One is that over the course of his life, Strummer made statements which appear contradictory, highlighting a complexity. Though he stated he was a ‘truth teller’ and was thought of as a ‘teacher’ by others, he was also a ‘student’, in as much as he learnt along the way from being a young to middle-aged adult. Being a ‘student’ further allowed him to be a ‘teacher’. Seemingly contradictory statements would suggest he changed his view on issues. Ambiguity often exists here because statements were often unelaborated upon and seldom explained in relation to previous statements. Consequently, good reasons for changing views have may not have been inquired about. The most obvious example was his changing view on Sandinista! (1980). On many occasions (NME 25 February 1984, MTV ‘120 Minutes’ March 1991, MTV Rockumentary 1991) he was sharply critical of it, while others he took the opposite view: ‘I can only say I'm proud of it … warts and all … It's a magnificent thing … I wouldn't change it, even if I could. And that's after some soul searching’ (Letts 2000, see also Sounds 20 June 1981). Similarly, he called the last Clash album ‘a shitty way to end a great group’ (Guardian 10 May 2007) but he praised ‘This is England’, ‘North and South’ and ‘(In the) Pouring Rain’ (Rock&Folk 1995)² and Julien Temple, director of The Future is Unwritten (2007), recalled: ‘There was this one line with Joe – that [the revamped Clash] was all a complete mistake and should be written out of history like so much of his past – but there were other times when he would say he was quite proud of that last album in a weird way’ (Guardian 10 May 2007). Indeed, Strummer told Guitar World (December 1999): ‘I'm proud of all our records. Even the crap ones.’ Another instance of seeming contradiction comes with the example of two statements: ‘We're not particularly talented … we just try harder … we give it all we got – it's as simple as that’ (Toronto CITY TV's New Music Program 26 September 1979) and ‘We knew were better than everybody else and wanted to prove it … we wanted to be recognised as good as we knew we were’ (NYC TV interview December 1981). Discounting he was speaking for The Clash and other members may have not agreed with his statements, it would appear Strummer had blatantly contradicted himself within the space of little more than two years. But other interpretations are possible. First, he legitimately and rationally changed his view of The Clash, so no contradiction existed. Second, in a show of modesty, he did not mean what said in 1979 or, in a show of bravado, he exaggerated in 1981. Third, he was responding to particular interview situations and so the context of what he said was as important as the content of what he said.