Word In Your Ear

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold
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 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. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Johnnie Walker, pop’s golden year and what’s wrecking rock documentaries.

    2 DAYS AGO

    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 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    37 min
  2. 2024-12-31

    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 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    45 min
  3. Why we have enough Christmas hits plus the greatest songs about money

    2024-12-23

    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 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
  4. ‘Mystique is dead’: what Gary Kemp learnt in 40 years of making and selling records

    2024-12-18

    ‘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 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min
  5. The afterlife of Hallelujah and the day David sold his old singles

    2024-12-17

    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 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    52 min

About

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. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes and get the latest updates.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada