Joe Strummer “Love Kills” b/w “Dum Dum Club” 1986, from the soundtrack Sid & Nancy. (“Much of the actual film’s soundtrack – as opposed to soundtrack album- was composed by Strummer, who was contractually limited to contribute only two songs. Nevertheless, he continued to contribute more unpaid work because of his interest in the project. This additional material was credited to fictitious bands in the credits, so as to keep Strummer’s label, Epic Records, from knowing what he had done. Another large portion of the music was composed by The Pogues.”) Because the film was released late in ‘86 in the US, the soundtrack, and “Love Kills” in particular, reminds me strongly of 1987 when I had the soundtrack on repeat. “Love Kills” is one of the best songs from the film and one of my favorite Strummer solo recordings.  It’s dark, haunting and sad yet backed by an almost joyous beat as Strummer poetically reflects on the story of Sid and Nancy. “Dum Dum Club” goes darker, setting a tone of mean streets, drugged-out and dirty 70′s New York, the scene of Sid’s and Nancy’s deaths.

Reading about John Lydon’s reaction to the film and soundtrack – he is funny, rude and so very very Johnny Rotten: “I cannot understand why anyone would want to put out a movie like Sid and Nancy and not bother to speak to me; Alex Cox, the director, didn’t. He used as his point of reference – of all the people on this earth – Joe Strummer! That guttural singer from The Clash? What the fuck did he know about Sid and Nancy? That’s probably all he could find, which was really scraping the bottom of the barrel.”