Soundbooth: Joe Strummer, Chameleon

Joe Strummer, playing with the Pogues (photo by Masao Nakagami)

There’s a great new collection of essays about the inestimable Joe Strummer (1952–2002) that came out last monthfrom Ashgate Publishing calledPunk Rock Warlord: The Life and Work of Joe Strummer.I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute a chapter.

A much shortened, adapted version of that essay ran at PopMattersunder the title “Joe Strummer: Punk-Rock Shapeshifter“:

Strummer wanted to be a lot of things: writer, artist, revolutio...