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 EarGraham Nash beat the Beatles in a talent contest
We both first heard Graham Nash just over 60 years ago when the Hollies’ Just One Look was on the BBC’s swinging Light Programme and we’ve followed him ever…
Word In Your EarThe Dylan biopic, Sam & Dave and why 2025 is the most important year in our lives.
Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun, it is in fact just two old lags reviewing the current events, which this week include…
Word In Your EarJohnnie Walker, pop’s golden year and what’s wrecking rock documentaries.
It’s perishing cold in our frostbitten London HQ but we warmed our toes around a blazing conversational fire and roasted the following chestnuts … … “the job…
- Word In Your Ear
How Dylan and Leonard Cohen punctured the Summer Of Love plus the birth of blockbuster album
Among the walnut shells, wrapping paper, dried tangerine peel and broken toys beneath the Christmas Tree Of News we found a few unopened presents, among them ……
Word In Your EarWhy we have enough Christmas hits plus the greatest songs about money
Deck the halls with beers and Stoli! The nutcracker of scrutiny was applied to this week’s noisettes of news and the following discussed over a glass of port ……
Word In Your EarBill Bailey celebrates “the things that make us human”.
The tremendous Bill Bailey is staging “a magical, musical mystery tour of the mind, along with other pressing matters” for 42 nights in London from December…
Word In Your EarHow Al Stewart struck gold, the folk boom and a flat-share with Paul Simon
The 17 year-old Al Stewart played electric guitar in a dance band in Bournemouth in 1963. When he borrowed an acoustic and sang Masters Of War in the break, he…
Word In Your Ear‘Mystique is dead’: what Gary Kemp learnt in 40 years of making and selling records
Gary Kemp has been posting reels of his recent visits to old haunts in Soho where he and his early bands used to rehearse, this in the run-up to releasing a…
Word In Your EarThe afterlife of Hallelujah and the day David sold his old singles
We ran our patent heat-sensing Scrutiniser®️ over the week’s news and here’s what set the bells off … … are buskers now more expensive live entertainment than…
Word In Your EarThe greatest sax solo, YMCA, musical one-night stands and Tom Hanks’ wise advice
Paddling the three-man conversational kayak across the rock and roll rapids this week involved … … Olive Mess, Candied Yams, Gorilla Biscuits …? Challenging…
Word In Your EarHow ‘60s pop was sold and the first news stories launching the hits
Joni Mitchell called it “stoking the star-maker machinery behind the popular song”. Every record sent out for review used to come with a press release knocked…
Word In Your EarThe Beatles ’64 movie - one of us loves it, the other doesn’t. Plus Rod’s tweets & Trump’s guitars
Reversing into tomorrow! This week’s news events given a vigorous once-over include … … what will a Trump guitar be worth in 30 years’ time? … the average age…
Word In Your EarHow R.E.M. changed the game and why there’ll never be another band like them
R.E.M. considered themselves missionaries against the prevailing pop culture – no solos, no old-school stagecraft, no printed lyrics, no lip-syncing, no…
Word In Your EarFairport, Nick Drake, Traffic and why Island Records was a sumptuous visual delight
Neil Storey worked in the Island press office in the ‘70s and ‘80s and has set out on mammoth undertaking, to compile a series of gorgeous, album-sleeve-sized…
Word In Your EarDanny Baker - the panjandrum of unstoppable anecdote with a taste of his upcoming tour
Danny Baker, the act you’ve known for all these years, is kicking his legs up again in 2025 on a thundering new theatre tour, ‘Aye Aye! Ahoy Hoy!’ “Dead men…
Word In Your EarThe Band Aid recording, the birth of the tape loop and the power of the movie theme tune
This week’s events piled into a pipe and enthusiastically smoked include … … our memories of being at the Band Aid recording in Sarm studios, November 25 1984…
Word In Your EarHow Toyah & Robert’s kitchen show became an Xmas rock’n’roll ding-dong
One of our rays of sunshine in the dark days of Lockdown was Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch, fizzing clips of the two of them in their Dorset kitchen, him…
Word In Your EarJohn Lydon on the genius of Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the fine art of Spoken Word
John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with…
Word In Your EarThe poshest pop star ever, music in Xmas ads and song lyrics we can still recite
In which we feed the week’s events through our heat-seeking Fun-Filter®️ to see what makes the bell ring. Which includes … … Richard Ashcroft in the new John…
Word In Your EarRobert Hilburn on the lifetime achievement of Randy Newman
He’s written some of the darkest entries in the American songbook but became world famous with a sunny celebration of friendship on the soundtrack of “Toy…
Word In Your EarPeter Perrett of the Only Ones – teenage life, a wondrous return and a 35-year lost weekend.
