The Sad Lingering Impact of Joe Strummer Not Being Here

Pic by Des Brownlie

Over the past few years I’ve lost a number of musical heroes. David Bowie was an absolute god during my teens but when he left us, my emotional response was strangely muted.

I’m not sure why — Perhaps because I’d drifted away from him musically as the decades continued or perhaps there was some acceptance that he was of an age when these things happen.

And then there was Prince. Another icon like no other. More of a shock than David (I’m writing intimately here, so we’ll leave last names behind) due to Prince’s age and his vitality.

I just didn’t expect to be receiving that news for a few more decades. And yet, I felt he ‘belonged’ to others far more passionate about his Purpleness than I was, much as I enjoyed him.

I’m sure I could list others who have also passed, but these mentioned above were both very large in my formative years and at one stage I’m sure I believed they’d never leave us.

Then There Was Joe:

But the one that really sticks in my throat, all these years later, is the passing of Joe.

Perhaps it’s because in some ways his trajectory was only a few years before my own (on the other side of the desk in the music industry) and I could look on him proudly, as an older brother…