About this episode

The episode discusses the cultural and musical landscape of the summer of 1976 in Britain, featuring insights from guest John L Williams.

The blistering heat of 1976 burnt various things onto the memory – standpipes, strikes, Entebbe, ‘Confessions’ movies, Jeremy Thorpe – but most of all the records that became its soundtrack, some of them revolutionary, others begging for extinction. John L Williams captures the moment in ‘Heatwave: the Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point’ and a paints of picture of a country on the brink of a vast pop-cultural shift. We talk to him here about …   … violence at gigs and football and on Derek & Clive albums   … dumb people pretending to be clever (prog rock) and clever people pretending to be dumb (Ramones)   … the rise of Joan Armatrading in the days before ‘identity’ marketing   … how ‘funny’ t-shirts were the memes of their day   … when Tom Robinson saw the future in Scarborough   … “mainstream culture gave you things to both love and hate”   ... how Rock Follies featured an imaginary Blitz Club where people danced in military uniforms   … Andy Summers (with Kevin Ayers) and Stewart Copeland (Curved Air) on the same bill a year before the Police   … why anyone with a Sensational Alex Harvey Band scarf got a wide berth &nbsp…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, Alex Gold

Guest: John L Williams

Topics covered

• music history
• 1976 cultural shifts
• live music violence
• identity marketing
• pop culture
• prog rock
• punk rock

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Radio One

Books & works: Heatwave: the Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point, Rock Follies, Derek & Clive, Confessions movies

Places: Britain

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