Word In Your Ear

Derek Shulman was at the heart of two great transformations – Simon Dupree & the Big Sound switching to psychedelia, and then sensing the prog-rock trade winds and becoming Gentle Giant. One minute he was singing Kites, the next Pantagruel's Nativity (Gentle Giant's rebooted ‘Playing The Fool: The Complete Live Experience' is just out). After which he was a record label president signing Bon Jovi, Slipknot and Nickelback and rebooting AC/DC and Bad Company. It's a phenomenal story and involves …   … three pieces of advice for any band today. … playing the ‘64 circuit in his R&B band the Roadrunners. … the fictitious character he invented as Simon Dupree. … when Dudley Moore was their session pianist. … memories of Marc Bolan (“flat on his back playing guitar”), Tony Iommi, Tony Visconti, Don Arden, Gerry Bron and “the English mob”. … what they borrowed from Traffic in the Great Psychedelic Scare of 1967.  … auditioning for George Martin and the lab-coated sound engineers at Abbey Road. … being phoned on a ship returning from Sweden to be told ‘Kites' was Top Twenty and doing Top Of The Pops with Status Quo and the Kinks. … “cars and bags of jewels”: the advantage of being “the darlings of the Isle of Wight Mafia” (which included the Krays). … watching Bowie recording The Man Who Sold The World at Trident. … Elton John's advice that helped form Gentle Giant. … the catastrophic US tour with Black Sabbath (on their “chemical romance”) where the audience threw cherry-bombs onstage: “you learnt how to work a crowd!” … George Underwood's cover for the first Gentle Giant album. … what he saw in Slipknot and why he signed them. You can order GENTLE GIANT – PLAYING THE FOOL: THE COMPLETE LIVE EXPERIENCE here: https://gentlegiantuk.lnk.to/PTFFind 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.

While Mark Ellen is hanging out with the other old ruins in Athens, David Hepworth and Alex Gold compare and contrast the organisation of the London Marathon with the Travellodge in Frimley and wonder……Rolling Stone cover stars or members of Trump's clown cabinet?…if you were interviewed as often as a rock star would you too make stuff up?…was Max Romeo's innocent explanation of “Wet Dream" convincing?…where do you listen to the Word In Your Ear Podcast?All this and more in your favourite podcast.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.

Moon Zappa grew up in what appeared, on the outside, to be an enviably free-wheeling and creative household in Laurel Canyon. On the inside, not so much. Her extremely funny, soul-baring and colourful account of dysfunctional family life in her memoir Earth To Moon is as gripping as it's unsettling. A typical day: “Your mother's on the rampage, I need you to hide the gun!” Only other children with famous parents can fully gauge the emotional turmoil. She talks here about her memoir Earth To Moon – just out in paperback – and the impact of Frank's work and tours on the frail domestic set-up and the years they all spent “stewarding his genius”. Along with … … “is genius worth the collateral damage?” … fond memories of rare moments with her workaholic father. … the Zappa family's perilous finances: “Could he write a pop song or did he just choose not to?” ... how she was shut out of the control of Frank's estate “plus a clause saying if I found religion I'd get no money at all”. … the nurses' reaction when they discovered her new-born brother was named ‘Dweezil'. ... recording Valley Girl, the song that made her a teenage star and changed the family fortunes but got no gratitude from her parents. … why Frank found Valley Girl's success “mortifying”. And how her one catastrophic live version put her off stage performance for life. … and that unique bond you have with other celebrity offspring: “Jakob Dylan and I just cackle with laughter. ‘That happened to you too?'” Order ‘Earth To Moon' in paperback here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Moon-Unit-Zappa/dp/1474623859/ref=asc_df_1474623859?mcid=ae11e321cea83f4486c71a35dd95a9ea&th=1&psc=1&hvocijid=15982814295882496701-1474623859-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15982814295882496701&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9072502&hvtargid=pla-2281435176458&psc=1&gad_source=1Find 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.

We like to think of Daryl Hall as a kindred spirit, his home-recorded Live At Daryl's House series with its magnificent roster of guests now racking up 90 episodes. He's about to tour in May and talks to us here from his house in the Bahamas – straw hat, roosters crowing! – looking back at the first gigs he ever saw and played and other delights such as …  … travelling with his mother's Broadway dance band when he was three. … seeing the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle and the Bluetones in the Uptown Theater, Philadelphia, in the early ‘60s. … Three Men In A Boat: a barge trip through London with Dave Stewart and Bob Dylan. … “My teenage rule: I will only wear dark green or black and needlepoint shoes. I had balls in those days!” … why Hall & Oates is “in the past” - “He initiated the split and neither of us want to resolve it”. … songs he always plays - Sara Smile, I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) – and why you'll never hear She's Gone again. … making his first records on a four-track in Virtue Studios, Philadelphia, and recording with MFSB. “I still like to keep it lean and mean.” … playing session piano with the Delfonics and making a single with Chubby Checker. … his first cheque for songwriting - $15. … “I brought rock and roll to my High School!” … the success of Live At Daryl's House and the episodes with Todd Rundgren, Smokey Robinson and Glenn Tilbrook.   … his sideline in restoring 18th Century houses. Live From Daryl's House here: https://livefromdarylshouse.com/ Daryl Hall tour dates and tickets here: https://hallandoates.com/tour/ Buy/stream the ‘D' album here: https://ingrv.es/DarylHallDFind 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.