After many years of invisibility, Peter Perrett of the Only Ones is out, about and on tour again and talks to us here about the first gigs he ever saw and…
Word In Your EarDoes ‘celebrity endorsement’ still work? - and how Quincy Jones invented the blockbuster
Things this week that sent the needle into the red included … … the last dance craze the whole world noticed. ... “Rock stars used to be anti-establishment…
Word In Your EarThe genius of George Harrison and why he’s still underrated
The most streamed Beatles song – 700 million plays more than any other – is not by Lennon/McCartney but George who, as author Seth Rogovoy points out, is still…
Word In Your EarIan Broudie of the Lightning Seeds - his Year Zero moment, Imposter Syndrome and seeing the Beatles (aged 7)
Ian Broudie and the Lightning Seeds are about to set out on their 35th Anniversary Greatest Hits Tour – aka “beery parties”. He talks to us here about the…
Word In Your EarKraftwerk, Cream, Nirvana, savage reviews, fantasy girlfriends and a naked Nick Cave ‘plush doll’
Our crack pair of inquisitors tackle the week’s events and sift out the good, the bad and the riveting, which includes … … whatever happened to savage reviews?…
Word In Your EarLife with the Lennons, fame, friendship, the FBI and the Lost Weekend – by Elliot Mintz.
Elliot Mintz, then a West Coast radio presenter, met the Lennons in 1971, the start of a close, unique and extraordinary friendship and hours of late-night…
Word In Your EarHow Goth took over, farewell Phil Lesh and the curse of teenage stardom
Brushing aside the cobweb spray and luminous flashing skulls, we ring rock and roll’s doorbell in pursuit of both tricks and treats. Among which you’ll find ……
Word In Your EarWhen Mark King of Level 42 was the 11 year-old singing drummer in a novelty act
Mark King and Level 42 have just announced 2025 tour dates and he talks to us here about … … the value of what you learn in covers bands from being ignored. ……
Word In Your EarKing Crimson, red hair dye and a singing Jack Russell: the boisterous memoir of Jakko Jakszyk
This is an extraordinary story on many levels – about the power and sanctuary of music, about what it took for bands to get noticed in the ‘70s, about how a…
Word In Your EarObsessive fans, Dylan’s reading list and how Taylor Swift tickets are the new codeword for wealth
Applying our patent wheat-chaff separator to recent rock and roll events, we filter out the following … … “They’ve got the guns but we got the numbers”…
Word In Your EarBritpop, its peaks and its spiritual godfather: a Golden Age rebooted by Miranda Sawyer
You’ll know Miranda Sawyer from the Observer and the radio and, possibly, from her days at Smash Hits and Select magazines that form the foundation of her new…
Word In Your EarZappa and Elvis as fathers (!), Billy Joel’s house sale and the curse of too much choice
Our record-breaking partnership faces a fresh set of spin bowlers on the rock and roll pitch but rifles a few shots over the pavilion roof, among them … … the…
Word In Your EarHugh Cornwell on how the drummer has the best seat in the house
Hugh Cornwell is preparing for his “All The Fun Of The Fair” tour which begins in November and here he talks to David Hepworth about:….why rehearsals are best…
Word In Your EarKris Kristofferson, a lost Tom Petty film and rock stars and the curse of the selfie
We aimed the airgun of enquiry at this week’s rock and roll side-stall and dislodged the following coconuts … … sports star, Rhodes scholar, bohemian: why Kris…
Word In Your EarHow Christine McVie saw Fleetwood Mac and the real reason she left them – by Lesley-Ann Jones
Christine McVie - one of only two British girl rock musicians in the ‘60s and part of the greatest pop soap opera of all time. Neither in the backline or the…
Word In Your EarNick Heyward dressed like Cary Grant – then the Jam, XTC and Talking Heads. “It’s all about clothes, hair and shoes.”
Nick Heyward was one of our favourite cover stars when we were at Smash Hits in the ‘80s, the days when hardcore Haircut One Hundred fans turned out in Fair…
Word In Your EarIn the studio with Nick Drake, Fairport, John Martyn & the String Band: John Wood remembers a golden age
“There was no Command-Zed back then!” John Wood engineered or produced some of the most magical, timeless and affecting records ever made - by Nick Drake, John…
Word In Your EarIan Hunter – joining Mott The Hoople, Bowie, Hamburg and being “enthused into craziness”.
