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 Ear
Why did Sheila Rock walk out of a New Order shoot?
Sheila’s portraits of ‘80s musicians and the club circuit filled the pages of magazines like the Face and Smash Hits at the time and now feature in her book…
- Word In Your Ear
What’s the connection between Liz Truss, Bruce Springsteen and Revolver?
In the crosshairs this week … Sampha, Skepta? Mercury Prize winner or Italian sports-shoe brand? Was Revolver really the Beatles’ most “consequential” album?…
- Word In Your Ear
Craig Brown - our greatest living satirist – has a theory about Keith Richards
Craig was on the pod last year talking about his glorious Beatles book ‘One Two Three Four’ and he’s just published a collection of his writing called…
- Word In Your Ear
Simon Sebag Montefiore knows the five best songs about history ever written
One of them is Sympathy For The Devil. The Stranglers are in the Top Five too, as are the Strawbs. The best-selling historian and documentary-maker has spent…
- Word In Your Ear
All of your rock heroes have had work done
In which we waspishly suggest the odd nip and tuck is now standard practice - and name a few obvious suspects. And alight upon … … Nick Hornby’s new book and…
- Word In Your Ear
King Crimson, Dave Vanian’s shoe and seeing one of the world’s most famous women on a train
Things picked up by the ankles this week and given a light shaking to see what falls out of their pockets … … why King Crimson is like no other band on God’s…
- Word In Your Ear
50 years of Nuggets, Ian Brown’s karaoke and is there a band name worse than Jealous Nostril?
Things given a grilling this week in hot pursuit of revelation and entertainment … .. would YOU pay £45 to see Ian Brown and some backing tracks? … the life of…
- Word In Your Ear
Hilary Mantel, Zappa track or ad slogan and the day Beefheart sold Aldous Huxley a vacuum-cleaner
In powerful pursuit of amusement and distraction we aim the piercing supertrouper of scrutiny this week in the direction of … … why Ry Cooder MUST write a…
- Word In Your Ear
Our farewell to the most famous person in the world (and the story of a brief encounter)
The Eiffel Tower dimmed its lights, the radio played “music for a solemn occasion” and this week’s pod is a reflection about the woman who’s been Queen all our…
- Word In Your Ear
You’re not going to Duran Duran’s Halloween party dressed like that!
Among the thoughts, theories and assorted old hokey in the firing line this week you will happily find … … rock biopics someone ought to be making … memories…
- Word In Your Ear
Celebrity mash-ups! An afternoon with Billy Joel, Ivanka Trump, Bono, Geldof and Rupert Murdoch
Welcome to this week’s pod in which various white-hot topics are brought in for questioning, among them … … Whatever happened to Dando Shaft? … Alastair Sim…
- Word In Your Ear
The horror, the horror! Why you MUST see the new Woodstock ’99 documentary
In bold and vigorous pursuit of entertainment we steer via the following topics … … Thora Hird with a rifle. … acts who wrote rejected songs for Bond movies. ……
- Word In Your Ear
In praise of Bernard Cribbins, Clive James and the noble art of guitar-smashing
Our weekly stroll through the sunlit uplands of rock and roll visits the following topics …… Bob Dylan’s worst lyrics… musicians in movies, actors who made…
- Word In Your Ear
Why half the people at a gig don't really want to be there
While Mark Ellen is away in his French chateau, David Hepworth goes off on one about Bruce Springsteen tours and why you can't use "dynamic pricing" in the…
- Word In Your Ear
Dave Grohl reaches ‘Meldrew age’, Be Here Now’s 25th birthday and the sex life of Dave Davies
In which we paddle our conversational canoe through the rock and roll backwaters, stopping off this week at … … the closure of Word magazine ten years ago and…
- Word In Your Ear
How much of ‘Indie’ is just shoes and hair?
High in the conversational mix this week … … the return the Stackwaddy game! - do Ben & Jerry’s do a Bohemian Raspberry? Are there really Apple Music genres…
- Word In Your Ear
Chris Blackwell remembers the “underdogs, rejects and misfits” he signed to Island Records
Nearly every Island act seemed impossibly hip, characterful and charismatic and much of that was down to the vision and long-term belief of the man who founded…
- Word In Your Ear
Danny Baker and Graham Gouldman at our live McCartney 80th birthday special!
On June 18, along with four guests, we held a party for Paul McCartney on his 80th in front of a big crowd in the magical tented arena at Opera Holland Park in…
- Word In Your Ear
Paul McCartney in the Park: our 80th birthday special (Part One!)
On June 18 we laid on a celebration of all things McCartney on his 80th in the magical tented arena at Opera Holland Park in West London. People came from all…
- Word In Your Ear
What links The Day Of The Jackal, Supertramp, the Sun and James Callaghan?
