Word In Your Ear
Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold 961 episodes Nov 11, 2026
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who have collectively spent decades writing about and discussing music in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo, and The Word, and on radio and TV shows such as "Rock On" and "Whistle Test," host this podcast. They began producing podcasts over thirteen years ago while working on the magazine The Word, and continued after the magazine folded in 2012 with live Word In Your Ear events featuring conversations with musicians and authors. The podcast features hundreds of hours of material, including remote interviews with guests like Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice, and Mark Lewisohn.
Episodes
Mary Gauthier, hardcore troubadour – ‘you got 30 seconds to get their attention!’
Mary Gauthier didn’t appear onstage ‘til a traumatic night in Boston aged 29 and she’s been a songwriter and storyteller ever since, much of the raw material from the rigours of her early life. She looks back here, in the euphoria of post-election Nashville, at the personal landmarks and what she’s learnt along the way, which includes … … how to connect with any audience … how the crowd treated th
Nick Heyward, Haircut 100 and life as a 15 year-old father
Haircut 100’s moment in the sun was brief but dramatic and as vividly remembered as his childhood in Nick Heyward’s memoir Fantastic Days. The boy in marmalade corduroy shoes becomes the pop star in the sou’wester and, 45 years later, he’s finally made sense of the peaks and troughs along the way. He’s not bitter but has every right to be. It’s beautifully written, full of moments where time stand
Dylan and the Pope, the drummer on 42 Number 1s & rock stars who were teenage crims
Seeking another landslide victory in our 20-year conversational campaign, this week’s vote-winners include …… did Bob Dylan take the Pope a jigsaw and some Lucozade?… the drummer whose first session was a Number One… did John Lennon mug a sailor?… albums by Duffy, Frankie, ABC and the Darkness that “died like a louse in a Russian's beard”… another cover that’s better than the Beatles’ original
Richard Jobson on the Skids and the day Steve Jones burgled Francis Bacon
A “feral child” from Fife gets recruited by a punk band who have five long years in the sun and split up. Until rebooted when U2 and Green Day cover one of their singles 25 years later. The Skids are back on tour again, a show “that leaves nothing in the dressing-room” and once disastrously involved a backflip, and Richard Jobson’s stories of those early days here are tremendously funny and engagi
Dick Taylor, the Pretty Things and the four months he spent in the Stones
The Pretty Things were dead centre in the mid-‘60s underground and they’ve been mythologised ever since - for the sound of those singles, for their SF Sorrow masterpiece and for their delicious eccentricities and the way they looked. Co-founder and guitarist Dick Taylor relives life in the blues clubs with the Stones and the whole psychedelic adventure that followed, now captured - along with outt
Dylan Jones, past master of the long lunch, saw the music world from a restaurant table
London restaurants were where musicians, actors, writers and TV stars were seen “and how you knew where they were in the days before social media”. They were a form of theatre with a shifting cast and a way of gauging celebrity status. Dylan Jones – who’s lunched long and hard in the heart of the media – sees that vanishing world as a measure of changing times and fashions in his toothsome new boo
What’s at the heart of Indie Rock? – plus Bowie rebooted and Patrick Stewart RIP
‘To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilizations and to boldly go where no podcasters have been before!’ Which this week involves …… the lost 1978 Bowie footage about to tour arenas… why Indie songs have such long intros… Jagger’s great-granddaughter is three years older than one of his sons?!… how Bill Wyman survived Brian Jones and the letter Jones sent Charlie asking him t
Carl Palmer’s 64 years onstage and the ingenious way he’s touring as ELP
Whenever Carl Palmer joined a band, he was head-hunted by a bigger one - the King Bees, Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster and, eventually, Emerson Lake & Palmer. We get a vivid whirlwind tour here of six decades onstage – modest, very funny, barely pausing for breath – and a full account of how ‘An Evening with Emerson Lake & Palmer’ will
Joni Mitchell’s fascinating treasure trove of lost interviews with the BBC
Tom Hagler works at the BBC with access to every TV and radio programme involving Joni Mitchell for 50 years, all full of revelations about her songs and the times she spent in London. So he transcribed the interviews – even the bits off-camera - and talked to the people who’d watched them being recorded, now published as ‘River Of Words: Joni Mitchell At the BBC’. It’s full of fresh angles and go
Which bands pass the three-year test? – plus the great live albums & rock stars’ alter egos
Stirring the spice-filled gumbo of news and turning the heat up. This week’s nutritious ingredients include …. … is everything better shorter?… the greatest opening line in a book ever written… did Tom Waits, Warren Zevon, Joe Cocker, the Bee Gees, Cheap Trick, Sam Cooke, Talking Heads or Bill Evans make the greatest live album of all time?… the worst beers Buster Poindexter ever had… rock stars’