The chocolate Easter bunny of rock and roll news in highly nutritious and digestible fragments, such as …  … the Who's very public sacking of Zak Starkey. … why no band ever wants to play quietly. … how a magazine in a shop window sparked the Neil Tennant/Mark Springer album. … Katy Perry's space ‘mission' and the trenchant observations by her and the ‘crew' – “I can't put it into words but I looked out the window and we got to see the moon!” … The Thing In The Cellar, Dogs Are Everywhere, Roadkill … Pulp song or episode of The Good Life? … the brilliant new ‘One To One: John & Yoko' documentary and how we miss the days when rock stars went on live chat shows and said the first thing that came into their heads. … why musicians are fundamentally different from other entertainers. ... perilous domestic gadgets of the ‘60s. … the allure of songs about space. … “Ray's at the controls!” When Ray Charles went walkabout on the band's private plane.  … Pete Townshend: “We need bigger weapons!” … Ben Watt DJ-ing in ear defenders. … Ray Davies, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman …? Who grew the first psychedelic moustache? Plus birthday guest Al Hearton on Kris Kristofferson, John Travolta, Bruce Dickinson, Gary Numan and the rock and roll/aviation crossover.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.

Dave Pegg joined Fairport Convention 56 years ago and fully deserves some sort of medal. They're playing their 49th Cropredy in August and touring the UK later in the year. He talks to us here about the first gigs he ever saw and played which, delightfully, involves … … the night Hank Marvin took him to see Bjork. … an all-nighter in Birmingham with John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Chris Farlowe and Spencer Davis.   … memories of his “school hero” Denny Laine. … the fine art of getting it together in the country: life at the Angel pub in Little Hadham – “flea-bitten, enough hot water for one person and a lorry crashed through the wall into Dave Swarbrick's bedroom”. … the link between ticket sales and high blood pressure. … what not to do when you meet McCartney. … a night on the whisky with Rick Danko that ended in hospital. … how a band lasts 58 years without falling out. … the Island albums that made their reputation but never earned them any money. … unsung Birmingham acts: Denny Laine & the Diplomats (Bev Bevan on drums), Steve Gibbons in the Uglys, Jeff Lynne in the Idle Race. … narrowboats, pewter ale jugs, outdoor settees, Matty Groves, Meet On The Ledge and other cornerstones of the Cropredy experience.… Dave Swarbrick's “small holding” and further assorted knob gags. Fairport Convention tickets here: https://www.davepegg.co.uk/gigs/fairportgigs/ Cropredy tickets here: https://www.fairportconvention.com/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.

Boldly pursuing tariff-free trade in rock and roll news, nostalgia, gossip and old hokum since 2007 and, this week, featuring … … the romantic allure of life as a critic. … Sting's part in the success of ‘Adolescence'. … Mick Jagger's long engagement to Melanie Hamrick (born when Steel Wheels came out!) … "Contained within these grooves are twelve convincing arguments against the capitalist system" and other vicious reviews revisited. … when Bob Marley recorded ‘Sugar Sugar' by the Archies. … Al Bowlly's menacing ‘Midnight, The Stars And You' and how film soundtracks change your relationship with music. … what Mike Chapman had to tell Blondie to make ‘Parallel Lines' a hit. … little-known pop fact no 97: Dave Pegg was at the same school as the man who invented the internet! … "I can lose weight but you will always be the director of Brown Bunny” – cracking film review one-liners from Roger Ebert. … the Jaws film and the Jeeves musical: both came out 50 years ago, both riddled with catastrophe. One broke box office records, the other died like a louse in a Russian's beard. … Gabrielle Drake - “If you're going to be in a flop, best it be a huge one.” … why Elvis Costello and Al Stewart should hit the lecture circuit. … and David Hemmings, inconsolable, in a shower.   Plus birthday guest Chuck Loncon stages a quiz.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.

Sparks are touring – playing dates in the UK and Ireland in June and July – and with a new (and 28th) album, Mad!. Russell Mael looks back at the first shows he ever saw and played which entails … … sitting on the floors of LA clubs watching Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Move, the Faces, the Who and Tyrannosaurus Rex.   … his Mum taking him to see the Beatles in the Hollywood Bowl among “10,000 screaming girls”. … “there was a faux honesty about the Laurel Canyon bands – ‘it's just me and my guitar' – whereas the British acts had the clothes and put on a performance. Which is just as honest.” … what Todd Rundgren saw in the early Sparks. … Edgar Wright's “love letter” movie ‘The Sparks Brothers' and how it's expanded their audience. … rehearsing for four months to perform all 21 of their albums in their entirety in 2008 (in Islington) and the people who came every night. … playing pizza parlours in the ‘60s – “we were paid in pizza”.   … and how the Mael brothers' creative relationship has worked - indeed thrived – for over 60 years. Sparks tour dates and tickets: https://allsparks.com/ Order Sparks' new album Mad! here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MAD-Sparks/dp/B0DY9JD1TXFind 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.

The runners and riders in the rock and roll steeplechase first past the post this week include … … how Ed Sheeran protects himself against song theft claims. … ‘lost' Hendrix, Beach Boys, Amy Winehouse and Jeff Buckley records: is anything unfinished ever any good? … “The Unauthorised Breakfast Item”: can YOU tell a Bob Newhart sketch title from a Caravan song? … US Office versus the UK original and the genius of Steve Carrell. … The West Wing, Frasier, the Good Life and how romance is the root of all great sitcoms. … rock and roll lighting: “you can do whatever you want now but that doesn't mean you should”. … Judge claims busking is “noise pollution”! . … Pink Floyd: “it's not going to work without the gong!” … and a giant poster of David Hepworth and Mark Ellen pinned to a tree outside Wareham. Plus birthday guest Stephen Lambe on the downside of the age of spectacle.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.