Appetising items on our lavish tray of conversational hors d'oeuvres this week include:- Billie Eilish, 20, (“the youngest at headliner at Glastonbury”) and…
- Word In Your Ear
The new Elvis movie and why we loved it
Among the things of great import we ran up the flagpole this week:- Why Baz Lurhmann’s new movie will do for Elvis what Get Back’s done for the Beatles…
- Word In Your Ear
Why music is largely about everything but music
Topics off the leash this week include … The Talent v Charisma pie chart you can apply to any act. “Double-concentrated Liam” versus “diluted Noel”, an update…
- Word In Your Ear
Jeff Beck, Johnny Depp and how to ‘rockwash’ your tarnished reputation
We give the week a spirited shakedown to see what falls out of its pockets. And this includes … The late Ronnie Hawkins – road hog, stunt diver, bootleg liquor…
- Word In Your Ear
Has any actor played a rock star convincingly?
Framed in the piercing super-trouper of perusal this week … The highs and lows of Danny Boyle’s new Sex Pistols biopic. The best in-car music for road trips…
- Word In Your Ear
You spent HOW MUCH on speakers?
This week we've been mainly talking about....Could The Smile be the first side-project to eclipse the mothership?Is the kitchen the place we mainly listen to…
- Word In Your Ear
Can bands still “sell out”? - plus 50 years of Exile On Main Street and RIP the iPod
Entertainments, thrills and diversions at the end of the rock and roll seaside pier this week include … Things we want to see in a Bob Dylan museum. Why the…
- Word In Your Ear
The world’s rarest records and the sartorial splendour of the satin tour jacket
The dazzling super trouper of gentle enquiry is trained this week upon:- Our recent encounter with John Lydon – his high viz shirt, his smoking habit and his…
- Word In Your Ear
Kate Rusby (12) bought Bon Jovi tapes on hire purchase from Casa Disco in Barnsley
Folk deity, songwriter and festival figurehead, Kate Rusby was raised on Planxty and De Dannan but staged a rebellion with Smash Hits and “storytelling songs”…
- Word In Your Ear
It’s our fantasy seven-decade Queen’s Jubilee line -up!
… which may or may not feature Noel Coward, Slade, the KLF and the Spice Girls. Other key items in pursuit of entertainment this week include:- When did…
- Word In Your Ear
You’re either a t-shirt act or a non t-shirt act: discuss
White-hot topics examined this week include:- The sweeping return of Britpop (Shed Seven, Reverend and the Makers, how did they get so huge?) Has Nick Mason…
- Word In Your Ear
Which band played the Old Grey Whistle Test and was then completely forgotten?
Among the key questions being booted round the block this week in hot pursuit of entertainment:- Why is the billing of the Rolling Stones as just “Stones” on…
- Word In Your Ear
‘Streaming Killed the Skit Track’ plus Toastface Grillah and the Sgt Peppermill
Among the delights this week:- Pink Floyd’s single for Ukraine (the best peace anthem ever?) and the song Bruce Springsteen played the night Saddam Hussein’s…
- Word In Your Ear
We spot Will “Slapper” Smith’s biggest mistake at the Oscars and salute Ben Sidran’s foot
Will Smith did something at the Academy Awards which showed what he cared about most - did you notice it too? Our blow-by-blow account of the moment everyone…
- Word In Your Ear
No Top Of The Pops. No NME or Smash Hits covers. What do bands dream of now?
In which we salute the charismatic Taylor Hawkins – and the magnetic appeal of brothers in arms (Taylor & Dave, Pete and Carl, Bruce and Clarence, John and…
- Word In Your Ear
How did ‘New Boots And Panties!!’ get released without a parental advisory sticker?
Entertaining things subjected to wry and rigorous scrutiny this week include:- * The most bizarre and tenuous rock autobiographies – eg the tell-all…
- Word In Your Ear
There’s only been one truly original group and we know who they are
Have you ever heard a band but couldn’t work out where their sound came from? We’re saying: only once. What connects the Sweet’s Blockbuster! to Willie Dixon’s…
- Word In Your Ear
Which bands were ALL good–looking? 15 contenders considered...
There’s “pop star good looks” - as opposed to “film star good looks” - and there’s “indie good looks” ... but which acts were a hundred per cent hot? Plus … is…
- Word In Your Ear
Why $15m for Britney Spears’ memoir is “a bargain” and the curious tale of A Whiter Shade Of Pale
In which we skip the light fandango through live recordings full of extraneous noise – hecklers on a Lou Reed track, barking dogs on a Joe Henry album, the…
- Word In Your Ear
Why do all bands seem ludicrous apart from the ones you personally like?
Piping hot topics fondly booted round the park this week include … are any actors ever convincing when playing a famous rock star? Does it matter if movies…
- Word In Your Ear
Does anyone capture the spirit of a place better than Van Morrison’s Belfast? – plus some underrated ‘70s tracks
Among the items for your distraction and entertainment this week … Do people still form bands? The tangled story of the Aqualung artwork. The skull-cracking…
- Word In Your Ear
The story of Don Henley’s the Boys of Summer, £10k headphones and ‘I’m Getting Buried In The Morning’ …
In the crosshairs this week … how Mike Campbell’s masterpiece was almost eaten by machinery, who made five great albums in five years?, “a mix is never…
- Word In Your Ear
Morrissey v Marr, Neil Young v Spotify, Albarn v Swift – it’s a Pop Tiffs special!
