Joe Strummer in a Bologna monsoon, a car held together by stubbornness, and why ‘London Calling’* still hits. Our founding editor has been writing over at his Substack — Eternal Soundtrack — for the longer, more personal writing that sits alongside what we do here. His latest is one to read.
Summer of ’99, and two lads had somehow convinced their parents to let them loose in a knackered Audi — sunroof cracked, front bumper swinging at a philosophical angle. Destination: Bologna‘s Independent Days Festival, indie jangle, sweat, and high expectations. What they got was all of that, plus a monsoon thrown in gratis.
Tents folded, mud swallowed the grounds, and somewhere through the downpour a familiar riff cut through the chaos. What happened next, and why it sent our editor headlong into one of punk’s most defining records, is best discovered over there.
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