Ed Tudor Pole entered punk rock from stage school and always felt he was playing a part. After being hired to act in the Great Rock'N'Roll Swindle, he formed Tenpole Tudor and had a brief and dramatic moment in the sun, all recorded in his rollicking memoir ‘The Pen Is Mightier.' He talks here about … … his “quite posh” ancestry and a great-grandfather bankrupted by the Wall Street Crash. … a “Damascene conversion” to the Rolling Stones and ten hours in the burning sun at their Hyde Park show, aged 14. … being at RADA with Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton and Juliet Stevenson. … The Great Rock'N'Roll Swindle audition and the “really horrid” Nancy Spungen's striptease. … how everyone's related to Edward 111. … the secret of a One-Man Show – adopt the voice of Will Hay and “let the audience do the work!” … why “most actors are awful people and all crippled in some way” and his time in theatre was “like being a cow in a field of sheep”. … how Stiff's Dave Robinson hated punk and wanted Tenpole Tudor to be a novelty act. … three months with five acts in a coach on the Stiff Tour. … how the success of Swords Of A Thousand Men didn't affect their ticket sales - “it was bought by 350,000 12 year-old boys who weren't old enough to go to gigs”. … why the Tenpole Tudor split broke his heart. … as Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear … surprise paydays like the use of Who Killed Bambi? in the Zero Day soundtrack to accompany Robert De Niro's nervous breakdown. Order ‘The Pen Is Mightier' here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pen-Mightier-Autobiography-Punk-Rocker/dp/0857306057 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scanning the rock and roll ether with our patent heat-seeking Ripple-Detector®️ to see what rings the bell. Which this week includes … … how reformed ‘90s pop groups all look like Paul Whitehouse characters from the Fast Show. … the mutual agony of parents taking kids to concerts. … “Tap! Tap! Tap!”, the “gacked up” sound of the Heartbreakers' at work in Fort Petty. … “Two old voices crack through the static/ Vinyl souls dissected so erratic”: AI's nerve-jangling interpretation of Word In Your Ear – in song! … the four stages of showbiz … and three stages of hearing music.… the miracle birth of Don Henley's ‘The Boys Of Summer'. … why we tend to run the other way when people insist we'd like something. … records that make sense 40 years later – and a message from Brian Eno. … EMF and the graffiti, Carter USM rugby tackling Phillip Schofield, Radiohead playing ‘My Iron Lung': bands “too cool” for the Smash Hits Poll Winners' Party. … how simpler music appeals as you get older.  Plus the new Patreon roll-call and, from Les, the unsettling AI-generated tribute to Word in Your Ear: https://suno.com/song/ba364f5a-1b39-4d77-8f5b-bcdb9bad6760?sh=N3TMfcz8YUIxPIylFind 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.

The super-trouper of scrutiny scans this week's events and lands upon … … the man who's played on 21,000 records. … how Joni Mitchell is still stirring it up aged 81 and why we love her for it. ... the impact of the stadium circuit on rock festivals. … the longest-surviving group in the world – bowing out at Glastonbury after 66 years! … “fake indignation” on social media. … the 40th anniversary of Dead Or Alive's stunning You Spin Me Round (Like A Record). … the most unlikely looking person to have ever become a rock star.  … the serial winner of the Bass Player Who Most Resembles An Old Testament Prophet contest. … why a record untouched for four decades – eg Day Of Radiance by electronic zither master Laraaji - seems to have matured like a fine wine. … how Donna Summer's I Feel Love was a new kind of music, one that made you one want endless repetition rather than change.  … “Kevin Ayers drank a pint of Pernod then drove me down a mountain”. Plus birthday guest Avi Chaudhiri on the connection between Buddy Holly, Mike Mills and Paul ‘Bonehead' Arthurs.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.

Kate's an old pal from our days at Word magazine. She was on the staff for six years before heading off to the New Statesman and has just put out a collection of the sizzling and revelatory profiles she wrote for us, them and the Observer about a particular sector of the musical landscape for whom she's always carried a torch. As she wonders in ‘Men Of A Certain Age: My Encounters with Rock Royalty', “how is it that in the presence of wrinkly rock stars twice my age I sometimes think I'm meeting … me?” This tremendous exchange is full of hard-won insight about the mind-set of musicians and stops off at the following …  … the fascinating appeal of rock stars' vulnerability, giant egos, oddness and obsessions – “they're often frozen at the emotional age they became famous”. … growing up with Britpop, the decade when “teenagers weren't allowed to like anything”. … things women notice and men often miss: the difference between male and female journalists. … being driven down a mountain by Kevin Ayers after he'd drunk a pint of Pernod. … why she's so drawn to the critically unfashionable acts like Bruce Hornsby, Kiss and Terence Trent D'Arby. … what she learnt from interviewing Joni Mitchell's old boyfriend Cary Raditz. … why the best route to understanding any rock star is via their parents. … her obsession with “the shamefully unfashionable” Queen, aged 11, and the appeal of these self-styled “fun ambassadors” against the grating irony of the ‘90s. … the “charming yet awful” Paul O'Neill of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra handing out $50,000 bundles of cash to the homeless. … why musicians are more interesting when they've peaked.   … “the cartoon characters” of Shaun Ryder and John Lydon. … “the only people at Jeff Beck's interment were his wife and Johnny Depp”. … and being refused an interview by Janelle Monae for not being sufficiently “queer or black”. Order ‘Men Of A Certain Age' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Men-Certain-Age-Encounters-Royalty/dp/1788705645 Tickets for Kate's launch event on April 3:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/men-of-a-certain-age-kate-mossman-with-alexis-petridis-tickets-1270535970289Find 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.

John Harris is an old pal from our days in the music press. You might remember him from Sounds, the NME and Select (which he edited) and he's been one of the mainstays of the Guardian ever since, writing mostly about pop culture and politics. When his son James was diagnosed with autism and, looking for ways to connect with him and help his development, John began playing him various types of music. The results were life-changing for the family and recorded in his moving and revelatory book ‘Maybe I'm Amazed - A Story Of Love And Connection In 10 Songs'. With autism, John points out, “you can see the trees but seeing the wood is harder”. This fascinating conversation involves … … have we misread the eccentricities of John Coltrane or Van Morrison, Prince, David Byrne and Gary Numan? … how many musicians are outsiders in an industry requiring them to be the opposite of what they feel capable of. … how people with autism hear songs differently each time and “music is an endlessly replenishable source of wonder”. … why so many lead guitarists are loners. .. how James has perfect pitch and hears everything – birdsong, lawn-mowers, police sirens – as notes. And how music taught him to sight-read. … vivid, unforgettable, emotional recollections of the moment you first heard records – in John's case Sir Duke, Baker Street, Strange Town. … “blokes in black denim jackets drinking Becks”: the allure of working for the West End rock press. … “all records are novelty records when you're young”. … how 50-year-olds marvel at Spotify and 20-year-olds at vinyl. … the artistic rise and fall of Britpop. Order John's highly recommended book ‘Maybe I'm Amazed' here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maybe-Im-Amazed-Story-Connection-ebook/dp/B0D6B7H5NYFind 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.

