - Idle In Kangaroo Court (Combat Rock Outtake) (Sound System - 2013)
17. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - X-Ray Style (Rock Art & The X-Ray Style - 1999)
18. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Time and Tide (Yalla Yalla - 1999)
19. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Coma Girl (Streetcore - 2003)
20. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Global A Go-Go (Global A Go-Go - 2001)
21. Joe Strummer - Dum Dum Club (Sid And Nancy: Love Kills (Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 1986)
22. Joe Strummer & The Latino Rockabilly War - Nothin' Bout Nothin' (Permanent Record - Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - 1988)

23. Joe Strummer & The Long Beach Dub Allstars - The Harder They Come (Free The West Memphis 3 - 2000)
24. The Clash - The Magnificent Seven (Sandinista! - 1980)

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE!