Best biography on The Clash and/or Strummer?

[speakeasy]

Hey friends! Is there a definitive Clash bio or one on Joe?

Some choices so far...

Redemption Song

Passion is Fashion

Return of the Last Gang in Town

Route 19

We are the Clash

Any crucial ones missing from this list? (I'll read 2014's The Clash after I read a bio.)

Which one of these would you recommend that I start with? I'm looking for a thoughtful, detailed, well-written bio.

Thanks so much for your suggestions!

[Heston]

Hey friends! Is there a definitive Clash bio or one on Joe?

Some choices so far...

Redemption Song

Passion is Fashion

Return of the Last Gang in Town

Route 19

We are the Clash

Any crucial ones missing from this list? (I'll read 2014's The Clash after I read a bio.)

Which one of these would you recommend that I start with? I'm looking for a thoughtful, detailed, well-written bio.

Thanks so much for your suggestions!

Return of the Last Gang is the best for me if you want a REALLY detailed read. It's a bit opinionated but heavy on detail.

Route 19 is also a superbly detailed read.

We Are the Clash is invaluable for an inside story of the band's last 3 years.

Clash City Showdown by Chris Knowles is a great book but may be hard to find.

[Kory]

Hey friends! Is there a definitive Clash bio or one on Joe?

Some choices so far...

Redemption Song

Passion is Fashion

Return of the Last Gang in Town

Route 19

We are the Clash

Any crucial ones missing from this list? (I'll read 2014's The Clash after I read a bio.)

Which one of these would you recommend that I start with? I'm looking for a thoughtful, detailed, well-written bio.

Thanks so much for your suggestions!

Return of the Last Gang is the best for me if you want a REALLY detailed read. It's a bit opinionated but heavy on detail.

Route 19 is also a superbly detailed read.

We Are the Clash is invaluable for an inside story of the band's last 3 years.

Clash City Showdown by Chris Knowles is a great book but may be hard to find.

This is pretty much my list too. Passion is a Fashion is a decent companion to ROTLGIT—good details but less heavy on the editorializing. I usually read them back-to-back.

[matedog]

I think that's a good list. Vince's book was very interesting, but We Are The Clash might make it less critical as it covers the same era more thoroughly and more legitimately. Plus Vince is more racist than Ralph.

[speakeasy]

Thanks, people!

I've ordered the 2nd edition of Return of the Last Gang in Town.

If inspired, I may continue on with Passion is Fashion.

Any thoughts about the Joe bio, Redemption Song?

And yes--Less racist authors are preferred to racist ones. Vince White is a racist? How did that sit with Joe?

(Edit: Ok, so I've read a bit more about Vince White. Apparently, he's not a racist. He just wants brown people to stay in their own countries. Yea, sure...)

Hey--I'm just hear to learn! Thanks...

[Kory]

Thanks, people!

I've ordered the 2nd edition of Return of the Last Gang in Town.

If inspired, I may continue on with Passion is Fashion.

Any thoughts about the Joe bio, Redemption Song?

And yes--Less racist authors are preferred to racist ones. Vince White is a racist? How did that sit with Joe?

(Edit: Ok, so I've read a bit more about Vince White. Apparently, he's not a racist. He just wants brown people to stay in their own countries. Yea, sure...)

Hey--I'm just hear to learn! Thanks...

He also has a fetish for throat slashing!

I thought Redemption Song was good, but I'd say don't read it if you have any kind of hero worship illusions about him. It's a very humanizing book and describes a lot of his flaws in addition to his virtues. I'm not sure how close he actually was to Salewicz though, or rather, how much insight Salewicz really had. It's not as dubious as the Julien Temple "The Future is Unwritten" connection, and I don't know who else could have written such a book. I don't know that Joe really ever had a lifelong best friend.

[Heston]

Thanks, people!

I've ordered the 2nd edition of Return of the Last Gang in Town.

If inspired, I may continue on with Passion is Fashion.

Any thoughts about the Joe bio, Redemption Song?

And yes--Less racist authors are preferred to racist ones. Vince White is a racist? How did that sit with Joe?

(Edit: Ok, so I've read a bit more about Vince White. Apparently, he's not a racist. He just wants brown people to stay in their own countries. Yea, sure...)