Who invented the rock spectacle? Has Adele got a touch of Imposter Syndrome? What was Barry Cryer’s gag about the Pretenders? Which bands devised their own…
- Word In Your Ear
The pleasing eccentricities of Jonathan Richman plus Natalie Umbrella-Stand, Christina Aqualibra and “Neil Aspinall: The Movie”
A candlelit episode boldly addressing the burning issues du jour, among which you’ll find … Is old music killing new music?; actors that should play rock stars…
- Word In Your Ear
Ronnie Spector, the Day Of The Jackal and why no-one screams at musicians with beards
What’s the difference between “chin music and beard music”? What’s the most you’d pay for a ticket? What happened when the Pope went record shopping? Will the…
- Word In Your Ear
The inventor of the rock logo and why Rick Wakeman’s owed a fortune
In which we choose a new National Anthem, tell the story of Hamish Grimes and the Clapton graffito, salute the best moments in Frasier and feel the powerful…
- Word In Your Ear
The Summer Of Soul movie, Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense and listening to 1,000 albums a year
In which we look at Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, the Staple Singers and Gladys Knight in the fabulous Harlem concert film from 1969. And think what possessions we…
- Word In Your Ear
Rock memoirs that need to be written, the Porridge Christmas Special and Hunky Dory’s 50th birthday
In which we salute the comic genius of Ronnie “Fletcher” Barker and Fulton “Mackay” Mackay, fantasise about autobiographies still to come (Neil Tennant, Pet…
- Word In Your Ear
Mike Nesmith, Don’t You Want Me and Sly Stone’s drum machine
In which we remember the lightness of touch and winning gallows humour of Mike Nesmith and the interesting ways he made and spent his fortunes. And it’s 50…
- Word In Your Ear
Alternative Xmas songs, Zappa’s worst year, Milk Almond and the Happy Mung Beans
In which we remember the “Smoke On The Water” fire at Montreux Casino, the soft melancholy of some underrated Christmas records, wonder which documentaries…
- Word In Your Ear
Sex In The Sixties - let Peter Doggett be your guide
Peter’s been on the pod before talking about the Beatles and Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and he’s just published a fascinating account of the ‘60s sexual…
- Word In Your Ear
John Illsley tells the Dire Straits story
Recorded at the West Hampstead Arts Club - we're back in the outside world! - the band’s bassist remembers their label’s hopes of selling 5,000 copies of their…
- Word In Your Ear
Sondheim, the Band Aid recording and the first F-word on record
In which we remember being at Sarm Studios 37 years ago as Bob Geldof and Midge Ure marshalled the troops, and look at the reaction to the Get Back movie, Alan…
- Word In Your Ear
Lenny Kaye nails some moments “when the universe shifted”
Lenny Kaye’s just published ‘Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments In Rock And Roll’, events in particular times and places that changed the…
- Word In Your Ear
Elvis Costello, aka rock’s “greatest communicator”
In which we watch a breathtaking 40-minute piece of oratory by EC that takes in David Hockney, TikTok, Laurel & Hardy, what Pete Thomas did during Lockdown and…
- Word In Your Ear
Inscrutable album covers and Hunky Dory’s 50th birthday
In which we salute the great ‘60s pop writer and Beatles associate Maureen Cleave, find a copy of Melody Maker from the week Hunky Dory was released (the…
- Word In Your Ear
McCartney’s lyrics & the Tom Tom Club plus Lionel Blair and other rhyming slang immortals
In which we kick about with music at weddings, spin-off groups, the bracing challenge of Trout Mask Replica, why pop music needs no awards, the Lionel Blair…
- Word In Your Ear
Happy 50th to the Pink Moon recording sessions!
In which we debunk the eye-watering Adele Hyde Park ticket prices, note the crowd-losing absence of choruses in Nick Drake songs, remember the strangest…
- Word In Your Ear
Daniel Rachel hears 100 hours of Beatles audio – “it’s like the DNA in a crime scene”.
Daniel Rachel, old pal of the pod, has just published ‘Like Some Forgotten Dream: What If The Beatles Hadn’t Split Up?’, much of it drawn from his access to…
- Word In Your Ear
Tim Burgess: how Tim’s Twitter Listening Party raised the sum of human happiness
One of the great Lockdown success stories now has a book attached. This magnificent invention started in March last year and, at one point, Tim was hosting 10…
- Word In Your Ear
The best five tracks of the ‘70s and massive applause for Paul Simon (80)
In which we watch the Harmony Game (the fabulous doc about the making of Bridge Over Troubled Water), wonder if the British are qualified to play Country, hear…