It was 26 years ago today. The Clash opened with London Calling, rolling out the hits before the autobiographical encore Garageland which was greeted, when first released, with the one line quip, "if they're a garage band, they should stay there and leave the car running." By 1982, they were a long way from the smell of Swarfega, The Clash were about to break big in the States with Should I Stay Or Should I Go.

Two months after the release of Combat Rock, The Clash were playing two shows at the Brixton Fair Deal in London. Originally set for May 22 and 23, within a week of the album's release, the July 10 and 11 shows were rescheduled to ensure the band were at the peak of their powers. They were the biggest band in the world.

Ironically, the success of The Clash destroyed them and, in Julien Temple's award-winning documentary about Joe Strummer, The Future Is Unwritten, the unravelling of this British treasure is told in graphic detail. "We just weren't ready for success," Strummer admitted. Punctuated with his DJ slots on the World Service, the film shows his excitement for new sounds, "I think it said in the Bible that thou shalt like techno," and the classics, "Thank God for Jason Mayall who brought us the music of Andres Landero back from Columbia."

Back in 2001, Q presented Joe Strummer with the Q Inspiration Award and two weeks beforehand we took him back to the 100 Club where he played with The Mescaleros and rolled out a brace of Clash classics that the truly sweaty crowd sang word for word. At the Awards themselves, Strummer was almost embarrassed to be celebrated and used his acceptance speech to encourage everyone to go and see The Who, who he claimed were in "full fighting power form." As Temple's film illustrates, Joe Strummer was a humble and loveable person who was profoundly touched by music. And 26 years on he remains a true hero of the Church Of Dave.