Let Fury Have the Hour: Joe Strummer, Punk, and the Movement that Shook the World - Softcover

D'Ambrosio, Antonino

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568587198 ISBN 13: 9781568587196

Publisher: Bold Type Books, 2012

Synopsis

Joe Strummer was the archetypal citizen artist. As a member of The Clash, Strummer composed some the most important rebel music of the twentieth century. Fusing raw creativity with a humanist global sensibility, he helped convert punk rock from its early associations with reactionary and nihilistic politics into a movement of creative response and world citizenship.

Let Fury Have the Hour—the inspiration for D'Ambrosio's extraordinary documentary of the same name—is a unique collection of original writing, interviews, essays, and visual art. Included are essays and photographs by D'Ambrosio and pieces by Chuck D, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, DJ Spooky, Shepard Fairey, and more, together illustrating how Strummer's work inspired a movement.

About this title

About the Author:

Antonino D'Ambrosio is a writer, filmmaker, musician, visual artist, and the author of A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears. D'Ambrosio has produced more than fifteen films, including No Free Lunch starring comedian Lewis Black. He is also the founder and executive director of La Lutta NMC (www.lalutta.org).

From Publishers Weekly:

"Were it not for the Clash, punk would have been just a sneer, a safety pin, and a pair of bondage trousers," writes Billy Bragg, and documentarian/activist D'Ambrosio proves it with this gathering of skillfully selected articles and essays on Clash front man Joe Strummer (1952–2002), from the likes of Lester Bangs, Chuck D, Greil Marcus and D'Ambrosio himself. Most contributions consider the highly politicized early years of "the only band that mattered," its commercial U.S. breakthrough in 1983 as well as its imminent demise, and Strummer's role as lyricist and political agitator. Although a few essays discuss the political ambiguity of some of Strummer's songs, they mostly praise the outspoken singer/guitarist's commitment to confronting racism, classism and capitalism at a time when punk bands were apolitical or nihilistic. In a 1979 essay, Lester Bangs credits the Clash with forging "the missing link between black music and white noise." Other pieces chronicle Strummer's stints as a film score composer and actor and his ongoing forays into multicultural music. Some essays lean toward a preachy interpretation of Strummer's humanist philosophy, but the best invoke irresistible excitement as they describe beer-soaked early Clash shows and the message of hope the band gave to kids rebelling against what they saw as the oppressive conservatism and systemic self-loathing of Thatcherite England.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Bold Type Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1568587198
• ISBN 13: 9781568587196
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 408