On this episode of Music In Time', host Evan McCormick takes listeners back to the spring of 1977, and the release of the Clash's self-titled debut album, which lit a spark under a restless Great Britain. McCormick is joined by guest Iain Key, a Manchester-based music writer, host of Indie Brunch on Louder Than War Radio, and author of All The Young Punks: A People's History of the Clash (Spenwood Books). Drawing on the testimonies and stories that make up Key's people's history, the interview explores how the Clash's debut resonated with people at that particular moment in British history, and the importance of the band to peoples' lives down to the present. Accompanied by examples of the Clash's trenchant social commentary in songs like "Career Opportunities" and "White Riot," the two also discuss the Clash's connection with ordinary people alongside their sonic ambition and experimentation -- dimensions which shaped the way we define what punk was all about.

Playlist
1. Janie Jones - The Clash
2. White Riot - The Clash 
3. Career Opportunities - The Clash
4. A Message for You Rudy - The Specials
5. Ghost Rider - Suicide
6. London's Burning - The Clash
7. Garageland - The Clash
8. Police & Thieves - Junior Murvin
9. Police & Thieves - The Clash

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Music does not just exist. It exists in specific times and places and in the sonic world of each individual listener who engages with it. That’s the basic idea behind "Music in Time," which explores the social and political context in which songs and albums emerge, are listened to, and reflected on over the years. Host Evan McCormick uses different formats to play with the idea of music in time—sometimes focusing on a single album and detailing the social and political circumstances surrounding its release, sometimes putting together playlists that explore a theme or concept in songs through the years. Each broadcast asks: how is music shaped by its own historical moment, and, in turn, how does music shape the histories that we remember?

By day, Evan McCormick is a historian at Columbia University, where he uses oral history interviews to understand how people remember and make sense of the past. By night, McCormick is a music lover and singer-songwriter, recording under the stage name Egan Caufield. For most of his life these two worlds remained separate, but after relocating to Catskill in 2020, he chose to bring history and music together over the airwaves, and "Music in Time" was born.