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PODCAST

Word In Your Ear

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold

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

music music commentary

All Episodes

54:06

Stones, Blondie, Iggy and songs that make a movie &...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/10/13

Shifting the pass-the-parcel of news and removing the wrapping when the music stops. Which this week happens here …… will rock bands get offered the Saudi money?… “there could be no British nightclubs in 2030”… Diane Keaton and why all men were besotted… the day Led Zeppelin played an Aqua Theatre for an audience swimming and in boats… “the optimum number of band members is either three or loads”… did Easy Rider invent the music video?… Trainspotting, Reservoir Dogs, Midnight Cowboy, Almost Famous –

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37:52

Ringo and why the Beatles wouldn’t have worked...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/10/10

The look, sound, story and dynamic of the Beatles can’t be imagined without him. Nor can their success. Tom Doyle, author and drummer, examines the unexplored depths of the one at the back from 70 different angles, one per chapter, in his new memoir ‘Ringo: A Fab Life’ and talks to us here about ….… how he learnt to read by looking at his Dad’s Beatles singles and the one that first made him notice the drumming... what you learn re-watching him in Peter Jackson’s Get Back… why Ringo gave them

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34:42

The three London kids who invented rock style

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/30

Paul Gorman, biographer of Malcolm McLaren and friend of the pod, tells the extraordinary story of the three young hipsters behind Granny Takes A Trip, the Kings Road store that was a magnet for rock’s glitterati in the late 60s.•⁠⁠Sheila Cohen, the first queen of cool; she invented the whole idea of vintage•⁠⁠Nigel Waymouth, who never went to art school but changed the face of London with his posters•⁠⁠John Pearse, who could make a jacket out of anything - and did•⁠⁠The days of aatering to the 200

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48:40

How pioneer tape-rat Roger Armstrong found vintage...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/23

Roger Armstrong co-founded the legendary Rock On record shop and was running the Chiswick label long before the punk rock explosion of independents, a believer that you could license rare R&B, soul and rockabilly classics while cutting new records with rising stars (Shane MacGowan, Kirsty MacColl and Joe Strummer among them). He then co-founded Ace Records and talks to us here about the thrill of trawling through American label vaults, locating vintage tracks and finding them a whole new

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47:59

Why Van and Fairport make the perfect send-off,...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/22

On the menu at the rock and roll state banquet …… Into the Mystic, Meet On The Ledge, In My Life, Tom Waits’ Take It With Me and other perfect songs for a last farewell… the day we joined the world’s best band… Robert Redford’s blinding handsomeness and the greatest moment – all three seconds of it – in Butch Cassidy And the Sundance Kid… best-looking rock stars… were the Shadows really a UK Eurovision entry?… “very special guests” and the new age of the stadium rock “bring-on”… how John Prine and

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39:25

John Prine, Elvis Costello and a jukebox on fire

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/18

Novelist and journalist Tom Piazza struck up a friendship with the irreplaceable John Prine in the last years of his life. This relationship, which began as a profile for a magazine, almost blossomed into an autobiography and involved a road trip in an inadvisable vehicle, has resulted in a new book “Living In The Present With John Prine”. Which involves:•⁠⁠setting off in a 1977 Coupe De Ville and driving “until the engine burns up”.•⁠⁠sitting up all night playing old country songs.•⁠⁠remembering

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36:59

Peter Hammill on Bowie, other superfans & 47 albums...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/12

Peter Hammill, adored by Bowie, Mark E Smith and many others, co-founded Van Der Graaf Generator when he was 19. And he’s made 47 albums since, powered by “hubris, enthusiasm and sheer bloody-mindness” and celebrated in a new 18-CD box set. He talks to us here from Somerset about …… supporting Hendrix at the Albert Hall and being ‘the Shirley Bassey of the Underground’… meeting David Bowie - who asked for Hammill’s new music to be sent to him all his life… Van Der Graaf Generator being bottled off

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45:09

Talking Heads, where they came from and where they...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/10

Has there ever been a group like Talking Heads? Jonathan Gould’s Burning Down The House explores their affluent background, the root of their ambition and the springboard of the New York scene of the late ‘70s (he was a regular at CBGB). Along with …... the romanticised image of CBGB and the reality… their black music roots: “the same instrumentation as Booker T & the MGs”… the influence of the Modern Lovers: “Jonathan Richman and Byrne were both oddballs, appealing but peculiar”… how the

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31:44

Freddie Mercury has a daughter’ – and Lesley-Ann...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/10

Freddie Mercury had an affair with a close friend’s wife and, in 1977, became a father. He’s now a grandfather. That’s the foundation of a new book ‘Love, Freddie’ by his highly respected biographer Lesley-Ann Jones which details a four-year, detailed exchange with his daughter ‘B’, now 48, and the contents of the 17 notebooks he gave her before he died in 1991. We talk to Lesley-Ann here about this gripping new tilt on his story which covers …… the 41-page document B sent her in 2021 and how the

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52:37

Oasis in 2026, the Troggs and what Morrissey’s only...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/08

All the leaves are brown and the sky’s a bit unruly but mellow fruitfulness abounds in this week’s pick of the rock and roll news. Add to basket …… is Morrissey hacked off, broke or just desperate for attention?… are stadium gigs the new tourism?… bucket hats, Man City, lads culture … how did America finally ‘get’ Oasis?… singles that weren’t on albums… are we sated by an overabundance of music?… how Gary Numan got a record deal… why Gene Loves Jezebel are the new Sam & Dave!… the new age of the

