Punk legend Joe Strummer's recording career with The Clash ended on something of a low note when a succession of some of the greatest albums of all time was followed by the dire, and mostly well forgotten, Cut the Crap. Needing something of a change of pace, Strummer became increasingly involved with film both as a songwriter and actor. Repo Man director Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy was a punk story that would obviously benefit from the musical input of one of the era's icons so it made sense for Strummer to provide some songs. This proved the start of a fruitful partnership between the director and songwriter who both shared interests in punk and radical left wing politics. After collaborating again on flop crime comedy Straight to Hell, named for the Clash song, Cox and Strummer turned their attention to Nicaragua, an enduring interest for both. The Clash's sprawling triple album fourth record had been named Sandanista! after the revolutionary group that became the country's government and Cox's new film would draw parallels between the Sandanista era and William Walker, the American military adventurer who made himself president of Nicaragua in the mid-19th century. The film is a mess, not quite sure of what it wants to be, and failed at the box office badly enough that Cox was never given the same kind of budget again. Strummer's score, however, holds up better, combining synthesizer based rock sounds with the world music influences of the Sandanista! album, the reggae and calypso music popular in Nicaraguan bars today. Strummer would not write another whole score but produced and compiled a number of film soundtracks in the 90s, most notably for huge Clash fan John Cusack's Grosse Pointe Blank. Cox would continue to utilise politically engaged leftist rock musicians with the music for his most interesting 90s film The Revengers Tragedy provided by Chumbawumba.
