Gabriel Rutherford: Joe Strummer
I chose Joe Strummer as my inspiration. Not just because I like The Clash, or because I saw somebody cover ‘Should I Stay or Should I go’ once and liked it. Strummer was a voice of a disaffected youth, often overlooked and sidelined to Johnny Rotten.
Strummer, at the time known as John Mellor, emerged from school with little to no qualifications. However, he founded The Clash, one of the best bands ever (in my humble opinion) and became an influential figure inside and outside of music. He was never afraid to be political, playing a Rock against Racism concert, campaigning against fascism in the U.K and calling for peaceful co-existence. Yet he never let the politics get in the way of the music, which was almost always fantastic. Strummer used the fame he found as a vehicle to express his beliefs and to attempt to improve the world. Rock stars today could learn a lot from Joe Strummer.