This one starts with memories of Genesis at Farnborough Tech in 1972 – Batwings? Fox heads? - looks back at school bands and the early ‘70s and ends with the current Mike & the Mechanics tour. But it mostly centres on the first live shows Mike Rutherford ever saw and played which features … … his mum making him wash the Brylcreem from his hair before seeing Cliff & the Shadows when he was 17. … buying an electric guitar before you realised it needed an amplifier. … playing the same theatres he played with Genesis when he was 19. … Cream at the Marquee Club - “the volume was like an atom bomb!” … supporting Mott the Hoople at Farx in Southall, “the moment I felt we were getting somewhere”. … the contract for their £7 fee he still has for Genesis on the Eel Pie Island, “like ancient fading parchment”. … the non-competitive days of Yes, King Crimson, Rare Bird and the rock underground when there was room for everyone. … making an album in three days with Jonathan King in Regent Sound (where the Stones recorded). … Peter Gabriel developing his on-stage theatre because no-one could hear the words. … ‘Man up!' Note to self after breaking a hip skiing with his grandchildren. Mike & the Mechanics tour dates and tickets:https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/mike-the-mechanics-tickets/artist/1673635 Pre-order Looking Back: Living The Years here:https://found.ee/MikeATM_LBLTYFind 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.

The Waterboys' new album comes with the magnificent title ‘Life, Death & Dennis Hopper' and the band start touring in May. Mike Scott looks back here at the first gigs he ever saw and played and the performers he watched closely, which involves … the Stones “when they were still dangerous” and the connective genius of Mick Jagger, Dennis Hopper's lost decade, Nazareth and Emerson Lake & Palmer at the Glasgow Apollo, a love affair with microphones, how not to look at the audience, the days when he wrote songs called ‘Freefall', Joe Strummer singing on his back and McCartney's crowd going “totally buck-mental”. Order Waterboys tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/the-waterboys-tickets/artist/888869 Order the new Waterboys' album ‘Life, Death & Dennis Hopper' here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Death-Dennis-Hopper-Waterboys/dp/B0DQSK48PCFind 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.

In eager pursuit of dance and merriment, we dust down the current events. Which this week involves …. … are teenagers no longer in love? And what does this mean for pop music? … are people better musicians now than 40 years ago? And is that because you can get online tutorials explaining how to play everything? … Paul McCartney taking two buses across Liverpool just to learn the chord of B7. … how the best pop songs start with someone walking into a room. … Ghana! India! New Zealand! The Caribbean! The King's Spotify Playlist, a carefully chiselled love letter to the Commonwealth. … do couples still have “Our Tune”? And do they still request songs for each other on radio shows? … Neil Tennant's memories of pre-Putin Russia – “we swept into Moscow in Gorbachev's limousine”. … Thunder Road, And Then He Kissed Me, Wouldn't It Be Nice and other magical songs about dating. … Amanda Seyfried does Joni Mitchell! … the best pop song ever written - and we know the answer! Plus birthday guest David Messer and two great Lou Reed live albums (“he heckles the hecklers!”). David and Mark's One-Man Show in Wareham on April 4: https://loveitlocalmagazine.co.uk/events/one-man-show/ Neil Tennant's piece about pre-Putin Russia: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/12/neil-tennant-pet-shop-boys-russia-putin-gay-club-mtvHelp us to find out more about how 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.

Someone else we put on the cover of Smash Hits 40 years ago who's touring in 2025! He's playing European festivals, ‘80s packages, dates with his band and a string of solo shows billed as ‘Musings & Lyrics With Nik Kershaw', and talks to us here about the first gigs he ever saw and played, which involves … … a bad case of Imposter Syndrome. … how the relationship with your audience changes over 40 years. … “it all seemed so important back then. I was in this little bubble where I thought the world was waiting for my next statement.” … seeing Rory Gallagher, Wishbone Ash, Lindisfarne, Slade, T Rex, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band – and Vinegar Joe at St Matthew's Baths in Ipswich. … the sole appearance of his first band Thor at Rushmere Village Hall.  … instant success in 1983: four nights at Hammersmith Odeon without playing clubs first - “We're going to need a bigger PA!” … playing Steely Dan and Weather Report one night and The Birdy Song and Country Roads at a wedding the next.   ... appearing between Elvis Costello and Sade at Live Aid – “quite a sandwich” - and forgetting the words. …and the ‘80s festival circuit: “one big club”.   NIK KERSHAW TOUR DATES HERE: https://www.nikkershaw.net/tour-dates/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.

Gang Of Four's moment was dramatic but brief. It was littered with times when the future seemed impossibly bright before disaster crept up with a cosh in their relentless “refusal to do the obvious”. Being a musician, he points out, is a ridiculous life best not taken seriously. His memoir ‘To Hell With Poverty!' rightly describes itself as “rich with stories”, many remembered in this spirited exchange with David and Mark, among them … … the transformational effect of a scholarship to the boarding school where he met GO4 guitarist Andy Gill and future film-makers Adam Curtis and Paul Greengrass. … life-changing records he heard in the school art department – Highway 61 Revisited, the Stooges, the MC5. … “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”. … aged 11, bumping into John Lennon in Sevenoaks who'd just bought his Mr Kite poster. … signing a contract with the manager that robbed them and whose busy and efficient office of “ripped and buffed” staff turned out to be hired actors. … being thrown off Top Of The Pops for not changing an ‘offensive' song lyric – “EMI were “mortified”. … the old hippy world of the ‘70s – Hawkwind, the Whole Earth Catalog and “a Withnailesque flat where we had an airgun to shoot the mice”. … hopeless online misinterpretations of his song lyrics - “there may be soil under fuck all” (aka “there may be oil under Rockall”). … the rigours of trying to promote “outsider music”. … reaching “the point where the game is up”. … the Bourgeois Brothers, the ‘comedy' duo he formed with Andy Gill at Leeds University and why they returned to England to form a band in the mould of Talking Heads, the Ramones and Richard Hell. … and why recording the audiobook moved him to tears. Order ‘To Hell With Poverty!' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hell-Poverty-Class-Inside-Gang/dp/1636142346 Gang Of Four tour dates:https://www.songkick.com/artists/393675-gang-of-four/calendarFind 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.

