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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 podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. 


Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • 989 episodes
  • Updated Yesterday

Episodes989

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  • Feb 10, 2025 · 45 min

    Bob Marley in London, Chappell Roan’s outburst & records that sound best in the dark

    Direct from the Government Yard in Trenchtown where, over cornmeal porridge by a log wood fire, the events of the week are gently appraised, among them … … how Bob Marley, the Walker Brothers, the Byrds, Hendrix, Ramones, Blondie and Nirvana “got the dust of England on their boots”. … Chappell Roan’s demands for “a living wage” in a business built on inequity. … why audio books surprise you in ways the print edition can’t. … Beyonce? Best Country album? You sure? … “separate immediately”: Marsha Hunt and the secret of a successful marriage. … Bowie, Queen, the Velvet Underground: how the most streamed songs are rarely what you’d expect. … when London, New York and LA were the centres of the universe. … Bookends, Randy Newman’s Good Old Boys and other albums with a narrative. … when the Police, Pistols and Clash tried to conquer America. … Miles Copeland Senior in Ben Macintyre’s A Spy Among Friends. … “the film world is constructed around 100 actors, eight of whom are celebrated every year”. … plus birthday guest Keith Adsley turns the lights out for Pitchblack Playback – albums you should hear in the dark. Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Feb 4, 2025 · 53 min

    So Long, Marianne Faithfull plus the Shipping Forecast as read by Nick Cave

    In a courageous stand against AI technology, a pair of old lags communing via two cocoa tins and a piece of string attempt to put the rock and roll world to rights. Which this week involves … … what David saw in the HMV record store in Oxford Street “that shook me to the ground”. ... music that only works played loud. … Marianne Faithfull - there’s no middle ground between Sacred Figure and Outrageous Diva. … why ‘60s fame is like no other fame. … is there a more enduring example of bad press than Sting’s tantric sex? … John Mendelssohn’s West Coast adventure with David Bowie. … which is musically more significant: punk or disco? … Tom Waits reading the weather forecast. … which musicians make convincing actors - Sinatra, Lady Gaga, Elvis, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Costello, Mick Jagger? … Bowie singing Jacques Brel songs on a waterbed in Hollywood. … why we miss the great press ‘hatchet jobs’. … do slogans last longer than music? … what kind of world plays When The Levee Breaks softly and in a Chelsea café? … why rock music is like the Catholic Church before the Reformation. … plus birthday guest Kevin Rose wonders which musicians made the best actors. Order John Mendelssohn’s ‘Peculiar To Mr Bowie’ here: https://www.nortonrecords.com/a4-peculiar-to-mr-bowie-by-john-mendelssohn/ Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Jan 30, 2025 · 37 min

    Did Britain invent the rock band? - plus our new laws about music & Garth Hudson RIP

    When we get off of this mountain, you know where we want to go? Straight down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. While surveying the week’s events as we paddle, which involves … … the genius of Garth Hudson and the magnificent way he looked - “part lumberjack, part Old Testament prophet, part Brahms.” … how Glyn Johns invented the sound of the Eagles. … Carrie Underwood’s Inauguration catastrophe. … only male voice choirs or gospel groups should be allowed to perform National Anthems! … fiery, magnificent, sexy, vaguely threatening – the appeal of the great British rock bands. … does a protest track have to be a good song to be effective? … “screw up your eyes and Guns N’Roses, Aerosmith and Van Halen all look preposterous”. … how the Band hooked up with Dylan. … was there ever a more dramatic drop-off from hit singles to album filler than in the Eagles? … can any song called Visions ever be any good? … why there should be more Band tribute acts. ... “any busker within 35 yards is noise pollution!” ... plus birthday guest Roger Millington wonders why we love the Band Aid single but not We Are The World. That touching clip of Garth Hudson playing and singing in 2023: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BtfvpS0EyO8 Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Jan 20, 2025 · 50 min

    A 3-part rant about LPs sold as ‘antiques’, TikTok & the shameful AI Michael Parkinson

    David feels a rant coming on. Mark lights the blue touchpaper, pulls on a tin hat and retires to a safe distance as they consider … … the US closure of TikTok: has a single governmental act ever had such impact on the music business? … film posters, Dinky Toys, “obscure vinyls”: the new record stores that are effectively antique shops. .. why Virtually Parkinson is breath-takingly awful and an insult to the interviewers’ art. … Melania Trump’s monstrous payday. … Bob Dylan joining TikTok - “Good God, I must leave right away.” … radio deejays: “the things they hate you for are the same things they love you for.” … 50 per cent of people “looking for a vinyl fix” don’t have a record player. … the three-word question all interviewers need. … Blood on the Carpet: DLT, Danny Baker and the 30-year anniversary of Radio One’s “revolution”. Plus birthday guest Paul Knox and the value of soundtracks, samplers, tribute albums and compilations “with a point of view” from Nice Enough To Eat and Stardust to the Pet Shop Boys’ Twentieth Century Blues. Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Jan 13, 2025 · 45 min