Dexys, their hits and flops and how I survived them by Helen O’Hara
Helen’s violin at the start of Come On Eileen has filled a million wedding dancefloors. She was a member of Dexys Midnight Runners, later their musical director, at the boom time of Too Rye Ay (and its wobbly sequel) and captures the thrill of it all in her just-updated memoir, What’s She Like: A Violinist’s Tale. You’ll love this conversation - warm, candid, forgiving and touching on all the foll
Nigel Dick shot videos for Band Aid, Guns N’Roses, Britney and Oasis by ‘failing upwards’
We first met Nigel Dick in the late ‘70s when he was the motorbike messenger for Stiff Records and watched him rocket to success in the video boom, directing career-launching clips for Guns N’Roses, Tears for Fears and Britney Spears and working with Cher, Joni Mitchell and McCartney, all recorded in his memoir ‘Music Video Mischief’. He looks back here on that big-budget golden age and the rise o
Tall stories about towering and tiny rock stars, ‘50s jazz and Mick Jagger’s gym shoes
Two fearless men journey to the Edge Of News so that you don’t have to. Some highlights of this week’s report …… when a gig’s all about the performer not the audience… the power of singing other people’s songs… can you ever trust a film critic?… what connects Richard Thompson, Neil Tennant, Loudon Wainwright and Randy Newman?… “bands can’t look like gangs if they’re not all the same height”… can y
Another Word with … Richard Thompson: includes Fairport, Lennon, Schwarzenegger and a cast of thousands!
Richard Thompson has a new album, ‘Hippies, Thugs and Heroes’, and he’s touring again in 2027, the perfect excuse to get another of our favourite guests back in the chair again. He joins us here for a brilliant, free-wheeling conversation with a cast list including …Arnold Schwarzenegger (and his son Wolfie)William ShakespeareMandy MillerShostakovichFairport ConventionWilliam WaltonFelliniJohn Len
Rory Gallagher – Ireland’s first rock star remembered by the brother who managed him
You forget how huge and ubiquitous Rory Gallagher was in the ‘70s, just 22 at the Isle of Wight and auditioning for the Stones four years later, an inspiration for Johnny Marr, Andy Partridge, the Edge, Slash and countless others. And for his brother and manager Dónal - “it was a big wide world I wasn’t going to see unless I hung onto his coattails”. He’s just published a memoir, ‘Edged In Blue, A
Q Magazine’s 40th, Ariel Bender and the most unlistenable music ever made
In this week’s extension of The Longest Conversation In Pop History™️ you’ll be happy to find …… the front row audience driving Gillian Anderson mad and why we feel for her... can you still buy anything for £1.10?… when did rock nostalgia begin?… what Andy Partridge paid “the Hermit of Mink Hollow”… the famous playwright who wrote a Beatles film script… Spirit of Eden, Trout Mask Replica, Bitches
Roxy, Traffic, Nick Drake, Mott the Hoople & the magic of Island Records
The third instalment of ‘The Island Book of Records’ is out, another sumptuous, elegantly designed, LP-sized chronicle of every album released on this most fabled of labels, in this case between 1971-72. They’re edited by Neil Storey who worked in the press office for years, and they’re magnificent, a painstaking assembly of the memories of producers, musicians and label staff involved in those re
Gary Kemp bought Brian Epstein’s address book and discovered ‘the DNA of the Beatles’
A lifelong Beatles obsessive, Gary Kemp bought Epstein’s black leather address book at auction and (with Simon Halfon) researched its 404 names to construct a picture of him, “a 360-degree look” built around musicians, managers, impresarios, hustlers, grifters, ‘walkers’, tricksters, writers, deejays, scene-makers and assorted fashion and media folk. It’s fascinating. As is this podcast where he t
‘Metal Machine Music is a masterpiece!’ David Holzer has played it 1,000 times
David Holzer was a Lou Reed fan from the moment he saw Walk On The Wild Side on Top Of The Pops but avoided Metal Machine Music for 42 years as it was supposedly unlistenable. He was transfixed when he finally heard it, began playing it daily and felt so strongly about “the most radical rock record ever made” he tracked down 60 fellow obsessives and wrote the enthralling ‘Lou Reed: Metal Machine M
Todd Rundgren’s outbursts, ‘too old to mosh’ & the happiest and saddest songwriters
A long-running conversation that shifts from major to minor, back to major and all notes inbetween, this week’s lyrics including …… can people who write ‘happy’ ever be cool?… the best drummer who isn’t a drummer?… when will Oasis buy Man City?… why is Taylor Swift unmemorable?… when’s “too old to mosh”?… weird double-bills: Jimi Hendrix and the Monkees. Cat Stevens and Engelbert. Black Sabbath an
Jon Savage loathed the 1976 singles chart so he’s made an album of should-have-been hits
Jon Savage detested the UK’s mid-‘70s hits with a vengeance, “records so bad they made you want to strangle every deejay on Radio One, especially Dave Lee Travis”. Which is why he’s compiled ‘Jon Savage’s 1976: Something Was Going To Happen’, 24 ground-breaking tracks released the same year that paved the way to the future. He looks back here from his home in Anglesey at the thrill of hearing them
Stevie Wonder’s masterpiece and the daft, chequered history of Ties In Rock!