Tyres pumped, engine cranked, chromework winking in the Springtime sun, the two-man conversational jalopy sets off on its weekly spin and visits … … the day America broke the news and showed its dark side.   … Brian James RIP and Stiff's brilliant ad campaign for the first Damned album: “Play it at your sister!” … has entertainment been dwarfed by world events? … why the Oscars were invented and what it said about American life. … “negative publicity is the first response to everything”. … why Adrien Brody's speech set back the cause of actors being taken seriously by about 40 years. … Will Smith v Chris Rock, Chumbawamba v John Prescott, David Niven and the streaker: Awards show bombshells and what today's media would make of them. … The Wizard Of Vinyl and his mission to “save the world from bad sound”. … the days when Hi-Fi was considered a hobby. … are musical memories mostly about context? David relives ‘Like A Rolling Stone' on a jukebox in the Shady Nook café in Wakefield. … how not to make a speech. … and the band that called Nick Lowe “granddad” (when he was 27). Plus birthday guest Adrian Ainsworth on the worst and most insulting Greatest Hits compilations of all time.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.

We're long-time admirers of Denny Tedesco's “Wrecking Crew” doc which celebrated the studio musicians of 60s Hollywood, the unseen hands who can be heard on all those Beach Boys and Spector hits. Now he's done something similar with the musicians who were so much part of the success of James Taylor, Carole King and Warren Zevon in the next decade in “The Immediate Family”. We're delighted to have been able to organise a screening of the film at The Art House in Crouch End after which he spoke to David Hepworth about what it was like to grow up married to the music business, how the culture of session players changed over the years, what has kept the likes of Leland Sklar, Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel and Russ Kunkel at the top of their game for fifty years and whether anybody else is still keeping their craft alive. The film is streaming on a platform near you now!The Immediate Family: https://www.immediatefamilyfilm.com/The Art House: https://www.arthousecrouchend.co.uk/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.

Ian Leslie posted his ‘64 Reasons To Celebrate Paul McCartney' in 2020 and the viral reaction to its piercing and original points encouraged him to write ‘John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs'. Do we need another Beatles book? We do if it's this one! It's exceptionally good and highly recommended. The conventional wisdom for decades was that John was the tormented, anti-establishment genius and Paul the effortlessly tune-churning, bourgeois poser. Ian's book points up that their deep devotion to each other and telepathic, close relationship was the root of the supernatural partnership that made those songs possible. The two of them were, as he puts it, “the bubble within the bubble – and the deeper you get, the more mysterious the story becomes.” He talks to us here about …  … their powerplays and their underlying rivalries for the leadership of the group. … why the Beatles were in another league - “like Shakespeare versus Johnson or Marlowe”. … how a songwriting duo where both wrote words and music gave them an extraordinary advantage. … the writing of Yesterday and John's fear that Paul might no longer need the group and leave. … Paul's discovery of his “superpowers” between ‘64 and '66. … how current groups now have “intimacy councillors” and in any other band the unmanageable Lennon would have been ejected. … In My Life, Hey Jude and other songs they wrote about each other. … how there was “an element of their fathers about them, of stiff upper lip” and displays of physical affection were rare. … Paul as “the omnivorous culture-vore” in avant garde London while John was horizontal in suburbia. … why Paul's pace and creativity must have been psychologically punishing for the others. … and how the emotional landscape shifted with the arrival of Yoko and Linda. Order Ian's book here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Paul-Story-Beatles-decades/dp/0571376118Find 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.

In which we pedal the conversational tandem uphill and down dale, like a rabbit through the pea-vine or a turkey through the corn, stopping for moments of reflection which include … … “If someone wants to steal your music, it means your music's worth stealing.” … cats, birdsong: spot the ‘silent track' by Kate Bush.   … when Gene Hackman smiles, be very afraid. … what was written on Walter Matthau's funeral card. … “Home-Taping Is Killing Music!” and other threats that failed to sink the business.  … double albums: never mind the quality, feel the width. … how Exile On Main St became a symbol of peak-Stones grimy decadence. … Hunter Davies, Mark Lewisohn, Ian Leslie, Richard DiLello?: the best Beatles book ever written? … “is genius worth the collateral damage?”: homelife in Frank Zappa's house. … things we never say on the Word podcast. … when rock critics get it wrong. Plus birthday guest Nick Foreman flies the flag for Hunter Davies.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.

We first saw Graham Fellows as Jilted John on Top of the Pops in 1978 and we've followed his characters ever since, especially drawn to the keyboard-prodding, car-coated John Shuttleworth and his deathless pop anthems ‘Pigeons In Flight', ‘Up And Down Like A Bride's Nightie' and ‘I Can't Go Back To Savoury Now'. Graham talks here about how and why he created them (and rock media studies lecturer Brian Appleton) and his new book ‘John Shuttleworth Takes The Biscuit', along with … the allure of romantic punk rock (Patrik Fitzgerald, Buzzcocks, the Undertones), Sheffield mouse-breeders, comic melancholy, whether Northern humour is funnier than Southern, kissing Debbie Harry for a publicity shot, the advice his father gave him and the finer details of the Shuttleworth live experience.   Order 'John Shuttleworth Takes The Biscuit' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Shuttleworth-Takes-Biscuit-Selection/dp/1915841305 John Shuttleworth tour dates:https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/john-shuttleworthFind 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.

