The Clash were, for my money, the last great mythical rock'n'roll band. Strode the earth like gods it seemed to me, the way I thought the great bands used to, like Elvis, like Dylan. They saw to this themselves, engaging in self-mythologizing to a degree not seen since the heyday of the Beatles and Stones. But they backed it up just as well, with music that truly earned them their audacious (and self-annointed) moniker, "The Only Band That Matters". I only saw them once; drove 250 miles round-trip with a couple of good friends in an old beater at age 17, one of my most fondly remembered rock shows ever. I don't think Joe Strummer's singing was ever caught on record as powerfully as he came across live. A genuine original - we won't see his like again around these parts.
P.S. - VH1 promises two hours on Strummer and The Clash tonight at 10pm est.