The two-man conversational canoe paddles the rock and roll tideway, stopping off this week at …… Van Morrison’s set-opener is Kidney Stew Blues by Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson. Do people have to play their big hits?… what’s the key ingredient in success?... “all great albums automatically have great sleeves. Bar one!”… does Beyonce have a horsefly named after her? Is there a Jerry Garcia wood roach? A
Why can’t brothers in bands ever get along?
While Mark Ellen visits his Scottish estates, David Hepworth and Alex Gold keep the home fires burning with a wide-ranging conversation, taking in:• why every band containing a pair of brothers seems to inevitably succumb to fraternal warfare • how Ed Sheeran found himself caught in the cross-fire between a multi-millionaire and a bunch of support acts keen not to get caught on
Sid Griffin: the Long Ryders leader laughs at the absurdity of teenage life!
A whole new format we’ve invented for people who’ve been guests before and were so entertaining we wanted them back. So we’ve devised some random questions to spark a few memories and revelations. First up, Sid Griffin of the Long Ryders, touring the UK this autumn, who looks back here at his early life before he “went to L.A. to quote-unquote make it”. You’ll love this as much as we did, especial
An Indie Sleaze special! – up and down with the Strokes, Libertines and Arctic Monkeys
“Good hair, good shoes, something to say” were the requirements of Indie Sleaze whose vanguard lit up the fading music press in the first decade of the 21st Century – acts like Franz Ferdinand, the Rakes, the Cribs, Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. Janine Warren saw the Strokes in Camden in 2001 and life took a whole new direction. Her book ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect’ looks back a
Nicky Hopkins’ hidden genius, the Oasis film and the best songs about rain
This week’s news in three separate files - the Good, the Bad and the Befuddling. Which involves … … have Oasis created their own economy? … are stadium gigs now like historical re-enactment? … “people listen to music more intently in Manchester as they’re inside while it rains” … ‘includes All Things Must Pass miniature garden gnomes!’ The mad money-draining joy of the luxury b
Clint Boon saw Manchester lift off twice and auditioned the young Noel Gallagher
Clint Boon was at the heart of “the two biggest musical revolutions of my lifetime” – as a teenager for Joy Division and Buzzcocks, and later the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Hacienda and onstage with Inspiral Carpets, a world of characters as big as his own. His memoir ‘The Manchester Chronicles’ is about obsessions, schoolteachers, purple winklepickers, mobile discos, good luck, catastrophe an
The Slits, a movie in waiting - “Marvel superheroes with their pants on the outside!”
