The world changed for Mick Jones in 1963, basically when the Beatles came out and then he sort of grew up during the Carnaby Street era. He was growing up in a very exciting time and he went to go see the Rolling Stones play at Hyde Park. The first record Joe Strummer has bought was “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and the very first Rolling Stones records. For Paul Simonon going to school was a bit of a shock. Realizing that it is a regime, that you have to live under, in which you are told what to do, when to stand up, when to sit. Joe remembers hearing “Not Fade Away” by the Rolling Stones, coming out of the huge wooden radio in the dayroom, very loud. He remembers walking into the room and hearing Gene Pitney on the maracas making that record swing. And that’s the moment he fell for music. He made a subconscious decision to follow music forever. That would be the way to live. For Topper Headon, the world changed when he was seeing the Beatles play in the Palladium. The Royal Variety Performance when John Lennon said “. those in the expensive seats, rattle your jewelry. ” He also remembers seeing The Who on Top of the Pops for the first time, seeing Keith Moon. But for him music really changed completely when he met Mick, Joe and Paul. When Terry Chimes quit on them very early they had to find another drummer and they must have tried every drummer that then had a kit. Every drummer in London. They counted 205 drummers. And every drummer that ever came up in a group for the next ten years after that definitely had tried with them. For example all the New Romantics or all those groups, Rusty Egan, John Moss, every drummer that ever became anything, in his infancy definitely tried out with The Clash.
