The Winter Of Discontent, the dawn of Thatcherism and vicious spending cuts. Civil unrest on the streets, a vote for Scottish independence, football eating itself and spawning the first million pound player. Worst of all, the opening of the first JD Wetherspoon pub… the dark clouds were gathering over Britain in 1979. It’s hard not to see the parallels 40 years on. Yet out of such adversity at the end of the 70s came the cavalry, an advance of disaffected bands from disparate musical backgrounds giving a voice to a generation and smashing down musical boundaries. The Clash’s London Calling led the charge, a sprawling double album that tore up the faded punk blueprint and inspired countless British teenagers to pick up guitars and form bands. In this month’s cover story, Danny Biggane speaks to 30 of those bands as they remind us why London Calling remains one of the best albums ever made. Daniel Dylan Wray picks up the baton and enlists members of post-punk trailblazers Buzzcocks, Gang Of Four and The Pop Group to unravel the legacy of one of the most important years in UK music. Four decades later, the landscape is troublingly similar to that in 1979, albeit there are now 900 Wetherspoons and for £1 million forwards read £80 million centre-backs; but can we have faith that a similarly reactionary and articulate music scene is emerging? The answer, pleasingly, is yes. The rise of IDLES, Fontaines D.C., The Murder Capital, Shame, Slowthai, Snapped Ankles and Goat Girl, to name but a few, demonstrates that young British and Irish bands have got the bit between their teeth once again. Is 2019 another Year Zero for music? That might be a bit of a stretch, but there’s plenty to celebrate in these troubled times; check back next month for our Top 100 albums of the year. Elsewhere this issue, we hear why Jeff Lynne has vacated the producer’s chair to concentrate on making new music, and Lankum and Tindersticks tell us about their own new albums. We’re also celebrating the long-overdue reissue of Gene Clark’s criminally underappreciated No Other. Thanks for reading.