The Slits burned very brightly – but briefly - and were gone, their bumpy and courageous tale crisply told in Zoë Howe’s updated ‘Typical Girls?’. She looks back here at the unforgettable things they wore, said and did as “outsiders in an outsider scene”, a band celebrated before they’d even played a note. And touches on … ... how other all-girl groups got started - the Moodies, the Runaways,
Shawn Colvin – songwriter, storyteller, urban cowgirl, singing waitress
Shawn Colvin was in the spotlight from the age of 10 playing her parents’ parties, singing in bars at college, acting off-Broadway and joining country swing bands before making 12 solo albums. She’s touring the UK and Ireland from late September and looks back on it all with us from her home in Austin, Texas. Lots of great moments here, these among them … … growing up on hymns, Pete Seeger an
The world’s greatest radio station! & things we loved about Dolly Parton
Passing the conversational Dutchie 'pon the left hand side, we fire up the following … … “speech, not music, brings people together” … if music gets ever broader, why’s radio getting more niche? … can YOU guess the NME’s 10 most influential bands in 2002? … a doomed Dolly Parton kidnap attempt at the Hammersmith Odeon: we were there! … ‘Voice-tracking’, ‘auditorium testing
Blur’s thrilling early years in words and pictures by Dave Rowntree
Dave Rowntree had a camera with him as Blur took off in the early ‘90s and his book ‘No-One You Know’ distils the thrill of a band in ascent – backstage, in studios, with fans, on tour buses and their first trips to America and Japan. It bristles with joy and exhilaration. He looks back here at life in lift-off nearly 35 years ago and ahead to his spoken word tour promoting it, stopping off at …&n
Natalie Merchant returns playing ‘Mother Goose as an 18th Century feminist’
Natalie Merchant joined 10,000 Maniacs when she was 17, had a long and successful solo career and then began teaching children in New York State. Realising the value of rhymes and theatre, her adaptation of Mother Goose (played by herself) was expanded into a multi-media performance with 150 four-year-olds and recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She even made most of the costumes. And sh
The Proclaimers know the exquisite delight of your songs being sung in football stadiums
The Proclaimers have only had a handful of hits but they’re songs that have kept expanding for nearly 40 years. And the World Cup was a reminder of how far they’ve reached. Craig and Charlie Reid talk to us here about first adventures onstage, talent shows, the tour circuit, the new album ‘You May Offend’ and … … the moment the Proclaimers took off … first records bought in Woolworths in
What are the great singles that have entered our bloodstream? “Nobody hums an album!”
The original rock podcast - now in its 20th year! – knocks the week’s news across the conversational net. Amid the top-spin, rallies and double-faults, you’ll find … … farcical developments in the Tupac trial … the shock-horror reaction to the Sam Mendes Beatles’ wigs! … Dave Marsh’s ‘1001 Greatest Singles’ in 1989: what 45s released since would make his Top 10? … ‘If the Phone
Martin Simpson’s 60 years on the folk circuit ‘making people cry for a living’
Martin Simpson got backstage when he was 15 and met Jimmy Reed and Big Joe Williams and it changed his life forever. He’s been on the folk circuit ever since, still at the top of his game and with the wealth of knowledge and experience reflected in this extremely entertaining podcast. His ‘Some Kind Of Jubilee’ album celebrates 50 years since his first record and he’s on tour in September. And tal
The Shadows and the chequered tale of the first British rock’n’roll band
The Shadows were the strongest brand in British pop, adored and widely imitated. When they went out of fashion, no-one wanted them to change. Bob Stanley salutes their enormous influence and creation of the guitar hero and unravels their rapid post-Beatles decline in his superb new book, ‘The Shadows: the Definitive Story’. And talks to us here about … … Hank and Bruce arriving in Londo
Stiff Records’ 50th birthday! – the farcical magnificent record label and why we adored it
Stuff, nonsense, the white heat of debate and yesterday’s news today! Which this week involves … … which of these didn’t host a TV chat show – Ian Botham, Charlotte Church, Lily Allen or Harold Wilson? … if you’d paid £102 to see two-thirds of the Fugees show up an hour late, wouldn’t you SCREAM for a refund? … Britain’s most rock’n’roll hotel and why the idea of “excess” seems pure
Elliott Smith, his life, his afterlife and the friends who believed in him
A sense of melancholy hangs over the music of songwriters whose lives were tragically short – Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Eva Cassidy, Judee Sill - and we’re left knowing very little about them. Jamie Fisher, writer and New York Times researcher, discovered Elliott Smith 12 years after he’d died and contacted 40 of his friends and fellow musicians to build a picture of him for her memoir Nobody Brok
How Kylie became the whole world’s sweetheart
Michael Cragg’s devotion to all things Kylie once led him to Melbourne in search of the actual carousel horse she rode in a pop video. He got a tattoo a day later. Can’t Get You Out Of My Head is a funny and fondly detailed personal account of the risk-taking variety of her records, the mystery of her private life and the irresistible nature of her appeal, a girl who, were there a war on, would be
Sandy Denny’s life and luminous talent celebrated by Linda Thompson
‘Sandy Denny: A People’s History’ has just been published, memories from fellow musicians, old friends, producers, writers, fans and admirers. Linda Thompson met her when they were both 16 and was devoted to her ‘til she died in 1978 – “she’s still with me, I talk to her all the time”. She looks back here at their lives in Soho bars, folk clubs and studios, the world they inhabited and the musicia
