Punk Rock Warlord the Life and Work of Joe Strummer [Hardcover]

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 Strummers career, from his early days as Woody the busker to the whirlwind years as front man for The Clash, to the wilderness years and Strummers 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 Mellors self-fashioning as Joe Strummer, rock revolutionary; critical and media constructions of punk; and the singers complicated and changing relationship to feminism and anti-racist politics. These diverse essays nevertheless cohere around the claim that Strummers look, style, and musical repertoire are so rooted in both English and American cultures that he cannot finally be extricated from either.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: Dont 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 101ers to the Mescaleros, and whatever band was in-between: Joe Strummers musical journey (or, why Woody?), Brian A. Cogan. Part II I Dont Trust You: This is Joe Public speaking: why Joe Strummers passion is still in fashion, Mark Bedford; Saint Joe: an apostate writes, Alex Ogg. Part III Why Should You Trust l3Y