    The 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 … … the made-up scene in A Complete Unknown which Dylan apparently insisted was included. … the Day of the Locust: do the LA fires spell the end of the Hollywood Dream? … why does no-one write songs about world events anymore? … the unwelcome return of AJ Weberman. … can you date records made between 2000 and 2025? … Sam & Dave, Booker T & the MGs, the Stax horns, Isaac Hayes and David Porter and their purple patch from ‘65-‘68. … Led Zeppelin’s five song-stealing court cases – but hadn’t what they stole been stolen in the first place? … why most biopics would be better as a six-part TV series. … “where there’s a hit there’s a writ”. … plus birthday guest John Innes and the best and worst bands names – from Roxy Music to Prefab Sprout. Tickets for Word In Your Ear live here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bowie-in-london-and-hollywood-tickets-1118845138929?aff=oddtdtcreator Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Jan 5, 2025 · 36 min

    Johnnie 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 of pop records is to be better than the year before”. … the real reason new music tends to sound the same. … Johnnie Walker – “his voice was his instrument”. … The Kinks, The Shangri-Las, the Beach Boys, the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Righteous Brothers and the relentless change and variety of “the annus mirabilis” of the pop single. … “Netflix rock documentaries are just there to stop the male member of the family cancelling their subscription”. … the Byrds’ Mr Tambourine Man, a cornerstone of psychedelia and indie rock. … the drum sound that “kicked open the door to your mind”. … when novelty was 70 per cent of the appeal. … the key moment in the career of Peter Waters Dingley was the day he changed his name. … making records defensively. … the only current match for the thrill and daily drama of the mid-‘60s pop charts is the Premiere League. … plus a Lego record-player and birthday guest Andrew Slattery. Tickets for Word In Your Ear live here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bowie-in-london-and-hollywood-tickets-1118845138929?aff=oddtdtcreator Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Dec 31, 2024 · 44 min

    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 … … Marine Homicide Unit solving murders in Scottish waters or former rock star dumping toxic waste? A crime drama Stackwaddy special. … Roy Bittan, Duke Ellington: how musical “professors” date back to ragtime. …’Suzanne’ and the other three songs Leonard Cohen gave away. … Mary Martin, unsung connector and catalyst of folk-rock. … how the spare, monochrome simplicity of John Wesley Harding flew against the prevailing wind of Disraeli Gears, Forever Changes and Magical Mystery Tour. … “I’d rather be dead than wet my bed”. … the invention of the “blockbuster album”. … she’s only human: what Judy Collins thought when she met Leonard Cohen. … Crowded House, John Fogerty, Ry Cooder, Ian Broudie, Patti Smith … when did having your kids in your band become almost compulsory? … producer Richard Perry’s journey from Beefheart to the “surrealistic vaudeville” of Tiny Tim to the pure genius of ‘You’re So Vain’. Plus a rare moment - something David Hepworth doesn’t know! - and birthday guest Sandra Austin. Tickets for Word In Your Ear live here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bowie-in-london-and-hollywood-tickets-1118845138929?aff=oddtdtcreator Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Dec 23, 2024 · 40 min

    Why 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 … ... are a lot of new song catalogues just blogs set to music? … can any actor be convincing playing someone really famous? … Robbie Williams’ Better Man: it’s the way forward! Who can his CGI’s monkey play next? … why no-one writes songs with opinions anymore. … Lola Young’s ‘charming’ press release. ... when Elvis met Nixon (and was “crackling with drugs”). … why we miss the one pound note! … Dickens, Bing Crosby and why the concept of Christmas is rooted in the past. … is part of the joy of Powerpop that it’s doomed to commercial failure? Big Star, the Shoes – perfect; Blondie – too successful! … St James Infirmary, I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive, Stormy Monday – and other great songs about money - ‘These shabby shoes I'm wearing all the time/ Is full of holes and nails and brother if I stepped on a worn out dime/ I bet a nickel I could tell you if it was heads or tails’. … the return of “a bankroll big enough to choke a donkey”. … plus Hank Williams, Brenda Lee, Tom Waits and birthday guest Kevin Walsh wonders ‘what’s the classic Powerpop look and sound and who are its standard-bearers?’ Happy Christmas, all! … from us and ‘Bob Dylan’: https://x.com/FallonTonight/status/1597460887446900736?lang=en Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Dec 18, 2024 · 49 min