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36:53

‘Hey Joe’, its miracle birth & why violent songs are...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/03

Immortalised by Hendrix, ‘Hey Joe’ had its roots in 18th century murder ballads, ‘60s folk and rock clubs before the world got to hear it. Jason Schneider unravels its twisted genesis in ‘That Gun In Your Hand’, and talks to us here about the miracles that allowed it to happen and the sad fate of Billy Roberts, the man who claimed he wrote it. Along with ……“all pop records are built on the back of other pop records”… the allure of violent songs: “we get our kicks from real-life murder”… the bit-part

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41:17

Why reviews lost their sting - and what matters more,...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/09/01

Our pencil-chewing, critical assessment of this week’s news gets mainly * and *** reviews, among them ……. Sting v Summers & Copeland over Every Breath You Take, the goose that laid the golden egg… what John Lennon would have thought about the ‘cancelled’ track on Some Time In New York City… when did “critically acclaimed” come to mean unpopular?… the knock-about days when a critic was “a jerk, a crank and a spoilsport”… Jonny Greenwood’s dad was a bomb disposal expert? Pete Doherty’s mum was a

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36:35

Singers’ vast egos explained and what’s the real...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/08/24

A tub-thumping, snare-cracking, cymbal-simmering, two-way backbeat to this week’s rock and roll news, the on-beats including …… “Trauma-bonding?” Why being ‘a fan’ is like a love affair… Ian Brown, Morrissey, Siouxsie, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison … why singers who don’t play an instrument are a different species… the stadium-rock drummer transfer window… Sigourney Weaver at Shea Stadium in ’65… singers who don’t sound like their personalities… what can a singer-songwriter write about if they get

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29:11

Neil Hannon - the Divine Comedy, the Father Ted saga...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/08/22

How can you not love the Divine Comedy whose inspirations include Tom Lehrer and “Landfill Indie”? And Neil Hannon wrote music for Wonka, Father Ted and the IT Crowd. There’s a new album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, and a tour in October and all bases are covered in this conversation from Kildare, these among them …… seeing U2 at Croke Park “and feeling as though I’d won the Wonka Golden Ticket”.… favourite bands of the ‘80s and ‘90s - Pixies, Sugarcubes, Sonic Youth and Ride.… the miserably cancelled

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57:48

Ozzy Osbourne, Jaws, the lost world of mix tapes &...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/07/28

Just when you thought it was safe to listen to a weekly rock and roll podcast …… how Black Sabbath discovered the dark side… why Elvis went onstage with a pistol in both boots… rock stars out of their comfort zone… five perfect things about Jaws we’d never taken onboard… Ozzy Osbourne, the bungled burglary and the fingerless gloves… Tony Iommi’s accident and how limitations are always strengths… beautiful men in military jackets and “an Account of the Misfortunes and Disasters Which Befell Barry

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23:24

Suzi Quatro - how Dad, Elvis and Mickie Most...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/07/22

Suzi Quatro’s been onstage from the age of 14 as the bassist in the all-girl showband the Pleasure Seekers and the rock act Cradle. And then moved to England in 1971 when signed by Mickie Most. This podcast is a testament to the power of self-belief – she’s got more front than Woolworths! - and the two things her father told her. She’s just started another world tour and talks to us here about …… how British “island humour” took a while to get used to.… two deals in a week: “Elektra wanted the

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1:01:12

New Nick Drake tapes, Bob Marley’s masterpiece and...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/07/21

A rain-splashed, dub-filled, cash-scattering foray into this week’s news and events which happily lands upon …… meeting Maddy Prior – a Prior engagement? – and the time Steeleye Span showered their audience with £8,000.… hearing Nick Drake’s demos on a narrowboat in the pitch dark a few hundred feet below London.… Steve Miller’s cancelled tour, absurdly blamed on the weather.… who’s older, Lulu or the King? Kim Wilde or William Hague? Neil Tennant or Andy Fraser of Free?… Bob Marley at the Lyceum in

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27:59

The story of David Ackles, who never recovered from...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/07/17

Picked up in the great singer-songwriter sweep of the late 60s and signed to Elektra Records, David Ackles made four albums which went over the heads of the record-buying public, attracted over-the-top reviews and earned the undying devotion of fans like Elvis Costello and Elton John. Now Mark Brend’s book brings together an appreciation of his work with an account of his career before and after the three period when he was going to be the next big thing, taking in…….the night he found himself

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26:41

Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull and 58 years of one-legged...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/07/01

Ian Anderson is touring again in 2026 and talks to us here about tweed stage-wear, an audience of four, his teenage heroes and the first shows he ever saw and played. There’s all sorts within, including …… playing his first gig to Catholic schoolgirls at the Holy Family Youth Club in Blackpool – “we emptied the room”.… queues round the block at the Marquee in 1968 – “the moment I knew we’d arrived.”… how Joe Cocker nicked his breakfast.… seeing Cliff at the ABC in Blackpool – “he was our Elvis.”…

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54:55

Album sleeves the modern world would ban & the best...

Word In Your Ear ·

2025/06/29

It’s Happy Hour in the Rock and Roll Lounge of News and we’re working our way through anything over 40 per cent proof. Which means ice, a slice and ….… how the F-Bomb lost its impact.… Mick Ralphs and Lalo Schifrin RIP – and chapeau to "There's A Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On’.… the Blush-o-meter! Album sleeves that’d get you lynched in the 21st Century – and that means you Roxy, UFO, BowWowWow, Blind Faith, Tom Waits and Supertramp!… why the TV comedy W1A was the last record of the world before

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122 results

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