The Abbey Road photo miracle, Glen Hansard and TV we’d pay to watch
The news slapped on the conversational barbecue and served with a side of old hokum. This week’s mixed grill includes … … our favourite story in the whole of popular music! … Lisa Marie Presley & Michael Jackson, Neil Young & Daryl Hannah and other weird celebrity weddings … how Glen Hansard got hired for the Commitments … “Everybody has a plan ‘til they’re punched in t
Bowie, the Cure, Neil Young and the golden age of the video shoot
Tim Pope caught the video wave in 1981 and made hundreds of promotional clips, often three or four a week, edited at night and on-air days later. You’ll have seen them, singles for the Style Council, The The, Iggy Pop, Hall & Oates and many others. For 15 years he was the man to call – inventive, caffeinated, risk-loving, clubbable – and “nothing was too mad or stupid”. He celebrates that magi
Pauline Black of the Selecter, the girl who invented the Rude Girl
Pauline Black was seen singing Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell songs in Coventry folk clubs and recruited by a local reggae band. Then converted to ska and joined the Selecter - back on tour this summer and with a box-set of live recordings, ‘The Selecter at the BBC’. She looks back here at … … their first gig with Madness for 47 years in Brighton – “very red fezzy!” … her Sliding Doors
Tony Fletcher - teenage label boss! – remembers the Jam, the Tube and the ‘80s pop explosion
Tony Fletcher launched Jamming! when he was 13, wrote for the Face at 16, ran a label with Paul Weller at 17 and a year later was presenting the Tube. And was in a band signed to EMI. If anyone did more as a teenager, we want to meet them. It’s all in his coming-of-age memoir ‘Pow! When UK Punk Went Pop 1980-84’ - discussed here - which touches on … …the speed, the possibilities and the riche
Is AI wrecking rock history? – plus festivals in heatwaves and Kate Bush dancing
Testing the temperature of this week’s news to see what trips the fire-alarm, which includes … … does having a Number One still matter? … Pauline Black’s sliding doors moment … rock stars you can’t imagine dancing … heatwaves, fire, rain, dust and thunderstorms: how extreme weather’s changing the festival circuit … when Jarvis Cocker was a fishmonger and Bryan Ferry taught
Jonathan Richman, on-the-road songs and the best-known solo ever recorded
This week’s news in a conversational cocktail-shaker and served with ice and a little paper parasol. Those Happy Hour highlights include … … six musicians who keep getting better looking … Plas Johnson RIP, a part of everyone’s life for 60 years … the Odyssey and how Hollywood thinks the rest of the world has a foreign accent … why you couldn’t make Bugsy Malone tod
Georgie Fame, Ben Sidran and the golden age of ‘60s Soho
Ben Sidran was in a teenage band with Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs, a session pianist with the Stones in 1969 and carved a brilliant career as a jazz musician, producer, author and broadcaster. He’s just written ‘Cool Cat Blues’ about his old friend and collaborator Georgie Fame and the brief, luminous, pre-rock London blues and jazz scene that launched him. This enthralling conversation looks at t
Steve Hackett remembers batwings, blues clubs and Genesis on £15 a week
Steve Hackett’s seven years in Genesis get re-explored when he tours in October, along with ‘solo gems’ from the records he’s made since, the latest ‘the Roaring Waves’, a collaboration with old pal Steve Rothery. He looks back here at defining moments in the Genesis story such as the stage props, the early American tours and Phil Collins when he met him having just auditioned for Zeffirelli and b
Mari Wilson, our favourite girl about town, takes Neasden to Chelsea
Mari Wilson has drunk deep of all that London nightlife has to offer, from a London Transport social club in Wembley to a posh venue in Chelsea via the Cooks Ferry Inn in Edmonton, and she remembers it well. Here she marks the release of her new album “Girl About Town” by talking about:• making bacon sandwiches for Mott The Hoople• entertaining her dad’s mates with her Alma Cogan imp
All music is dance music! – and the best stage name ever
Another over-heated week put through the conversational air-conditioner, which involves … … the man who got rich writing words that could never be sung … Anna Bullock? Stefani Germanotta? People who’d never have made it if they hadn’t changed their names … and the best stage name ever! … Marco Pirroni’s jukebox … when the Rock'n’Roll rulebook declared ‘Thou Shalt Not Dance
Adam & the Ants, pop stardom and Marco Pirroni’s brief spell in the spotlight
Marco Pirroni’s moment in the sun was big, lucrative but incredibly short. It was under a year from Adam & the Ants’ first hit to their last and immediate break-up. Adam, he remembers, was the perfect writing partner – driven, intensely competitive and with “a pathological fear of only being Number 2”. He’s got no regrets, hasn’t had to do day’s work since, and looks back here at …… being the
The Specials are no more! Horace Panter remembers days when it was ‘like walking on air’
The Specials have officially disbanded, bowing out with a swansong album recorded in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in 2019. Horace Panter looks back at the first shows they played - when Jim Callaghan was still PM! - and the rigours of mastering ska when some of the group thought it was “old man’s music”. Along with … … the dignified way for any band to retire … the 2-Tone tour of 1979
Is Indie the new Good Old Days? And why are there no British country stars?