    ‘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 third solo album, ‘This Destination’, in January. We talk to him here about how records were made and promoted in the ‘80s and how radically that’s changed today. Which includes … … “all media is now about getting and keeping people’s attention”. … the first time he heard one of his songs on the radio. … Bowie, Bolan, Queen and Elton John at Trident Studios. … how bands copy the groove of a track. … technology and the curse of too much choice. … why TikTok’s changed the way songs are written. … how the first Spandau Ballet album was made. … the phone call from Richard Hawley that kick-started a song. … the craft of 10cc and Steely Dan and why it doesn’t work on 2024 radio. … the male attitude to bands who are largely followed by women. … cunning ways to infiltrate the NME in the early ‘80s. … plus Robert Elms in jodhpurs and “fly dentists” in the Saucerful Of Secrets audience. Pre-order This Destination here: https://lnk.to/GaryKempThisDestination Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Dec 17, 2024 · 51 min

    The 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 Taylor Swift? … a Dickensian oik in Chapel Market and other riddles of modern etiquette. … ‘Holiness and horniness’: how Hallelujah rebooted Leonard Cohen and became a one-song industry. … the teenage self-promotional flair of Robert Plant and Marc Bolan. … are singles a social experience and albums a solitary one? … “Would you like a fruit gum?”: the 1950s in a single phrase. … highly recommended: Wendy Waldman, Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band and ‘The Room’ by Fabiano do Nascimento. … rock snobs’ alarm about the revelations of their Spotify Wrapped. … why the Sherman Brothers are as enduring as Lennon-McCartney. … Hallelujah cover versions - from kd lang and Rufus Wainwright to Johnny Mathis and the Osmonds. ... how King David removed ‘love rival’ Uriah the Hittite. … reconnecting with records you haven’t heard for 40 years. … whatever happened to She Sherriff?! … Loudon Wainwright’s early inference about the YMCA. … plus Lindsey Buckingham, Hugh Lloyd, Tony Hancock and fond memories of “stolen cheese guy”. Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Dec 9, 2024 · 41 min

    The 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 indie act or seasonal vegan recipe? … the amount YMCA earned through Donald Trump and why the man who wrote it is complaining. … Tom Hanks’ valuable words of wisdom. … Neil Tennant’s favourite bridge in a pop song (and it’s not We Can Work It Out or I Will). … musicians and the modern world of the “one-night stand” circuit. … Baker Street, Money, Careless Whisper, Giant Steps, Jungleland … and the sax solo that outranks them all. … the genius of Henry Mancini and the powerful DNA of film music. … the lost world of small ads – eg this pasted by Roxy Music: “The perfect guitarist for avant rock group: original, creative, adaptable, melodic, fast, slow, elegant, witty, scary, stable, tricky. Quality musicians only.” … Beatles ’64 - “randomly assembled and directionless”, a listener declares! Here’s Plas Johnson playing the Pink Panther theme with Henry Mancini: https://youtu.be/jBupII3LH_Q?si=brjVwsPlmcnii1Md Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Dec 8, 2024 · 45 min

    How ‘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 together by an over-excited PR before terms like “psychedelia” or “prog” had been invented. They were scanned once for the odd fact or quote and usually chucked in the bin. Richard Morton Jack has tracked down scores of these handouts from 1962-1972, and the news stories they sparked, and published them in the sumptuous ‘Pressing News’, a fascinating window into how acts were sold in the days when pop stars liked rump steak, sports cars and “sincere people” but disliked “bad music, traffic wardens and people who say I look like a girl”. We leaf through his book here and talk about …. ... the ingenuity of '60s PRs and why Marc Bolan was a turning point. … Robert Plant and David Bowie’s genius for self-promotion. … the pop hopeful whose favourite tipple was tooth-rotting, crystal-based ‘Creamola Foam’. … how PRs sold rebels and outsiders. … a £900 Olivia Newton-John press release. … Beta Male pin-ups Nick Drake and Scott Walker. … confected outrage over the Small Faces’ Lord’s Prayer. … Joe Cocker, eternally a gas-fitter from Sheffield with “a face like the back of a Sheffield Corporation bus”. … mysterious pop acts that never made it like the Virgin Sleep, the Accent, Bread Love & Dreams, Fresh Maggots and the Tickle whose songs were supposedly chosen by computer. .. the Kinks – “four art students who dress like characters from Dickens”. … the promotion of pre-psychedelia Pink Floyd – “a lyrical atmosphere whose words express a feeling rather than tell a story.” … “the Zombies have 50 GCSE passes between them!” and other press release fiction trotted out in the papers. … the mass 1966 adoption of the kaftan and Charlie Chan moustache. Order copies of Pressing News here: https://lansdownebooks.com/products/pressing-news Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Dec 2, 2024 · 49 min

    The 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 of a Glastonbury goer and how it sells its TV coverage. … “the Beatles in America was like Cortez arriving in South America, the clash of two civilizations. How did this film manage to balls the story up so catastrophically?” … Leonard Bernstein’s daughter’s dreams about George Harrison and the Fabs v the all-American alpha male. … who should be next for a rock and roll blue plaque? … the Beatles’ Ed Sullivan support act who became almost as famous as they did. … why Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater is the most-streamed ‘60s track. … Hendrix and the Isley brothers’ night in watching telly. … and Rod Stewart’s genius for generating publicity. Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.