As sinister autocrats stroke Persian cats in shark-pooled underground bunkers, their bony fingers reaching for the nuclear button, we shake another Vodka Martini and reflect on the week's events, among them … … Amazon buys Bond: but isn't the essence of 007 its droll and unimpressible Britishness? … and haven't the lunatics taken over the asylum? Can you still invent unhinged fantasy villains with real life versions in the Kremlin and White House? … why a Jam reunion would never have worked. … when did ‘cool' change from meaning exotic and unconventional to being just like everyone else? And why do we picture the concept of ‘cool' in black and white? … in stout defence of the pilloried record reviewer! … why the Olympics was payday for Justine Frischmann. ... when Johnny Cash was on the Muppet Show and was photographed with Richard Nixon. … how come no-one complains about old online reviews but they do if they were physically printed? … how Lonnie Donegan made a fortune from Nights In White Satin. … hurrah for the silencing of the Pedicab boombox! … newspaper sellers, milkmen, shifty ‘hot goods' vendors: whatever happened to the street cries of London? … plus birthday guest Paul Monaghan and rock stars who were architects – Art Garfunkel, Ice Cube, Pete Briquette, Chris Lowe, Ralf Hutter …– and teaching Damon Albarn and Justine Frischmann.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.

Nights In White Satin - 260 million streams on Spotify - is still the central plank in the set Justin Hayward's touring in October. He talks to us here about the first shows he ever saw and played, the ballroom circuit of the mid-'60s remembered in particularly vivid detail and involving the odd burst of song - “My kind of town, Great Yarmouth is …!”. Along with … … the appeal of “a Moody Blues crowd”. ... “Name Singer seeks guitar player”: the Melody Maker ad that got him into the Marty Wilde band, aged 17. … playing a summer season on the same bill as a water feature – aka the Waltzing Waters. … his early band All Things Bright and their Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Coasters setlist. … the “onerous” publishing deal he signed with Lonnie Donegan that siphoned off the profits of Nights In White Satin. … seeing Tommy Cooper at the Bournemouth Pavilion and the Barron Knights at the Locarno in Swindon. … “Terry the Pill” in Eric Burdon's office. … toying with the idea of “a rock version of Dvorak”. … the uncertain fate of Nights In White Satin and the plugger who threatened to resign over it. … how Days Of Future Passed was the “Deramic Sound” demo record. … and the highpoint of the Moody Blues story and their Second Coming. Justin Hayward tickets here: https://justinhayward.com/pages/current-tour-dates https://justinhayward.com/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.

No musician is more closely associated with London or left more footprints than Bowie, and you can trace its influence on his life and work (and vice versa) through a series of landmarks from the suburbs to the centre. Author and curator Paul Gorman has just published an annotated street-map – David Bowie's London - listing the places that played a formative role in his world and music, the places he rehearsed, performed, filmed and recorded, the homes of friends and managers, his schools and the addresses where he lived, worked and was photographed, made connections, bought clothes and generally raised the temperature. We talk here about many of those old haunts and the stories attached to them, which include… … mysterious manager Ralph Horton who got him to change his name to Bowie and then vanished from the face of the earth. … the fate of Heddon Street, home of K-West and the Ziggy phone-box.  … Marc Bolan refusing to let him sing at an all-night benefit at Middle Earth. … “the Fairy Godmother of the New Romantics” at the WAG Club. … when Lionel Bart came to Haddon Hall. … Bowie and Steve Marriott auditioning for the Lower Third. … how he levered his way into a Fabulous magazine fashion shoot. … “the end of the age of Showbiz”: performing Chim Chim Cher-ee at the Marquee when at a crossroads between rock and roll and cabaret. … the magical piano at the Trident Studios. … a chance encounter with the otherworldly Vince Taylor whose ‘UFO map' helped inspire the concept of Ziggy Stardust. … the legend of Mr Fish, creator of the man-dress on the cover of The Man Who Sold The World. … the days when people had a white Rolls Royce and matching Alsatian – and “the Great Sarong Scare of the ‘90s”. … and various fringe figures including his art teacher Owen Frampton, Konrads agents Bob Knight and Eric Easton, muse and heartbreaker Hermione Farthingale, producers Shel Talmy and Tony Hatch (“the original Mr Nasty from Opportunity Knocks”) and slum landlord and racketeer Peter Rackman. Order Paul's street-map here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Bowies-London-Paul-Gorman/dp/1068523476Find 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.

We first saw Eddi Reader singing with the Gang Of Four on Whistle Test in 1982. This eventful pod traces her story from seven kids in a two-bedroom council flat (“me in the toilet with a guitar singing Your Cheating Heart”), to the Scottish folk clubs, busking with circus acrobats on the Left Bank, to radio jingles, life as a backing singer and the rapid rise of Fairground Attraction who reformed last year, 34 years after they split in 1990. It's highly entertaining from the kick-off, not least …. … snogging the Earl of Moray's son during Dylan at Blackbushe. … the jingles she sang on ‘80s radio ads. … what she learnt from Annie Lennox when touring with Eurythmics. … backing singer stage-wear etiquette. … performing Love Me Tender aged eight in the school classroom. … singing Three Drunken Maidens and Lord Franklin at the Irvine Folk Club, over the road from Amanda's Wet T-Shirt Night. … busking in Paris and the songs that pulled the most money (eg Tupelo Honey and All Along the Watchtower). … “men you put on the shoulder-pads for.” … what Billy Bragg called “a civilian”. … Chou Pahrot, Cado Belle, Café Jacques, Stone the Crows and other great lost Scottish bands. … Hamish Imlach's advice about how to project onstage. … how to use a pencil as a pop-shield. … and her Grandad “who loved his wife so much he nearly told her”. Eddi Reader tickets here: https://eddireader.co.uk/gigs/ Fairground Attraction's Beautiful Happening album: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beautiful-Happening-Fairground-Attraction/dp/B0CZ7NMJYV https://eddireader.co.uk/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.

