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Podcasts · Music

Word In Your Ear

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold

300 episodes

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.

More about the show

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.

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Episodes page 4 of 6

  1. The Smiths’ Mike Joyce on triumph, gladioli & Morrissey when he was still ‘Steve’

    · 42 min · Episode 833

    Morrissey and Marr both wrote memoirs but Mike Joyce hasn’t read either, preferring to publish ‘The Drums’, his version of one of the great success stories of the ‘80s, a book about “the beauty we’d given to people –…

  2. Records that sound unique and why all bands need a backlash

    · 47 min · Episode 832

    Boarding this week’s giddy carousel of news, we ride the following ponies … … the Sliding Doors moment that made a ‘50s star a fortune … Soft Cell’s Dave Ball and the art of being the Other One in a pop duo ……

  3. Paul Young – “Big in the ‘80s! What lucky bastards we were!’

    · 35 min · Episode 831

    Paul Young was the bassist in a pub band playing Led Zeppelin and Patto covers ‘til his solo soul and blues slot launched him as a singer. He’s still touring nearly 50 years later, just back from filling Mexican…

  4. Billy Bragg – 40 years, 2,700 gigs and what he learnt from Taylor Swift

    · 35 min · Episode 830

    ‘Billy Bragg: A People’s History’ is just out, a new and wholly original kind of memoir written by himself, friends, collaborators and fans, and packed with old snapshots, concert bills, reviews and ephemera. It’s very…

  5. Mark Kermode tells us stories about music in movies

    · 41 min · Episode 829

    The Graduate, Trainspotting, Jaws, Star Wars, Citizen Kane – films you can’t picture without thinking of the music. Mark Kermode has been gripped by the marriage of movie and soundtrack since Dougal and the Blue Cat…

  6. How many bands can you name every member of?

    · 49 min · Episode 828

    This week’s news put through the wringer and hung out to dry. On the line you’ll find … … Taylor Swift and Ophelia and other things pop videos turned into tourist attractions … the appeal of D’Angelo’s Voodoo: “he…

  7. The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone – a psychedelic showpiece then ‘washed up’ aged 21

    · 37 min · Episode 827

    The Zombies formed before the Stones and had huge hits with She’s Not There and Time Of The Season. Their baroque masterpiece Odessey and Oracle now gets ranked beside Revolver and Pet Sounds. Colin Blunstone has a…

  8. Led Zeppelin’s fight for attention and how they fudged their backstory

    · 40 min · Episode 826

    This lavish, beautifully designed collection of late ‘60s news stories, reviews and press clippings sheds new light on the band’s roots and ascent from the days when the Kidderminster Shuttle would spell their name…

  9. Stones, Blondie, Iggy and songs that make a movie & why we loved Diane Keaton

    · 54 min · Episode 825

    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” ……

  10. Ringo and why the Beatles wouldn’t have worked without him

    · 38 min · Episode 824

    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…

  11. Rock stars we envy, Madonna as a sister-in-law & the British obsession with poshness

    · 53 min · Episode 823

    Steering the supercar of enquiry round the rock and roll racetrack with the occasional stop for a tyre change. Foot-to-floor moments this week include… … why are the British so hung up about posh pop stars? … the…

  12. Bowie, Boy George and the rise of the riotous Blitz club with Robert Elms

    · 32 min · Episode 822

    London’s Blitz club in 1980 had a huge impact on the way the decade looked and sounded, the launchpad for Boy George, Spandau Ballet, a new age of electro-pop and many writers, designers and photographers. The author…

  13. The Prince story by 200 people who knew him - and John McKie

    · 39 min · Episode 821

    Prince’s commercial peak was Purple Rain but John McKie thinks Sign O’ The Times was his creative masterpiece and tracked down over 200 collaborators, girlfriends, “Prince whisperers”, assistants and admirers to piece…

  14. The three London kids who invented rock style

    · 35 min · Episode 820

    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…

  15. Danny Thompson’s bass adventures, Dylan’s women, TV satire and great sleeve art.

    · 57 min · Episode 819

    News, rants, theories, stories and assorted old hokum which this week stumbles into … … Kate Bush, Thunderbirds, Tim Buckley, the Blind Boys of Alabama … the magical bass adventures of Danny Thompson (and the time he…

