Celebrity Deathmatch: Joes Strummer vs. Guy Stevens
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Last Friday, January 8 2010, was the 30th anniversary of The Clash's epic London Calling. It still sounds fresh, full, and exciting. The recording experience with producer Guy Stevens is well-documented, but I was lucky enough to be with Joe the night he went to meet Guy for the first time.
While Guy is rightly lauded for raising The Clash to the levels of his own rock and roll fantasies, for me his real value was when, as a DJ at the hugely important Flamingo Club, he had the most essential American records in a country where nobody had them. From what I know, no-one ever found out how he got these discs, but the result was that he educated the cream of British rock and r'n'b groups and inspired them to be awesome. I once saw a photo of Jagger and Richards sitting around talking with Guy and it was patently obvious who was the King.
It is October, 1976 at the ICA. The Clash, on the bottom rung of Punk (and there are only four punk bands), are ripping off the first number when Patti Smith jumps onto the stage and starts dancing. The band shrinks away, except Paul Simenon, who leans in close and megawatt glares her off his stage. Afterwards Patti grabs him by the hand and without a word drags him grinning into the night. Joe watches with amusement, then asks would I like to visit Guy Stevens. The Tube passengers stare at us, perhaps because Joe is wearing a boiler suit with studs in ranks like chain mail, which he's painted blue.
Guy Stevens, forgotten assistant in the invention of British rock, sits on the dirty carpet of his fourth floor flat, all golliwog hair and wild enthusiasm. The walls all have holes in them and it's easy to guess Guy created them. There is no furniture except for a small Dansette record player on the floor by the wall playing a very loud Jerry Lee Lewis record and several hundred records stacked against the opposite wall. Guy is leaning back against one of the stacks and taking his cue I do the same; Joe crouches down in front of Guy the better to talk. Although a normal conversation is not what goes on. Guy's glittering eyes move to a private beat as he shouts with righteous fervour above the blasting Jerry Lee about rock transcendence and ranting against the false gods, punctuating the flow with sloshes from a vodka bottle. It's simultaneously scary, quite sad and transfixing.
Joe hangs in there. Somehow he finds a conversational thread and follows it through the maze of Guy's mind. Then the record skips. With a shout of rage Guy hurls the nearly empty bottle at it. It bounces off the record and as the needle scrapes through Jerry Lee's piano, falls into a ragged hole in the wall just above the Dansette. Joe stares at the hole, the record, then Guy. "Uh, Guy, we better get going now…" We leave.
As Guy's shouts and screams follow us down the stairs Joe asks if I know why we've come here. "I've just been auditioning him to be our producer." Did he pass? "Yeah…I think so."
Locating MOG account...
Comments (17)
they don't teach that stuff at Berklee.
This is quite probably the best MOG post ever.
I love stories like this. Seeing that record get damaged must have hurt, though.
Robin - I'm available to correct that lapse in curriculum.
Bill - [blush] Why thank you.
Spike - It was so bizarre an event that the record was the least of my thoughts. Watching the bottle disappear into the wall was what stuck in my mind.
Er...Wow. All I can say is Mog it up x 1000000!
I was expecting to see The Clash Vs. Teddy Riley and Guy, but this is way better. Awesome.
professor of rock history emeritus sir jonh ingham
This is ridiculous in the best possible way.
Don't even wanna try to top that yarn, Jonh. "yeah, I think so." Priceless.
LOL... Berkeley.. well said!
Bob & Kori - There are clearly different ways to choose a producer. :-)
"London Calling" is stacked against a a wall not a million miles from me right now. It is in no danger of having any sort of bottle thrown at it.
Heh heh, great story!
Jonh... lol.. did you change the spelling of your name or have I gone completely insane?
Clearly..yes.. choosing a producer can be rather creative and stranger than fiction!
Kori - It's always been Jonh. Your sanity is intact. Though mine is questionable.
incredible. that's an unexpected and vivid portrait...I'm with Ivy!
Great story. Wild times, wild times.