Ian Hunter – an image so familiar you’d recognise his silhouette - now lives in Connecticut and he’s just released expanded versions of two of his best-selling…
Word In Your EarBryan Ferry, Maggie Smith and why Ian Hunter is a movie in waiting
As the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness draws in, we poke the embers of this week’s rock and roll bonfire and rake out the following chestnuts … ……
Word In Your EarWhen Cocteau Twins followed the Ramones onstage and why 1979 was the Golden Age - by Simon Raymonde
Simon Raymonde’s affecting and beautifully written memoir ‘In One Ear’ records life in the ‘60s growing up with a father who wrote and arranged for Dusty…
Word In Your EarThe deep secret of Abba’s “music without nostalgia” and the time they met the Pistols
Abba’s biographer Jan Gradvall met and interviewed Abba many times and builds a fresh picture of their internal chemistry in his new book Melancholy…
Word In Your EarFond memories of lost ‘80s London, Morrissey v Marr and the film they should make about Toyah
A free-form spontaneous jam this week - the Dark Star of podcasts – which navigates the outer reaches of the rock and roll stratosphere by way of the following…
Word In Your EarSwinging London & the Wombles seen from an electric-blue Rolls-Royce. Mike Batt looks back
Mike Batt still wrestles with the emotional legacy of the Wombles, the act that simultaneously made him and cast a shadow over the rest of his career, not…
Word In Your EarJoe Boyd – Little Richard, Nick Drake, Tight Fit and why everything sounds the way it does
Joe Boyd produced Fairport Convention, Nick Drake and many others, released acts from all over the globe on his Hannibal label and has just written a mighty…
Word In Your EarScreaming Jay Hawkins 75, Dave Grohl 1
With Mark Ellen rambling in the West Country it’s left to David Hepworth to talk Alex Gold down from the ledge in the light of the Dave Grohl news and…
Word In Your EarOne Day author David Nicholls – prog rock, Live Aid and making tapes for girls
The Netflix series of David Nicholls’ worldwide hit novel One Day was Top Ten in 89 countries and he’s been heavily involved in its soundtrack album, a process…
Word In Your EarNick Lowe – war stories, wise decisions and the event in 1970 that made him think again
Old friend of the podcast, Nick Lowe has just released his 15th solo album, Indoor Safari, and he’s about to tour with Los Straitjackets. This absorbing…
Word In Your EarThe Buskers’ Hall of Fame – from Moondog and Billy Bragg to Don Partridge and “the skating Sikh”.
Louis Armstrong, Wild Man Fischer, Irving Berlin and Lucinda Williams all started out as buskers and Cary Baker’s ‘Down On The Corner’ traces the romance and…
Word In Your EarWho should follow John Lydon with a Spoken Word spectacular?
We applied dynamic pricing to this week’s news and various stories trebled in value, among them … … further adventures in the Oasis ticket fiasco. … the…
Word In Your EarDavid Hepworth on the glory, comedy and tragedy of rock stars who can't retire
David’s seventh book in his ‘orange series’ is just out and you’re guaranteed to love it. He and Mark discussed ‘Hope I Get Old Before I Die’ at a sold-out…
Word In Your EarThe Oasis reunion – feuds, cash, symbolism and the desire to repair our imperfect lives
David, Mark and our token bucket-hatted parka monkey Alex tackle the return of Oasis, its grip on the public imagination and why they’re the biggest band of…
Word In Your EarAre comedians more competitive than rock stars?
In a concerted effort to put the world to rights, David and Mark ruminate upon the following …… Kylie and the Wiggles? Canned Heat and the Chipmunks? Real or…
Word In Your EarJohnny Beatle’, early Blondie, Led Zeppelin’s plane and seven fabulous years at the Melody Maker.
Rock journalism as an occupation is rapidly heading in the direction of the watch-mender or lamplighter so Chris Charlesworth’s account of life at the Melody…
Word In Your EarOne-word rock star mimicry, bands who shouldn’t reform & the best thing about Taylor Swift
With David asleep on a French sun-lounger beneath a copy of Summer Lightning, Alex and Mark pour themselves a cold drink and consider … … the great ska…
Word In Your EarThe extraordinary story of Arthur Lee, Love and the 1966 flop which became a hit for the ages
Love’s official biographer John Einarson tells David Hepworth the star-crossed tale of the band who made the least psychedelic album of the psychedelic era…
Word In Your EarBuddy Holly airlines and the inimitable Bob Dylan
As Mark Ellen goes shrimping at Frinton David Hepworth and Alex Gold links hands across the Atlantic to discuss:….why a quick turn around Mount Hood in a…
Word In Your Ear“Pop music is 80 per cent about hair”, remaking classic albums and why CDs are so hard to love
A small Pastis, a game of boules and a conversation putting the rock and roll world to rights, which this week includes … … why Debbie Harry and Mick Jagger…
Word In Your EarQueen, Bowie and other residents of Rockfield Studios remembered by the cook’s daughter
Rockfield is a converted farmhouse in the Welsh countryside where, for over 50 years, bands have lived while recording. In the ‘70s Tiffany Murray’s mum was…
Word In Your Ear57 years of Fleetwood Mac: author Mark Blake's fond encounters and fresh revelations
Mark Blake calls Dreams: the Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac a “mosaic biography”, their almost six-decade saga presented as a series of enthralling short stories…
Word In Your EarRon Sexsmith doesn’t need a teleprompter. He can do 40 Dylan songs at the drop of a hat
Beloved Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, old pal of the pod, is touring the UK in November, two of the nights at the Palladium, and looks back here at…