Passing the Dutchie 'pon the left-hand side, we sift through this week's events, rants and theories which absorbingly include … … that Drake v Kendrick Lamar beef in full! … was Bowie only as good as his collaborators? … Kingmaker, Toploader, Feeder, Slayer, Longdancer, Widowmaker …. has there ever been a good band with a name ending ‘-er'? …… seeing the Jam at the Hope & Anchor. … John Lennon was not a working-class hero. Bob Marley shot no sheriffs. Joe Strummer's daddy wasn't a bankrobber. Starship patently never built any cities on rock and roll. Monstrous rock and roll untruths exposed!  … why Film Star Good-Looking is different from Rock Star Good-Looking. … one glove, a swan dress, comedy specs, a snake, a bat …. Pop stars with a cartoonable signature. … Woody Allen, Lisa Kudrow, Scarlett Johansson and the Kanye West clip that was never sanctioned.  … JD Salinger, Scott Joplin, Thomas Pynchon, Banksy – people whose voices we've never heard. … the gripes of Taylor Swift. … ‘An Interminable Appetite For Spite' and other album titles in waiting. … and Buffy Sainte-Marie and the perils of misrepresentation. Plus birthday guest Chris Lintott remembers seeing Bowie as a mime artist.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.

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

The teenage Woody Woodmansey was offered the job of under-foreman in the Vertex spectacle factory in Hull but then got a call from Bowie inviting him to move to London and play drums on his new album - “plus food and somewhere to stay”. It took him all weekend to decide. And involved some cultural readjustment when he did. 56 years later he's a founding member of Holy Holy and touring the UK in May – along with Tony Visconti and Glenn Gregory – performing songs from Bowie's breakthrough early ‘70s albums. He talks here about … … the life-changing sound behind the silver door of an air-raid shelter in Driffield. … supporting the Kinks in Bridlington and the Herd at Leeds University - and why Peter Frampton told him, “I'll see you at the top”. ... his first paid gig at the local girls' school. … the Spiders' instructional group outings to see ballet, mime and theatre. ... “never more than three takes”: how Bowie wrote and recorded and the sketches he drew for their stage gear.  … life at Haddon Hall and its “Gone With The Wind staircase”. … Yorkshire to London and the cultural collisions involved. … what Bowie realised was “the missing ingredient”. … Woody's checklist to assess Bowie's talents when he met him: “He wasn't Paul Rodgers or Roger Daltrey. He could write. He could communicate.” … “I'm not wearing that!” The day Mick Ronson packed his bags and left. Order Holy Holy tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/tony-visconti-tickets/artist/2003254Find 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.

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

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=BtfvpS0EyO8Find 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.

We put Howard Jones on the cover of Smash Hits in 1983 billed as ‘the Most Promising New Act' and, 15 albums and 42 years later, he's about to set out on another tour, a double-bill with ABC. He looks back here at the first shows he ever saw and played which involves …… rehearsing his Live Aid slot backstage to an audience of one: David Bowie. … pioneering the “one-man show” in the early days of Moogs and drum machines. … Emerson Lake & Palmer firing cannons onstage at the Isle of Wight in 1970 (his first gig, aged 15). … rough treatment from the British “pundits”.… school band Warrior – sample track title, Squashed Cat's Intestines.… being in Ringo's All-Starr Band and the ELP number he'd play with Sheila E and Greg Lake. … “bad spectacles, terrible haircut”: early solo gigs in Oxford pubs. … the current tour with ABC: “lifting people's spirits, the best job in the world”. Mentioned in passing: China Crisis, Hendrix, Bill Payne of Little Feat. Howard Jones tour dates here:http://howardjones.com/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.

Another great hero on the podcast! We first heard Andy Fairweather Low with Amen Corner on jukeboxes in the late ‘60s and he's touring the UK from February. Ten albums and countless collaborations later, he looks back here at teenage life on the psychedelic circuit and the first shows he saw and played, stopping off at … … the Stones in Cardiff in '64 - “they opened with Talkin' ‘Bout You and it hit me like a virus.” … Amen Corner – “you gauged how good a gig was by how many people fainted.” … being The Face of '69 when Peter Frampton was the Face of ‘68. … getting Otis Redding's autograph. … the package tour with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, Eire Apparent and the Nice “all in one charabanc together”. … his first band the Firebrands playing to “literally no audience”. … buying magical soul singles at Spillers in Cardiff. … the days when you had a 26-inch waist and played Knock On Wood eight times a night. … what people loved about Wide-Eyed And Legless. … recording 50 Words For Snow with Kate Bush. … the songs that “make the phones come out”. … the rigours of getting old: “halfway through the set she asked, when's Andy Fairweather Low coming on?” ... and Don Arden, Andrew Loog Oldham, disappearing cash and the significance of the Spider Jiving sleeve. Andy Fairweather Low tour dates:https://andyfairweatherlow.com/about-us/ Order Andy's The Invisible Bluesman album here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invisible-Bluesman-Andy-Fairweather-Low/dp/B0DKSN2CDZFind 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.

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

Something happens when he walks out under the lights. He can never predict what but he's programmed to perform. As he has for over 60 years and will again when he sets out on a 63-date tour in April peppered with stories of an extravagant life and billed as ‘an evening of Francis Rossi songs from the Status Quo songbook and more'. He looks back here at the acts that showed him the way (Gene Pitney, Slade, ZZ Top, Mott the Hoople and “my uncles, the Stones”), Butlins in Clacton, the “elfin” David Bowie, the value of “dying on your arse”, the evolution of the Status Quo shuffle, the sight of a sea of denim, opening Live Aid (and why the other acts were envious) and memories of Dog Of Two Head and Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon. “There's a handful who are talented,” he says, “and the rest of us are just winging it and getting by.” Order tickets here:https://www.francisrossi.com/tourFind 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.

