Joe Strummer Archives

The Best Cover Songs of January 2026

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Jan 302026

The Beaches — I Ran (So Far Away) (A Flock Of Seagulls cover)

The Beaches released one of the best albums of last year with No Hard Feelings. Now they’ve followed up with a Flock of Seagulls cover. Why? Why not! They don’t veer too far away from the original arrangement, but add an extra dose of indie-rock crunch. Halfway through it gets a little more shoegazy and expansive, with a huge build.

The Damned — Making Time (The Creation cover)

This deeper cut is a high point of the Damned’s new covers record, which, per our review, “takes the song into near heavy metal territory, if leavened by the catchy choral chorus, which, especially with the bass and drums, comes over like the Who in their prime.” Continue reading »

Cover Genres: Banjo

Posted by Seuras Og at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Apr 212023

Cover Genres takes a look at cover songs in a very specific musical style.

Yes, it’s true–banjo isn’t really a genre, per se, as it encompasses more than one musical style. Way more. But this category could use a kickstart, and what better instrument to provide the kick with?

Now, I love the banjo, but I know full well how many don’t. Indeed, only the bagpipes and the accordion have been the butt of more jokes. My goal, then, is to take you the reader beyond the backwoods and blue grass, and to show you the other vistas where a banjo can not only play, it can also rule.

So then, banjo, do yer worst!
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The Best Cover Songs of August 2022

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Aug 312022

Eddie Vedder – Long Shadow (Joe Strummer cover)

This month, Joe Strummer would have turned 70. In a few weeks, Dark Horse Records will release the compilation Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years. To promote it, director Lance Bangs filmed a video of Eddie Vedder covering the posthumously-released Mescaleros track “Long Shadow.” It’s a simple fireside performance, similar to Vedder buddy Neil Young’s lockdown videos, and hopefully will bring more attention to a lesser known non-Clash track from the Strummer catalog. Continue reading »

Jersey Alt-Rockers Lost in Society Release Clash Tribute EP for Joe Strummer’s Birthday

Posted by Brendan Shanahan at 11:00 am No Responses »

Sep 012020

The Clash are arguably one of the pioneers of punk rock, laying down the formation for the next 50 years of punk and its derivatives. In honor of what would have been Clash lead signer Joe Strummer’s birthday last week, New Jersey-based alternative rock band Lost in Society have released the EP Casbah Club. The EP contains covers of three Clash songs: “Police on my Back”, “Rock the Casbah” and “Death or Glory.” Continue reading »

In Memoriam: Joe Strummer

Posted by Jay Honstetter at 11:30 am 2 Responses »

Aug 212020

In Memoriam pays tribute to those who have left this world, and the songs they left us to remember them by.

John Graham Mellor was born on August 21st, 1952 in Ankara, Turkey. He entered a boarding school in London at the age of 9. He was obsessed with music and went by the nickname “Woody” (he was quite the Woody Guthrie fan). In 1970 he had to identify his brother’s body after his estranged sibling committed suicide three days prior – something that would haunt him forever. After graduating he attended the Central School of Art and Design in London, and in 1973 he moved to Newport, Wales where he played guitar and sang for a band called The Vultures. In 1974 he moved back to London and started the band The 101ers. The following year, he told his mates to stop calling him Woody Mellor. He had adopted a new moniker, and for the rest of his life he would be known as Joe Strummer.
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Full Albums: Bob Marley & the Wailers’ ‘Legend’

Posted by Seuras Og at 5:00 pm 8 Responses »

Jun 052015

Full Albums features covers of every track off a classic album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments!

His voice was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world. His sharp features, majestic looks, and prancing style a vivid etching on the landscape of our minds. Bob Marley was never seen. He was an experience which left an indelible imprint with each encounter. Such a man cannot be erased from the mind. He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation. – Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga, in his eulogy to Bob Marley

Maybe it’s a cheat to include a greatest hits album in the Full Album Covers category, but when the suggestion of Legend was put forward, I was intrigued. Only as I started searching did I perhaps discover why this best-of was the album suggested, instead of Catch a Fire, say, or Natty Dread. One of Bob Marley’s “normal” studio, or even live, albums might have been, well, a much duller choice, actually. If not dull, then uninnovative and samey, because anyone can do karaoke, and by golly, there are a lot of copycat Marley covers out there! By focusing on Legend, at least there is opportunity to steer a little clearer of identikit versions.
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