  16. Thea Gilmore on Joan Baez, Jake Thackray and Dave Pegg’s dog starting her career

    · 26 min · Episode 818

    We’ve always liked Thea Gilmore who once crossed America with Joan Baez in a pre-Election campaign tour and has released 21 albums (“I’ve got musical ADHD!)”. She looks back here at the first shows she ever saw and…

  17. How pioneer tape-rat Roger Armstrong found vintage America a whole new audience

    · 49 min · Episode 817

    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…

  18. Why Van and Fairport make the perfect send-off, Robert Redford & the best-looking rock stars

    · 48 min · Episode 816

    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 ……

  19. John Prine, Elvis Costello and a jukebox on fire

    · 39 min · Episode 815

    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…

  20. Alex's star-studded week in Hollywood

    · 45 min · Episode 814

    Having disposed of the surprising history of pop stars who posed for Playboy, discussing whether the universe really needs another album called "Play", come up with a couple of nominations for Best Album Title Of All…

  21. Peter Hammill on Bowie, other superfans & 47 albums of ‘self-sabotage and chaos’.

    · 37 min · Episode 813

    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…

  22. Talking Heads, where they came from and where they went - with Jonathan Gould

    · 45 min · Episode 812

    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…

  23. Freddie Mercury has a daughter’ – and Lesley-Ann Jones can prove it

    · 32 min · Episode 811

    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…

  24. Oasis in 2026, the Troggs and what Morrissey’s only gone and done now!

    · 53 min · Episode 810

    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? ……

  25. ‘Hey Joe’, its miracle birth & why violent songs are like True Crime - by Jason Schneider

    · 37 min · Episode 809

    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…

  26. Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span drove Rev Gary Davis round Britain in a Triumph Herald

    · 37 min · Episode 808

    Maddy Prior – folk royalty, an absolute hero of ours – is touring with Steeleye Span again this autumn 66 years after they started, a life someone should make into a movie. She talks to us here about her undimmed love…

  27. Why reviews lost their sting - and what matters more, the song or the record?

    · 41 min · Episode 807

    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…

  28. Debsey Wykes of Dolly Mixture wants you to read her teenage diary

    · 38 min · Episode 806

    Debsey Wykes was in Dolly Mixture, one of the very few all-girl groups in post-punk London, a time when bands with charisma won the battle for attention and you promoted singles on the back of a truck. Her memoir…

  29. Singers’ vast egos explained and what’s the real definition of ‘a fan’?

    · 37 min · Episode 805

    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,…

  30. Neil Hannon - the Divine Comedy, the Father Ted saga & nights at the Indie Disco

    · 29 min · Episode 804

    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…

  31. Tanita Tikaram - from ‘girl with guitar in bedroom’ to Hammersmith Odeon in six months

    · 34 min · Episode 803

    Tanita Tikaram’s second gig had an audience of three – one paying customer and two concert promoters. When one of them wanted to talk to her afterwards she said, “sorry, I’ve got to get the train home.” She was 17. In…

  32. Bob Mould remembers Hüsker Dü, Sugar & that guy with the hipster moustache

    · 33 min · Episode 802

    Bob Mould, whose records with Hüsker Dü had such impact on Nirvana and Pixies, is back on tour again, both solo and with a band. “I’ve built this tiny soap box - and if you don’t like it, it’s been nice knowing you!”…

  33. Comedy records, TV gold & have Oasis and Coldplay hoovered up all the cash?

    · 1 h 02 min · Episode 801

    Damping down the wildfires of rock and roll news this week we focus on the following … … Oasis, Taylor Swift and Coldplay and the new age of Winner Takes All … did Bob Dylan write a song with Gene Simmons, advertise…

  34. Brian Protheroe on the eternal life of his 1974 hit “Pinball”

    · 33 min · Episode 800

    Paul Weller has just covered it on his new album. Morrissey played it to Noel Gallagher who took the idea and ran with it. What explains the enduring appeal of a record that stalled at number 22 all those years ago?…

  35. Terry Reid, the man who really invented Led Zeppelin, & guitar fetishism

    · 46 min · Episode 799

    Other, weaker podcasts may take the summer off. Not this one. …the story of Jerry Garcia’s alligator strat, Paul McCartney’s violin bass and the instrument Peter Frampton thought had gone forever …the long story of…

