Death robs us of one of the Ruts

"Babylon's Burning" has always been one of my favorite songs, so I was dismayed today to learn of the recent death of Paul "Foxy" Fox.
Fox was the guitarist and co-songwriter with the Ruts, one of the best of the second-generation punk bands to emerge in late-1970s Britain.
Foxy was brilliant.
According to the obituary in the Guardian, Fox "helped create some of the best loved and most enduring work of the punk era."
I echo that sentiment.
"Babylon's Burning" simply rages away at the poverty and discontent rife in British cities during the last years of the 1970s.
The Ruts were obviously inspired by reggae, which was one of the things I loved about the band.
The band's early promise was arrested in 1980, however, when vocalist Malcolm Owen died of a heroin overdose.
The remaining members carried on for awhile as "Ruts DC," but the commercial peak reached by "Babylon's Burning" (No. 7 on the UK charts in 1979) were never scaled again.
However, Foxy remained an influential and much-admired guitarist. Ron Wood and Keith Richards appeared with Fox on two later albums and Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page were both said to be admirers.
I listened to "Babylon's Burning" and the similarly hard-driving "S.U.S." as I drove home for lunch today. It was my little tribute to the passing of a mostly unheralded guitar great.