Magenta Devine opens the interview with a filmic entrance, referencing A Fistful of Dollars and Straight to Hell, before asking Joe Strummer about punk’s legacy and artists like Billy Idol and Johnny Rotten.

Strummer expresses newfound respect for Billy Idol’s reinvention, praises Johnny Rotten as an honest and poetic figure, and reflects on the downfall of The Clash, attributing it to egos, drugs, and personal conflicts, especially the departures of Topper Headon and Mick Jones.

Discussing musical trends, Strummer criticizes overly technical, computerized pop but defends embracing new ideas—while emphasizing the irreplaceable value of live performance and songwriting content.

Asked about the film Straight to Hell, Strummer admits its flaws, noting its appeal as “rubbish worth a laugh” and contrasting it with more self-serious films. Strummer acknowledges his own radical lifestyle change since the punk era—now a father with stability—and when asked, he confirms that he would reunite The Clash if possible.

Magenta enters the bar in pastiche of a 'Fistful of Dollars' to he self titled tune followed by a snippet form the film Straight to Hell. The tune returns as Megenta Devine, coupled up go up the stairs.

Magenta Devine: 00:00 So Joe, It was 10 years ago, in fact, this week that God Save the Queen was number 2, and you just heard top 40 with White Riot. What do you think of people like Billy Idol, like John Rotten now?

Joe Strummer: 00:12 Well, Billy I respect because we were guilty of patronising Billy when he was with Gen X. You know, we all thought he was a bit of a joke, you know—truth must be told. And I respect Billy for going to New York, carving a new career for himself, and I think his records are pretty decent. As for Rotten, I don't want to judge Johnny Rotten because he's very honest.You know, he won't bushy. I think Johnny Rotten is one of the greatest poets written in the English language, you know. Include Lord Byron.

Magenta Devine: 00:36 Do you regret what happened with The Clash?

Joe Strummer: 00:44 Well, I do, because ... because it was so stupid. But, having said that, it's no more than any other new group or face. For example, drugs, ego, women—there's many things that can knock a band down. And I think we fell prey to all of those. To me, The Clash was over when Topper Headon was sacked for being a heroin addict.

Magenta Devine: 01:13 So what actually happened, you know? How did it happen that Mick, who was the leader of the band with you, was thrown out?

Joe Strummer: 01:18 Well, that was due to ... my fault, my ego. I tell you, there's no restraining an ego when it's rampant, you know. And when you have success, man, you know... I thought, because Mick wasn't—and he'll tell you himself—he wasn't being very cooperative. For example, say we were planning to do a tour, record an album, it would be, 'well, yeah, when Mick gets out of bed' you know and like that's quite annoying when you're full of energy. And so I was wound up to the state where I thought it would be best to—to get rid of Mick.

Magenta Devine: 01:47 What do you think in terms of music changing? What do you think of the charts now? I mean, and what kind of music do you like?

Joe Strummer: 01:53 Well, I'm not very technical, I'm not very synthesizer, not very, you know, computer graph, this video screen, check the sound out and duplicate it. But, I don't want to be a Luddite, and I want to say that I'm into performance—but just–four humans going one, two, three, four, playing the song together, which is how we made Clash records. So nowadays, you're technically perfect, and you can stop the tape, you know. Everything's coming out of little boxes, you do it one by one—bass, drums, this and that. You know, I do want to embrace a new world, but I think just a couple of things we might be missing are performance and content on song writing.

Magenta Devine: 02:26 Right, tell me about Straight to Hell then?

Joe Strummer: 02:29 I realized Straight to Hell is like pure rubbish, but we know it's rubbish, and we don't want to sell it under any other name. And I think people pick up on the fact that we're saying, "This is rubbish, but it's worth a laugh," rather than being conned into going to see Mona Lisa, Around Midnight or any of those critical phase (plays?) just says "Z's ville," far as I'm concerned.

Magenta Devine: 02:57 Has your lifestyle changed radically, do you think, over the last 10 years, since all the punk thing happenned? Do you look at yourself now and think, "I couldn't even have visited myself being like this 10 years ago"?

Joe Strummer: 03:05 Yeah, it has. I mean, for example, I've got two girl daughters—you know, beautiful children, two, three, and one. And also, like, I've managed to put them always down on a house, when I used to squat. And everything's changed, you know. It's not just me.

Magenta Devine: 03:29 Would you get The Clash back together now if you could?

Joe Strummer: 03:31 Yes, I would. Yeah.

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