  36. Peter Ames Carlin on the record that made Bruce Springsteen

    · 43 min · Episode 798

    word-podcast-798-peter-ames-carlin Friend of the pod and chronicler of the careers of Springsteen, Paul Simon and REM, Peter Ames Carlin has heard all the recordings that went into the album which was Springsteen’s…

  37. Jah Wobble - 40 hilarious unedited minutes interrupted by a pest control officer

    · 40 min · Episode 797

    Jah Wobble - touring in October - is outstanding company and rattles on here like a steam train, sparking off at tangents in a brilliant, barely steerable monologue with a crackling cast of characters. It’s not often a…

  38. Elvis, the Colonel & how unseen letters changed Peter Guralnick’s view of their partnership

    · 53 min · Episode 796

    There’s a widely accepted view of the relationship between Elvis and his manager Tom Parker, the one sustained by the recent Baz Luhrmann movie, but a new and fascinating archive of unseen letters makes you see it…

  39. Are the Nineties the new Classic Rock? And whatever happened to comedy records?

    · 37 min · Episode 795

    Lowering the magnet of curiosity into the scrapyard of news and seeing what’s attracted, which includes … … does anyone still write satirical songs? … Four Sides of the Circle, Margaret On The Guillotine, From Here…

  40. The Wedding Present turns 40, memories of John Peel & ‘the only time I ever pogo-ed’

    · 33 min · Episode 794

    The Wedding Present formed 40 years ago – why does that seem astonishing? - and have a new box set and tour to celebrate. David Gedge digs out his old notes about the first gigs he ever saw and played and looks back at…

  41. Bret McKenzie on Flight of the Conchords, Hollywood and writing songs for frogs and unicorns

    · 47 min · Episode 793

    Bret McKenzie now mainly works on movie soundtracks, the Simpsons, Minecraft and the Muppets among them, which brings the pure delight of hearing his songs sung by Lady Gaga, Benedict Cumberbatch, Miss Piggy and Tony…

  42. Del Amitri’s Justin Currie has faced every tough crowd imaginable. Lessons were learn

    · 46 min · Episode 792

    Justin Currie recorded and toured with Del Amitri and solo for 30 years and his travelogue The Tremolo Diaries perfectly captures the rhythm of life on the road. He talks to us here about combative crowds, the curious…

  43. Ozzy Osbourne, Jaws, the lost world of mix tapes & the movies’ most chilling moment

    · 58 min · Episode 791

    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…

  44. The late Nick Drake’s manager on the nine-year project “The Making Of Five Leaves Left”

    · 30 min · Episode 790

    Cally Colomon looks after the legacy of Nick Drake, who died in 1974 but attracts new teenage admirers all the time. Here he talks to David Hepworth about just some of what that involves, including: …chancers getting…

  45. Suzi Quatro - how Dad, Elvis and Mickie Most transformed my life

    · 23 min · Episode 789

    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…

  46. New Nick Drake tapes, Bob Marley’s masterpiece and the Coldplay ‘kiss-cam’.

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 788

    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…

  47. The story of David Ackles, who never recovered from putting out “the best album ever made”.

    · 28 min · Episode 787

    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…

  48. Kevin Rowland, Oasis, Velvet Sundown – and do we want the truth or just a good story?

    · 46 min · Episode 786

    Our patent fact-from-fiction separator goes into overdrive this week though sometimes, as Robert Wyatt observed, Ruth is stranger than Richard. High in the mix … … FOMO (Fear Of Missing Oasis), Gen Z’s love of queuing…

  49. John Otway – Micro-stardom, 5,000 gigs and how to capture a crowd in 20 seconds

    · 34 min · Episode 785

    John Otway – self-billed as “Rock And Roll’s Greatest Failure” - has played 5,260 gigs in 53 years, a record possibly only beaten by BB King. There are more this autumn of course. He simply can’t stop. “People buying…

  50. Peter Hook looks back at Joy Division, New Order and how not to be a DJ

    · 31 min · Episode 784

    Peter Hook, bold pioneer of the high, clambering, tune-filled bassline, is touring this autumn with Peter Hook & the Light. We talk to him in Prestatyn - about to deejay at mate’s birthday - about the first gigs he…

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