One ultimatum given to Joe Strummer would change punk forever
Before the days of the groundbreaking punk outfit, The Clash, it was already apparent that Joe Strummer had a knack for performing and an undeniable aura. Prior to becoming a part of his legendary punk band, he had a stint in the 101ers, a pub-rock band formed in a squat in West London.
Strummer was already excited by the idea of rebellion even before the time of punk; he was previously a hippie and was inspired by the countercultural movements of the 1960s. But one defining moment was the turning point where he cemented his place in history as an icon of defiance and a legend of rock ‘n’ roll.
In 1976, The 101ers had just signed a record deal with Chiswick Records to release the upbeat single ‘Keys to Your Heart’. The guitarist had the option to play it safe and stick to his moderately successful, growing band or take a step into the future, become a part of something more significant and join this new movement taking over London’s underground scene. As we all know now, Strummer was not the sort of guy who played it safe.
He had already expressed that, “After seeing the Pistols, I thought the 101’ers might as well give up there and then. The other members couldn’t see it, and we were beginning to splinter.” Joe had a vision for the future, that something was coming up and was going to change everything. His bandmates couldn’t fathom this, which ultimately drove a wedge in their creative sensibilities to stick together as a band. He had good intuition and saw beyond his pub-rock peers, and that’s why we remember him as the punk legend that he’s hailed as today.
Strummer’s future bandmate, Mick Jones, also revealed that after seeing him at a pub show, he didn’t care about the 101ers, but he thought Strummer was “great”. There seemed to be a lot of hype around this mysterious figure and wild performer, on whom Bernard Rhodes, now famously known as the manager of The Clash, had his eye and wanted for his new project.
After a 101ers’ show at the Golden Lion in Fulham, the eccentric Rhodes called Strummer and gave him 48 hours to either stay in his current pub rock band at the time or join a new one that would “rival the Sex Pistols”. It took the musician less than 24 hours to drop his old hat and respond that he was in.
Strummer left the 101ers, scrapping all progress he had made with the band to start afresh—a bold move from him, but an important one.
He later said of the decision, “The day that I joined The Clash was very much back to square one, year zero. We were almost Stalinist in the way that you had to shed all your friends, or everything that you’d known, or every way that you’d played before.” A big sacrifice had to be made, but Strummer knew that even though it would be hard, it was the right thing to do.
We can all comfortably agree that this was a good decision, in fact, a great decision, because who knows, without him, maybe we would never have The Clash that we know and love today?
