Shows / Word In Your Ear
Word In Your Ear
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those…
Episodes
Word In Your EarThe Keith Moon story is a movie in waiting, both a comedy and a tragedy
The life of Keith Moon can be seen as Animal from the Muppets or as a dark, psychological odyssey. And the two co-exist in Tony Fletcher’s magnificent ‘Dear…
Word In Your EarThe shameless age of Britpop in ‘the wildest year of the 90s’
Dominic Mohan saw Britpop on the inside from the showbiz desk of the Sun in the days when it sold 4.5m copies, a series of heated memories recorded in ‘1996…
Word In Your EarWho hasn’t had ‘work done’, how to spot AI and the stupidest thing we ever did
A seasonal egg-hunt in the rock and roll backyard finds the following conversational confectionary … .. Wild Bill Hickok? Valentino? Bob Dylan’s bizarre new…
Word In Your EarHow Tony Visconti keeps the Bowie flag flying
Tony Visconti left Brooklyn for London in 1967, began working with the Move and Marc Bolan and formed a life-long friendship with the teenage David Bowie…
Word In Your EarMatt Johnson & the unique story of The The plus George Michael and the sunbed
Matt Johnson’s life story has been mapped out as one long Q&A conversation from meetings with old friend, fan and BFI director Jason Wood. ‘Cognitive…
Word In Your EarAt home with Nick Drake, Sandy Denny & John Martyn in the golden year of 1970
When he was 19, New Yorker Brian Cullman covered the London music scene for Crawdaddy, landing at the birth of folk-rock and the singer-songwriter boom and…
Word In Your EarThe Jarrett movie, Macca’s secret & when did standing at gigs start?
Whooping, whistling, punching the air, standing on the arm-rests and generally adding our voice to the sound of the crowd this week involves … … the creepy way…
Word In Your EarThe Clash story mapped by the places they lived, played, evolved … and shot pigeons
Paul Gorman, author and curator, has put together fascinating maps of the London haunts of Bowie and the Stones and just published one about the Clash built…
Word In Your EarMustn’t grumble! Songs with the essence of Englishness
A milky tea, a jam sponge and this week’s news served on a tin tray with a steam train painted on it points our very English conversation towards the following…
Word In Your EarNeil Tennant revisits songs he’s written since the age of nine
Neil Tennant co-wrote a musical at Primary School and soon decided that “learning other people’s songs was hard work compared with making up your own”. He’s…
Word In Your EarSteve Nieve looks back at Costello, Stiff tours and the magical sound of pianos
At the age of four, Steve Nieve drew pictures of piano keys and pretended to play them. He joined Elvis Costello & the Attractions when he was 19, the start of…
Word In Your EarScores McCartney still wants to settle, Country Joe and the rise of ‘destination gigs’
Watering the scented hedgerows of news to see if any green shoots appear. And they do, in the form of … … the most effective protest song ever written … the…
Word In Your EarShaun & Bez and other Odd Couples we love
Pointing the scanner of inquiry at the baggage carousel of news to see what gets the lights flashing, which this week includes … … we know what’s making…
Word In Your EarThe Kinks’ chaotic ascent mapped out day-by-day is ‘a nirvana for any fan’
A gorgeous and lavish new publication tells the story of the Kinks in the ‘60s via the key events in their unsteady trajectory plus concert bills, letters and…
Word In Your EarHow A Hard Day’s Night ripped up the pop movie rulebook
Author and broadcaster Samira Ahmed used to watch A Hard Day’s Night once a week and she’s just written an enthralling account of the shoot and its impact for…
Word In Your EarBob Dylan and the Beatles, a tale of envy, affection and intense rivalry
Bob Dylan and the Beatles watched each other closely. Jim Windolf is fascinated by the parallels in their stories, the obvious moments they influenced each…
Word In Your EarMark Lewisohn and why writing the real Beatles story just got harder
Mark Lewisohn began his Beatles’ trilogy in 2003, the first volume appearing ten years later. He’s hoping the second, Turn On, which covers 1963 to 1966 and…
Word In Your EarAlbums we bought because we liked the title
Spinning sides at the conversational disco to see what fills the dancefloor, which this week includes … … Jerry Garcia had seven fingers! Brian Jones had seven…
Word In Your EarHow Glenn Tilbrook transformed the life of Squeeze
Glenn Tilbrook wrote an album with Chris Difford about a futuristic nightclub when they were teenagers and, 52 years later, they’ve recorded it and are…
Word In Your EarThe Skids, Big Country and the unsettling story of Stuart Adamson
Stuart Adamson co-founded the Skids and Big Country but was profoundly ill-suited to the spoils of his success. Author Scott Rowley unpacks his passage from…
Word In Your EarThere are only three Rock National Treasures – and we name them!
