Who are the Clash? How did they become the "only band that matters"? In this podcast, Randal Doane, the author of
Stealing All Transmissions: A Secret History of the Clash (PM Press, 2014), discusses the American context of the Clash's popularity and their generally positive reception by FM free form deejays and rock critics. The podcast covers a lot of ground, including what Lou Reed was like as a FM deejay in the 1970s to the effect of Sandy Pearlman on recording the Clash's second album.
Randal Doane is an Assistant Dean of Studies at Oberlin College and earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center. He has published essays and articles on music and aesthetics, illegal file-sharing, and Bruce Springsteen, and
blogs and
tweetsabout music and culture. He recently published an
essay about U2's "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)".