We both first heard Graham Nash just over 60 years ago when the Hollies' Just One Look was on the BBC's swinging Light Programme and we've followed him ever since, not least his transformational shift in the late-‘60s from suburban Salford to the wood cabins of Laurel Canyon. He's touring the UK in October, An Evening of Songs and Stories with Peter Asher in support, and looks back here at the first shows he ever saw and played, which involves … … Bill Haley in 1958 – “he opened the curtains and said ‘See yer later, alligator!', and I've never been the same since.” … meeting his heroes the Everly Brothers when he was 18. … the talent contest he won with Allan Clarke in 1959 beating Freddie Garrity, the future Billy Fury and Johnny And the Moondogs. ... the early days of the Hollies – “my acoustic was never plugged in”. … supporting Little Richard the night he screamed at his soon-to-be-famous guitarist, “never play the guitar behind the back of your head again!” …. making ‘Two Yanks in England' with the Everlys, Reg Dwight, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. … playing Woodstock – “it's hard to reach the back row when it's raining and two miles away.” … the songs he always plays and talks about onstage, Marrakesh Express, Our House and Teach Your Children among them. Order Graham Nash tickets here:https://grahamnash.com/tour-dates/page/2/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.

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=oddtdtcreatorFind 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.

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=oddtdtcreatorFind 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.

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.

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=enFind 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.

The tremendous Bill Bailey is staging “a magical, musical mystery tour of the mind, along with other pressing matters” for 42 nights in London from December 28, a celebration of what makes us human in an age threatened by AI. There'll be “a laser harp”. There'll be electronic drum balls played by audience members. There'll be extracts from Kraftwerk's lost album of children's songs. He talks to Mark here about the first live entertainment he ever saw and first shows he played himself, which happily involves …  … “a lightbulb moment”, James Robertson Justice breaking the fourth wall, the genius of Les Dawson's deadpan piano playing, OMD, the Cure, the Banshees, how TikTok changed song writing, Jean-Jacques Burnel whacking a skinhead with his bass, A Flock of Seagulls, the Undertones, seeing John Hegley's mandolin-driven comedy act and thinking “I could do that”, Victor Borge and the invention of the disco bass line by a 17th century German composer. Order tickets for Bill Bailey's Thoughtifier show here:https://www.billbailey.co.uk/liveFind 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.

The 17 year-old Al Stewart played electric guitar in a dance band in Bournemouth in 1963. When he borrowed an acoustic and sang Masters Of War in the break, he heard the sweet sound of applause. The next night he played three Dylan songs and sensed which way the wind was blowing. He talks here about moving to London, playing at Bunjies and becoming the compere at Les Cousins as his now 60-year career began to lift off. And about his Farewell Tour which kicks off in the UK in October 2025, a combination of songs and story-telling coloured by two great heroes, Peter Ustinov and Alistair Cooke. This cracking exchange steers by way of Bert Jansch, Bob Dylan, Helen of Troy, Stalin, Hitler and the Battle of Moscow, the Weeley Festival of 1971, the three songs he always plays, the young Cat Stevens and what he told Paul Simon he should do with the just-composed Homeward Bound. Order Al Stewart tickets here:https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/al-stewartFind 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.

 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/GaryKempThisDestinationFind 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.

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.

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=brjVwsPlmcnii1MdFind 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.

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-newsFind 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.

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

R.E.M. considered themselves missionaries against the prevailing pop culture – no solos, no old-school stagecraft, no printed lyrics, no lip-syncing, no hard-sell videos, no obvious leader – and mapped out a whole new route to international success. Peter Ames Carlin, whose books include biographies of Springsteen, Brian Wilson and Paul Simon, talks to us here about ‘The Name of this Band is R.E.M.', what they pioneered and how it rearranged the rock and roll furniture. Which involves … … why their Letterman Show was a statement of intent. … “rather than bending to the mainstream, they did what they wanted ‘til the mainstream bent to them.” … where you can see “the R.E.M. model” - from Sleater-Kinney to Taylor Swift. … when ‘Mike Stipe' became Michael. … Stipe's first TV appearance, dressed as Frank-N-Furter at a Rocky Horror Show screening. … why rock critics connected with them.  … the strategies they share with U2, Radiohead and Coldplay.  … “Springsteen = Elvis + Dylan”. … what was in the water in Athens, Georgia, that produced such unconventionalacts - R.E.M., the B-52's, Pylon, Love Tractor. … their ‘straight' but supportive parents – Stipe's dad in the military, Mills' dad a marine helicopter pilot. … how R.E.M. “channelled popular culture”. … their pioneering approach to record deals, royalties, videos, mixing and song-writing. … and which of them most wants a reunion. Order ‘The Name Of This Band Is R.E.M.' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Name-This-Band-M-Biography/dp/0385546947Find 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.

Neil Storey worked in the Island press office in the ‘70s and ‘80s and has set out on mammoth undertaking, to compile a series of gorgeous, album-sleeve-sized books telling the story of virtually every record the label released in its pioneering history and talking to all involved - musicians, producers, designers, photographers, label staff – and collecting old music press ads and ephemera from the time. This latest edition, ‘the Island Book Of Records 1969-1970', has transported us back to our teenage selves when albums by Fairport, Nick Drake, Jethro Tull, Free, King Crimson etc were unmissable. We talked to Neil at his home in France which happily involved …   … the extraordinary story of the Unhalfbricking album shoot.   … when album sleeves were assembled by hand. … how Island pioneered the ‘underground' aesthetic and the cheap sampler album. … the mystery of Ian Anderson's 11 fingers. … the “worst sleeve” in the label's history (which involved a trip to the butchers). .. the day the Island roster met in Hyde Park at six in the morning. ... the curious marketing of Nick Drake – “who doesn't have a telephone and will disappear for four days at a time”. … and Roxy Music, Sparks, Head Hands & Feet and what else to expect in Volume 3. Order the Island Book Of Records Volume 2 here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Book-Records-II-1969-70/dp/1526182246Find 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.