Our ‘big air’ manoeuvres on the rock and roll ski jump this week land the following tricks … … why don’t we re-use old protest songs instead of writing new…
Word In Your EarKeith & Chuck, Bowie & Tina, Frank & Elvis and what we learnt from rock’s joint ventures
Some shared stages. Some made records and films together. Some had love affairs. Matt Thorne is fascinated by stars’ collaborations and what they reveal about…
Word In Your EarBoston, Def Leppard, bad hair & the golden age of rock radio
Paul Rees fell in love with AOR when it began with Boston in 1976, the polished, ramped-up hits that were briefly the music of the American heartland. His book…
Word In Your EarWas Bad Bunny at the Superbowl the greatest show ever staged?
After 40 days of relentless rain, you need our little ray of sunshine. And here we all are! Sitting in the rock’n’roll rainbow this week you’ll find … ... the…
Word In Your EarAndy Bown remembers the Herd, Judas Jump and 47 years in Status Quo
Andy Bown found the 20 year-old recordings of “a deep-space love story” he’d written with the sci-fi author Russell Hoban and he’s just reworked and released…
Word In Your EarHow the album survived and why it satisfies the soul!
The album has had 25 years of being hammered by other formats – Napster, iTunes, Spotify, TikTok – and not only survived but thrived. For Keith Jopling it’s…
Word In Your EarRacy pulp paperbacks, teenage Joni and the BRIT School versus the age of the amateurs
Unredacted exchanges about the rock and roll underworld this week highlight the following … … real or made-up stars’ kids’ names: Speck Wildhorse? Blue Ivy?…
Word In Your EarDavid Bowie and the triumph, mystery and struggle of his third act
Bowie’s early years have been scrutinised repeatedly but people tend to speed through the last act, from the early ‘90s to his death in 2016. Alexander…
Word In Your EarDays with Bowie, Prince, the Stones, Hendrix & the Clash by David Sinclair
David Sinclair was a long-running rock critic for the Times, Rolling Stone and many others and now makes records himself. He looks back here at some of the…
Word In Your EarThe genius of Sly Dunbar & Catherine O’Hara plus Springsteen’s anthem and old New York
A bone-shaking ride on the weekly news cycle, stopping off here to pump up the tyres …. … Springsteen’s Streets Of Minneapolis: it’s not what he said but the…
Word In Your EarAdele Bertei, New York’s art-rock explosion and Eno’s shopping list
Adele Bertei got a Greyhound to New York in 1977 intent on joining a band. James Chance thought she “looked like a pimp” and hired her as the organist in the…
Word In Your EarSteve Lillywhite produced the Stones, U2, Siouxsie, XTC - ‘the last leg of the relay’
Steve Lillywhite first got a foot in the studio door aged 17 making demos for Ultravox and became a producer with credits on over 500 records. He doesn’t have…
Word In Your EarWho’d be a nepo baby? plus the mystery album that outsold the Beatles
Scanning the baggage carousel of news to see what sets off the alarm, which this week involves … … Springsteen: why is America’s most American American so…
Word In Your EarSimon Nicol of Fairport Convention, back in the van with a bag of toffees
Fairport tour again in 2026 and are playing their annual Cropredy Convention in August, its 50th year. The rolling Kent landscape behind him, co-founder Simon…
Word In Your EarMiles Hunt of the Wonder Stuff - ‘I’d rather make people laugh than applaud’
Miles Hunt is on tour in 2026 – solo, with Vent 414 and the Wonder Stuff - and looks back here at his 40 years on stage, which involves … … stifling hecklers…
Word In Your EarKenney Jones remembers the Small Faces’ masterpiece
Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake is being reissued on Kenney Jones’ Nice Records, along with unheard outtakes discovered when the original master was found in one of his…
Word In Your EarThe fabulous Bob Weir and how the Grateful Dead invented the internet
A tie-dyed-in-the-wool rock & roll space odyssey to infinity and beyond which stops off this week at … … why the Dead’s music was “like lighting a match in the…
Word In Your EarSteve Cradock on Ocean Colour Scene, Mod hair & the ghost of Ronnie Lane
Steve Cradock’s touring with Ocean Colour Scene in 2026 and in his own show, Travellers Tunes, with his wife and son Steve – “we’re like the Von Trapps!” This…
Word In Your EarMary Coughlan, onstage from the age of five - ‘Applause and lemonade!’
