- “It was either bully or be bullied. I was one of the principal bullies. And there was no protection from anyone.” Johnny Mellor is not remembered as a bully by his schoolmates, so what Strummer is talking about here is an interior process: a self-burying, a hardening-up. It was an operation he would repeat 15 years later, to considerably more dramatic effect, when he became the lead singer of The Clash.
True Life: I was a teenage punk rocker. Dead Kennedys by way of Green Day, or something like that, thanks also to the help of some older kid's cousin who was in a local band that played all-ages hell-holes like the Fireside Bowl. Legend goes, as I recall, Dead Kennedys formed after a big Clash show in the Bay. I never got into the Clash as a kid, and it actually led to a tough situation with some dudes who had a band but no bassist - but wouldn't ask me to play with them precisely because I wasn't into the Clash. Now, as an adult, I'm a little more interested, and for almost exactly the same reasons I rejected them way back when - they're interesting to me now because they were pre-fab, privileged, "poseurs". I wasn't mature enough as a kid to understand why anyone would want to shed the skin they're in (as Joe Strummer had) in favor of something new, and could not comprehend how much of a challenge that would be.
Classic Hubski Q&A style, somewhat relevant to the thread of memory going on in other posts: How and why did you re-invent yourself throughout your life? Culturally/socially, professionally, etc. Interested in it all. I'm currently in a serious transition period, and picking up a lot of skills I never thought I'd want or need. More on that later. Curious about your thoughts/experiences and won't have the time to write throughout the day, but will indeed have the time to read.
Before we get to the "reinventing," let's talk more about the Clash. I came to them later in life too. I was probably 27 before I really listened to them. Like many people it was London Calling that solidified my love for the band. The lyric, "I wasn't born, so much as I fell out." washed away any reservations I might have had about the band. Strummers lyrics and the melodies they came up with are amazing, no matter what their economic place at birth was. From what I've read, Joe Strummer was the kind of guy you could run in to at a pub and he'd have a beer with you. The kind of guy that would show you around his neighborhood if you were visiting for the first time. You are right, it can be difficult to shed ones skin and start over, to excoriate your former self like an old coat you're throwing away. Not as easy as it seems. To that end, I've never done anything that dramatic. I've made difficult life decisions that took me in another direction, whether it be to end a relationship or quit a job in pursuit of a new one in a different industry. These things aren't remarkable though, they are a common part of the human experience. There are people though that truly start anew often as the result of a traumatic event; the death of a loved one, the birth of a child or a near death experience can cause many people to assess their current situation and make dramatic changes. I also think people acquire so much mental baggage that they often want a "reset," in my opinion this has been the great strength of modern evangelicalism in the US. "Born again" is a pretty appealing concept. All is forgiven -Really? Sign me up. Unfortunately, I don't think it's so simple. One of my favorite lyrics is from Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, from the song Ashes of American Flags So, have I re-invented myself? No, not really. But I do think that every day, every moment I am inventing myself. I am adding to the soup that is me. I often make horrible choices as to which ingredients to add, but more often than not I make good ones. The most recent introduction to my life is tennis. I have been playing tennis 3 times a week for the past two months. It's changed me, both physically and mentally. I'm drinking less, I sleep better and I eat less late at night. I suppose that is re-inventing myself. It's like cW said in the New Green Podcast on Running "When I run, I run to change the world. Granted, I don’t change much of it, at least not all at once. But in another sense, I change every bit of it, in an instant — abracadabra-style. I change the world by changing myself." -In this sense, we re-invent ourselves and we impact the world with every decision we make. Hell, writing this post is impacting my consciousness. Your post just re-invented me :) How about you? Are you re-inventing yourself?Mad-dog vocals, stamping left foot: the fit was instant. His lyrics were a rock-and-roll marvel—jagged, speedy playground chants apparently purpose-built to conduct the shocks of Mick Jones’s guitar. (In reality, it often worked the other way around: Strummer would type up his words rapidly, Dylan-esquely, “like a newspaperman,” as Jones put it, and then fling the pages at the guitarist, trusting him to find the music in them.)
-Awesome.
Man, that one get's me every time. All my lies are always wishes
I know I would die if I could come back new