Hey--I'm just hear to learn! Thanks...

Read Return of the Last Gang In Town then We Are the Clash. All your factual needs will be covered. If you want maximum detail on the 1979 period read Route 19 in between them. Then for fun read Clash City Showdown and A Riot of our Own by Johnny Green. I never quite got off on Redemption Song, I found it a bit earnest, same with the Kris Needs book. Books written by friends often lack basic critical faculties, and conversely can be a little too hard on their subject in places.

[Red Angel]

I really like "The Complete Clash" by Keith Topping, very detailed and with very good information (maybe an updated version would be needed), I also like "Passion is Fashion" a good biography.

[speakeasy]

Read Return of the Last Gang In Town then We Are the Clash. All your factual needs will be covered. If you want maximum detail on the 1979 period read Route 19 in between them. Then for fun read Clash City Showdown and A Riot of our Own by Johnny Green. I never quite got off on Redemption Song, I found it a bit earnest, same with the Kris Needs book. Books written by friends often lack basic critical faculties, and conversely can be a little too hard on their subject in places.

Thanks for the good info, Heston and everyone! I'm looking forward to digging in soon.

[GotGameGreggy]

Redemption Song is a great biography. I remember I read it when I was a freshman in High School back in 2014 and I literally couldn't put it down, it was just really interesting to me and told Joe's story in an honest way. The book really shows that Joe, like all of us, wasn't perfect. For all the great things he's done, he still had his own flaws and things that he struggled with. I'd recommend the book to anyone who wants to know the story of Joe Strummer and The Clash told in an honest, detailed way.

[Chairman Ralph]

I think that's a good list. Vince's book was very interesting, but We Are The Clash might make it less critical as it covers the same era more thoroughly and more legitimately. Plus Vince is more racist than Ralph.

I got it from him after we did that interview for my website. I enjoyed it, and still do, but I thought it was silly that he didn't bother to proofread it, and screen out the typos. That's not some grand punk rock gesture, it's just annoying to slog through.

Plus, he also needed a fact checker, because he gets a fair bit of the chronology wrong -- the jumbling of the Athens gig with Live Aid is one of the more glaring examples.

Then again, he ended up cutting us off, apparently because he took offense to some promo language for We Are The Clash -- I think it was something along the lines of, "The last word on this era of the band." I can't remember exactly, but it was something like that. I don't see how it could hurt his effort, but apparently, that's how he took it. Such is life, though we did get an interview with him, so there you go.

Those points aside, I'm glad to see We Are The Clash on everybody's list. Every detail was well attended to, as I'm sure everyone knows, and it certainly showed in the final result.

One of my favorite memories of the response to WATC came last summer, when Mark and I appeared in Brooklyn, and a young woman came up afterwards. She turned out to be Nick Sheppard's daughter, and said, "Dad's read your book already a couple times, and that he said it made him feel better about his time in the band, that they'd really done something."

At that point, I thought -- "Right, if we don't do anything else, that'll be good enough. I'll take that one."

Now, for my tuppence worth on the other books...

Redemption Song is a great biography. I remember I read it when I was a freshman in High School back in 2014 and I literally couldn't put it down, it was just really interesting to me and told Joe's story in an honest way. The book really shows that Joe, like all of us, wasn't perfect. For all the great things he's done, he still had his own flaws and things that he struggled with. I'd recommend the book to anyone who wants to know the story of Joe Strummer and The Clash told in an honest, detailed way.

I'd plump for Redemption Song, too, because it lays Joe out -- the good, the bad, and the ugly, though honestly, I found some of the latter moments hilarious, in a black comedy way, like when CS refers to Joe's comment about shagging the real estate agent, or having that support band thrown off his bill, because he was getting high grade pot from the one he ended putting on instead.

If nothing else, such moments show him as human, not some deified, godlike figure, which does him a disservice, I think. And I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know, which is saying quite a bit, considering all these years I've spent digging through the back roads of Clashworld.

I also like Route 19 a lot -- as stated already, for in-depth info on the '79 era, it's hard to beat. I've only skimmed Return Of The Last Gang In Town -- at the bookstore, of course -- but it struck me as a sharper and more focused effort than it predecessor. When I want a quick and dirty fun read, Johnny Green's book, A Riot Of Our Own, does the job nicely. it reminded me a lot of the interviews that I did with him, 20-odd years ago -- I could literally hear him talking as I read it. And the drawings, of course, you can't beat, right?