As this week’s news hurtles over the net, we sort the aces from the double-faults. The final score … … Madonna, Shakira, Chris Martin and World Cup 11-minute half-time overload! … how many Stones albums were “the best since Exile On Main Street”? … Kevin Rowland’s heart-breaking songs about Life’s Third Act … 10 good reasons to miss the Nineties … Country & Weste
Kevin Rowland, the new Dexys and what he's learnt from life
We first saw Kevin in ‘77 wearing jodhpurs onstage with his art-punk band the Killjoys! He’s formed a new version of Dexys, made an album, starts a tour in October, and looks back here at central moments in his life, some recent ones so huge and affecting “that I put them to music” and they’ll be performed as a drama in the first half of these upcoming theatre shows. This touches - in vivid detail
Great rock feuds of Manchester, TV comedy & the man who invented the pop song
This week’s penalty shoot-out of news sorts the surefire hits from the over-the-bar misses. That final score again … … what Morrissey’s only gone and done now … when your logo’s worth than your songs … Taylor Swift’s wedding and how Sly Stone got there first … do musicians care about awards?… Divine Comedy, Jonathan Richman, Fountains of Wayne, Zappa: why are ‘humorous’ records
Joan Armatrading, Tom Robinson and the great music meltdown of Summer ‘76
The blistering heat of 1976 burnt various things onto the memory – standpipes, strikes, Entebbe, ‘Confessions’ movies, Jeremy Thorpe – but most of all the records that became its soundtrack, some of them revolutionary, others begging for extinction. John L Williams captures the moment in ‘Heatwave: the Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point’ and a paints of picture of a country on the brink of a
Prefab Sprout - a tale of mystery, eccentricity and pop’s most famous motorbike
Nige Tassell fell in love with the literary allusions of Prefab Sprout when at school and his new book ‘Truly Gifted Kids’ tells their unique and inscrutable story – and involves some delightfully off-road “deerstalker” investigation. You’ll find self-sabotage, square pegs in round holes, the eternal pressure to have hits, and a devoted portrait of ringmaster Paddy McAloon that leaves you convince
Madonna smoking, the first indie PM and have we just witnessed the nadir of pop?!
Tapping the barometer of news to see what’s blistering or stormy, which this week includes … … “The Man can’t bust our music!”: the crimes and misdemeanours of Clive Davis … the single biggest change in our lifetimes ... when did musicians become ‘artists’? … Johnny Marr’s guitar habit … unlimited cash and what we’d spend it on … Madonna smoking at Paris Fashion Week
Gary Numan’s reality check – ‘I’m essentially a guy who wears make-up for a living’
Seven hundred fans have contributed to ‘Gary Numan: A People’s History’, a lavishly published compendium of memories of discovering, hearing and watching him over the 50 years he’s been making music. As you might imagine, he’s immensely touched, not least because – in this honest and extremely modest conversation – he feels his roller-coaster career was down to “perseverance not God-given talent”
David Gray’s priceless memories of lessons learned the hard way
David Gray went through the roof with his White Ladder album in 2000 and he’s toured and recorded ever since, ending this summer’s loop at Latitude. He talks to us here about the rigours of seeing bands when you lived in rural Wales and the hilarious, hard-won lessons of the first gigs he played himself and every possible shade of crowd reaction. It’s an absolute whirlwind from start to finish and
Why George Michael’s life is a movie plus Syd, Kirsty, Gorillaz & the worst album title ever
Digging deep in the icebox of news to choose the following lightly chilled refreshments … … 500 Miles, Wonderwall, Yes Sir I Can Boogie(?): what does it take to be a football anthem? … Gorillaz brilliant reinvention of the “guest appearance” … Jerry Dammers' father was the Dean of Bristol Cathedral? Siouxsie’s dad milked venom from snakes? … Rod Stewart’s “laryngitis”- aka bein
Peter Frampton – ‘the Face of 1968’ looks back!