Mary Coughlan – aka “Ireland’s Billie Holiday”, adored by Nick Cave, Shane MacGowan and Elvis Costello - is on tour again in 2026. This warm, funny and…
Word In Your EarPet Shop Boys at 40, missing folk star found! & rock stars’ childhood bedrooms
‘January,’ a revered pop lyricist once wrote, ‘sick and tired you've been hanging on me.’ And if that’s the mood down your way, this might help crank up the…
Word In Your EarFrom Dylan to Chappell Roan, pop’s 60-year obsession with Brigitte Bardot
Cartwheeling into 2026 with the usual cast of rock and roll heroes and pantomime villains. Behind you this week you’ll find … … Boy George? Rick Wakeman? Chas…
Word In Your EarPeter Hammill, Van Der Graaf Generator and what makes them unique
Peter Hammill has spent nearly six decades building the most devoted following imaginable – Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Mark E Smith among them. ‘Rock And Role’…
Word In Your EarDo all panned albums end up loved? And what’s the most significant record sleeve?
Deck the halls with cheese and Bolly! … and a dish of the usual rock and roll distraction which this week throws the following logs on the fire … … the…
Word In Your EarPaul Kelly – ‘national treasure!’ - and the song that took 30 years
Beloved Australian songwriter Paul Kelly has just turned 70 – “it sounds Biblical, threescore years and ten.” He looks back here at the road he took to get…
Word In Your EarLucinda Williams is fighting on every front
Lucinda Williams was a teenage activist singing We Shall Overcome at protest marches and she’s taken up the cudgels again on her new album World’s Gone Wrong…
Word In Your EarBeastie Boys, Frankie, teds, punks, raves - ‘moral panics’ remembered!
Shock, horror, public outcry and moments of moral turpitude plus with the usual news, rants and old hokum, which this week alights upon … … why Gene Simmons…
Word In Your EarPunk Rock recalled by Chris Sullivan - can music STILL be outrageous?
What’s the word ‘punk’ come to mean 50 years later? It’s been adopted by the very people it sought to unsettle. Chris Sullivan – DJ, club runner, lecturer…
Word In Your EarUK Subs’ Charlie Harper (81) has served 50 years in the punk wars. Give this man a medal!
UK Subs formed in 1976 when Charlie Harper was 32. They’ve had over 80 members, some of whom he can’t remember. They never split up and are touring in 2026 to…
Word In Your EarFairytale of New York's full story & the imperishable genius of Steve Cropper
The boys of the NYPD choir are still singing Galway Bay, so pour yourself a measure of the Rare Old Mountain Dew and warm your toes on the following … … Steve…
Word In Your EarThe Beatles versus Capitol Records and ‘the greatest marketing hype in history’
In 1963, Capitol Records considered the Beatles “a band who looked and sounded weird with an odd name and no leader” and refused to release their records in…
Word In Your EarThe Undertones are 50! And no-one’s more amazed than Damian O’Neill
Glorious news! The Undertones, dependable symbols of eternal youth, are setting out on a 50th anniversary tour in 2026, still playing Teenage Kicks and Here…
Word In Your EarJimmy Cliff, unseen Beatles and the greatest bassline on record!
Twenty pounds of headlines plus rants, theories and the odd slice of old hokum: served hot. Which this week involves … … Jimmy Cliff and how his versatility…
Word In Your EarBoo Hewerdine’s funny and alarming account of real life on the road
Boo Hewerdine, beloved singer-songwriter, has been onstage for 40 years in venues of every type, shape and size. He thinks of himself as a “tradesman”, a world…
Word In Your EarLegendary duos who met by chance, RIP Mani & ironing to gangsta rap
News, rants, theories and curios which this week includes …. … how Mani made the Stone Roses swing … Mick & Keith, Meg & Jack, Hall & Oates, Neil & Chris ……
Word In Your EarKula Shaker’s Crispian Mills had a colourful childhood
Crispian Mills knew he’d be onstage as he’s from a “family of professional show-offs” but they begged him not to be an actor. He talks here about his…
Word In Your EarThe Beach Boys’ story gets more tangled by the minute
“All bands are sad stories,” Peter Doggett points out, but is there a more woven, moving and, at times, farcical tale than that of the Beach Boys? It gives the…
Word In Your EarWhat makes a rock star a ‘ledge’ & the daft rituals of the ‘70s disco
Five decades of rock and roll with none of the names redacted. In the despatches this week … … Kevin Rowland? Adam Ant? Toyah? Morrissey? Which Smash Hits…
Word In Your EarRock’s fascination with the Third Reich exposed by Daniel Rachel
Musicians have flirted with Nazi imagery since the ‘60s, lampooning its theatre, absorbing its style, exploiting its shock value, even promoting its ideology…
Word In Your EarPaul Weller – ‘gloriously chippy’ – as seen by friends, family, fans and collaborators
Dan Jennings’ podcast ‘Desperately Seeking Paul’ is so successful he’s used 250 of the interviews in a best-selling oral history. ‘Dancing Through The Fire’…
Word In Your EarDid rave kill dancing in couples? Stars seen in strange places?
Marking our dance card at the rock and roll hop this week you’ll find … … And Then He Kissed Me, I Saw Her Standing There, Springsteen’s All The Way Home…