The artist Joe Strummer thought no one could touch: “Super confident”
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(Credits: Far Out / John Joe Coffey)
When you look back over the figures that populated the first-wave punk scene in the UK, nobody is afforded quite the same reputation as Joe Strummer. As the defiant frontman of The Clash, Strummer was instrumental in establishing the look, sound, and, crucially, the political edge of punk rock. His songwriting genius and energetic performances gave the world some of the greatest music of the punk age and beyond, but, alas, there comes a time when you have to move on from shouting about policemen and pursue something a little more mature.
The Clash enjoyed a level of enduring success that most of their punk contemporaries did not. Thanks, in part, to their broad range of influences and musical styles, Strummer’s group managed to continue into the mid-1980s while the likes of the Sex Pistols, X-Ray Spex, and even Buzzcocks had thrown in the towel years prior. However, the group came crashing down to Earth with the disastrous album that was Cut The Crap, leaving the reputation of the band largely in tatters.
For years after the band’s split in 1986, Strummer darted between various projects, writing film soundtracks for works like Sid and Nancy and even starring in a handful of largely forgotten films himself. However, it seemed as though the frontman was struggling to find the groove of his earlier material with The Clash. So, when Strummer chose to return to the musical landscape in 1999 with the release of Rock Art and The X-Ray Style, his inspiration came in the very unlikely form of Tony Bennett.
“It’s because of living for ten years without making any music, you start living with other peoples’ music,” Strummer explained in a 1999 interview, “You go out and buy CDs and put ’em on. I began to notice that I’m 47, and I wanted a certain vibe out of my hi-fi. Something culturally heavy but not someone yelling at you.” In other words, Strummer wanted to record something with the same punk energy as his earlier work but without the abrasive performance or confrontation.
For the songwriter, the path to this elusive new sound was clear: “I began to study people like Tony Bennett,” he said before clarifying, “I know I’m being ridiculous. You can’t touch Tony. But I’m just saying the way it sits inside the rhythm. This is how I planned it to myself.” While the Long Island crooner might not be the most obvious influence on Strummer, even during the later years, Rock Art and The X-Ray Style does have that same somewhat relaxed atmosphere to it.
“They’re relaxing into the groove,” Strummer explained, “It finally hit me. They’re so super confident, those motherfuckers! So when we made Rock Art & The X-Ray Style, I wanted it to be something you’d play over and over again sometimes. It’s a grower. It grows on you.” The album itself is incredibly broad in style, moving seamlessly from reggae-inspired rhythms to the pseudo-crooning that clearly came as a result of Strummer’s appreciation for Tony Bennett.
Bennett is not exactly awash with punk credibility but, then again, that is what makes the music and songwriting of Joe Strummer so enduring. The frontman was never particularly concerned with the image of what he was doing, he was much more focused on artistic integrity and putting forward a truly original, innovative sound. His endlessly broad range of influences was an essential part of his songwriting, and it seems as though Tony Bennett was a substantial figure within those influences.
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