Peter Frampton, for goodness sake! Part of our lives at Word In Your Ear since we were teenagers. Played guitar on national telly when he was 14. Joined the Herd at 16 and Humble Pie two years later. Had the biggest-selling album in American history in 1976 and now releasing his first new record in 16 years. From his home in Nashville, he looks back here – with great modesty, humour and affection
Paul Simon’s Graceland and how the masterpiece was made
‘Graceland’ was an almighty gamble for Paul Simon, a costly, high-risk departure from the music he’d been making and a complex international venture. And a game-changing, worldwide triumph. When Ashley Kahn taught a course about it at New York University, Simon turned up to contribute. His book ‘Days Of Miracle And Wonder’ tells the story of what inspired the album, the way it was recorded and the
Kate Mossman has strong feelings about rock stars past their prime
Kate’s an old pal of ours from Word magazine who writes scintillating columns and profiles for the New Statesman and Observer. We loved her book ‘Men Of A Certain Age: My Encounters With Rock Royalty’ – just out in paperback! – where she relives her meetings with a variety of legends, eccentrics and old lags whose music she finds particularly compelling and wonders what they all have in common. Th
Pop stars’ weddings and why Noel Gallagher’s right about World Cup music
Amid much parping of vuvuzelas, the week’s news stories sprint onto the pitch. And these make it to the quarter-finals … … Dua Lipa’s mega-wedding and its echoes of Mick & Bianca … when did publicity turn into “perpetual planetary attention”? … Chris Martin “curating” the World Cup Final half-time show … if you can’t stand the noise, move out of Soho! … watching Rufus
Dave Balfe remembers the Teardrops, Blur and a very big house in the country
Dave Balfe was a key player in late ‘70s Liverpool, joined Big In Japan and the Teardrop Explodes, co-founded Zoo Records and, later, Food who signed and launched Blur. It’s fascinating to hear how he’s adapted to promoting music now with his new band Late Transmissions. We talk to him here about the landmarks moments that mapped out his life, among them … … growing up in the Wirral and its p
Star Ratings - do we love/hate/need them? Five-star debate here! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Star Ratings are now ubiquitous and inescapable and it’s not just music, films and books. Everything we encounter tends to be rated which colours our judgement before we try it. Choice can be paralyzing but do we read anymore or just count? Benji Wilson’s ‘Rate This Book: How Star Ratings Took Over the World’ traces their origin – back to 350 BC! – paints a picture of modern life and wonders here
Brian Epstein & the Beatles - what he did and what he hid
Philip Norman has written books about the Beatles – and John, Paul and George - and now turns the spotlight on the man who launched them and the extreme personal and professional obstacles in the dramatic path of his short life, the man who built a shield around them but couldn't protect himself. We talk to him here about ‘Mr Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles’ with particular
Are we nearing Beatles Overload? plus the rock star with the most children (41!)
When the pedalo of perusal cruised the lagoon of news this week, it paused to inspect the following ... … the particular magic of the late-night DJ … a Get Well card to dear Bob Harris … is Global Beatles Day a bridge too far? … the exquisite Britishness of the Manics, the Fall and the Small Faces … Cyprus Avenue, Soho, Asbury Park … the best places to visit to help you un
The glorious story of Funk from James Brown to Off The Wall
Old friend of the podcast Lloyd Bradley wrote Bass Culture, the defining account of reggae, and he’s now turned his attention to funk, from its deepest roots and via the jazz, arts, TV, radio and pop culture that flavoured it. The main 10-year focus of ‘Funk Has Its Own Reward’ is from James Brown’s ‘Say It Loud - I’m Black and I’m Proud’ to Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ but free your mind and
Leo Sayer has met everyone – rock legends, sport superstars, future presidents …
Leo Sayer burst onto national telly in 1973 dressed as a Pierrot with the Show Must Go On launching a 50-year career in colourful company – songwriters, boxing legends, swindling managers, scurrilous socialites – and learning a great deal in the process. “Don’t underestimate the idiots!” is the hard-won advice. He’s touring in October and joins us here from Australia to look back at … … how h
Songs about sweltering heat, Willie Nelson’s braids and is vinyl now ‘luxury goods’?