Surprised that no one's mentioned The Clash FAQ, by Gary Jucha, which came out via my old publisher, Backbeat Books -- that's pretty heavy on detail, too, and has some cool stuff in it, like the author's recollection of following them around on the 16 Tons tour.

As for the Kris Needs book, I think it suffers from a slightly different syndrome -- it struck me as a series of recollections padded out by lots of trawling through rock magazines to bump it up to a suitable length. It's OK as a standalone effort, but I think it could have been better, considering the author's personal connection to the subject.

[speakeasy]

Return of the Last Gang is the best for me if you want a REALLY detailed read. It's a bit opinionated but heavy on detail.

Hey--I wanted to follow up after being given so much good advice here. I'm about half way through the Marcus Gray book. And yes--SO MUCH DETAIL. Some of it--unnecessary? But that's what I wanted, so I'm digging in.

In terms of him being opinionated--wow! It's like every page is filled with him following over himself trying to point out what poseurs/fakes/phonies the band is and how everything was completed calculated. Like the Monkees! And after a while--it's like, yea--I get it--enough!

And I think--oh, what--early 20 something artists messing with and playing with the concept of identity? Trying on different identities? Isn't that what 20 something people do? Especially artists? Identity is ALWAYS a construct. It's always some clothes that we're putting on for a moment.

Again--I'm definitely enjoying the book and the amount of research that went into it. I appreciate the sociological and historical explorations of the time period. These are very important to the story. But the constant obsession over authenticity (or the band's lack of it) gets old quickly.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions!

[Heston]

Return of the Last Gang is the best for me if you want a REALLY detailed read. It's a bit opinionated but heavy on detail.

Hey--I wanted to follow up after being given so much good advice here. I'm about half way through the Marcus Gray book. And yes--SO MUCH DETAIL. Some of it--unnecessary? But that's what I wanted, so I'm digging in.

In terms of him being opinionated--wow! It's like every page is filled with him following over himself trying to point out what poseurs/fakes/phonies the band is and how everything was completed calculated. Like the Monkees! And after a while--it's like, yea--I get it--enough!

And I think--oh, what--early 20 something artists messing with and playing with the concept of identity? Trying on different identities? Isn't that what 20 something people do? Especially artists? Identity is ALWAYS a construct. It's always some clothes that we're putting on for a moment.

Again--I'm definitely enjoying the book and the amount of research that went into it. I appreciate the sociological and historical explorations of the time period. These are very important to the story. But the constant obsession over authenticity (or the band's lack of it) gets old quickly.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions!

I totally agree. I just took Marcus' opinions with a pinch of salt, and like you, enjoyed the detail. At the time I read it in 1994 there was no internet and the book was a godsend to me info-wise

[101Walterton]

Return of the Last Gang is the best for me if you want a REALLY detailed read. It's a bit opinionated but heavy on detail.

Hey--I wanted to follow up after being given so much good advice here. I'm about half way through the Marcus Gray book. And yes--SO MUCH DETAIL. Some of it--unnecessary? But that's what I wanted, so I'm digging in.

In terms of him being opinionated--wow! It's like every page is filled with him following over himself trying to point out what poseurs/fakes/phonies the band is and how everything was completed calculated. Like the Monkees! And after a while--it's like, yea--I get it--enough!

And I think--oh, what--early 20 something artists messing with and playing with the concept of identity? Trying on different identities? Isn't that what 20 something people do? Especially artists? Identity is ALWAYS a construct. It's always some clothes that we're putting on for a moment.

Again--I'm definitely enjoying the book and the amount of research that went into it. I appreciate the sociological and historical explorations of the time period. These are very important to the story. But the constant obsession over authenticity (or the band's lack of it) gets old quickly.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions!

I totally agree. I just took Marcus' opinions with a pinch of salt, and like you, enjoyed the detail. At the time I read it in 1994 there was no internet and the book was a godsend to me info-wise

Agree with all comments. I was happy to put up with opiated Marcus as a trade off for such a detailed book.

[Olaf]

I always wondered what happened to him...