Joe Strummer

It was the singer Joe Strummer's ranting, demented performances with the Clash in the mid-1970s that made him punk's most passionate and convincing frontman. Strummer, who has died of an apparent heart attack aged 50, relished bruising physical contact with his audience, while his lyrics articulated a shared sense of confusion, frustration and thwarted ambition.

The Clash were pitched into the frontline of punk in December 1976, when they joined the Sex Pistols on their controversial - and mostly cancelled - Anarchy In The UK tour, and early the following year they signed with CBS Records. Their debut album, The Clash, was a barrage of provocative sloganeering and social agitation, from White Riot to the crude reggae of Police And Thieves, but they couldn't quite conceal their knack for fiendishly catchy choruses.