Chasing the shade and slapping the Sunscreen on this week’s overheated news, we pour a tinkling drink and reflect upon the following … … British people in hot weath-ah! … when rock stars you haven’t seen for 50 years pop up on Zoom … Lennon’s tooth? Timberlake’s toast? Mooney’s school report? Weird things sold at auction … Paul Horn playing in the Taj Mahal, Sonny Rollins on th
How Daniel Lanois made those adventurous records with Dylan, U2 and Willie Nelson
Daniel Lanois built a studio in his basement in Quebec and began producing local acts when a teenager. Through work with Brian Eno, he went on to record U2, Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Emmylou Harris and scores of others with a method that’s unique, cinematic and utterly extraordinary, a brand of sonic architecture that creates settings to accommodate the songs, often in exotic and stimulating places.
Siouxsie, Nico, Cocteaus, Shangri-Las, Bobbie Gentry … a celebration of the sound of Goth!
Cathi Unsworth was a teenage Goth, enthralled as much by Joy Division and the Banshees as by the Brontës, Bram Stoker and Aubrey Beardsley. We loved her book ‘Season of the Witch’ and she’s since put together a soundtrack album, ‘Dressed In Black’, featuring the Goth divas she most admires and adores. And talks to us here about everything from murder ballads, the Industrial Revolution and Victoria
Blondie and Clem Burke remembered by devoted pal Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s
Clem Burke joined Blondie in 1975. He started writing his memoir 20 years ago and just managed to finish it before he died in 2025, encouraged and assisted by his old friend Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, “a chance to reflect on all he’d achieved”. We’re thrilled she’s joined us here to talk about his dramatic life and ‘The Other Side of the Dream’, a conversation stopping off at … … falling
Nick Lowe’s miracle payday, Rock feuds and a giant inflatable Jarvis
Panning for gold in the murky waters of this week’s news, we found the following … … is Sabrina Carpenter’s aunt the voice of Bart Simpson? … is punk now just a small room in the giant apartment block of Goth? … why band life was different for Ringo, Kathy Valentine and Clem Burke … Barack Obama’s songs that define America and how you can’t do the same for Britain … w
The Damned at 50 and the memories (and regrets) of Rat Scabies
The Damned are – yes! - 50 years old with three of the originals still onboard. And just starting a world tour. In this immensely funny and touching podcast, Rat Scabies (who’s smoking!) points up the repercussions of life in a band. He looks back at their first shows, their devoted audience, “old-fashioned rules”, highlights, regrets, the value of friendship, “putting on the black suit again” and
Shoegaze, slackers, ‘noise chasms’ and the 10-year reinvention of rock
A whole new age of psychedelia kicked off in the mid-‘80s, of dream-weavers and glorious underachievers, a complete rejection of the standard rock approach to stagecraft, sound and self-promotion. Simon Reynolds was at the heart of it, writing for Melody Maker and piping aboard the pioneering noise-mongers aiming to entrance and disorientate, as recalled in his new book ‘Still In A Dream: Shoegaze
Famous rock locations, His & Hers records and weird things thrown onstage
This week’s news gets a thorough shake-down to see what falls out of its pockets. Which includes … … cupcakes, mobiles, rubber ducks, a dead swan: weird things thown at rock stars … “polka-dotted micro-tonal space-rock from the planet Zog”: Alex gets the Angine de Poitrine live experience! … is Shoegaze the Adrian Mole of pop? … “Hands off my Husker Du!” Joint record collection
Brian Eno’s restless creative adventures with Roxy, Bowie, U2 and Talking Heads
For nearly 60 years, Brian Eno has been a “proud non-musician” who changed the way people thought and sounded while inventing whole new ways of recording. We loved reading the updated edition of ‘On Some Faraway Beach’ which examines his staggering catalogue of avant garde experiment and wonders if there’s anyone remotely like him. Author David Sheppard looks back with us here at … … a life o
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