Word In Your Ear

36
Music Commentary #246

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.

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Recent Episodes
  • The “amniotic throb” of modern pop, the eternal life of the Top Gear theme and the Blue Nile’s lucky break
    Apr 21, 2024 – 47:48
  • Hollywood Babylon, the inspired gimmickry of Catch A Fire and the luck of Ron Wood
    Apr 15, 2024 – 58:43
  • Neil Tennant remembers life “with dyed red Bowie hair and clattering platforms”
    Apr 11, 2024 – 43:54
  • Richard Thompson – “you know it’s time to go when the audience starts throwing chairs”
    Apr 10, 2024 – 24:01
  • Neil Tennant remembers the pop press and “the last great era of forward-looking songs"
    Apr 9, 2024 – 36:37
  • The Stones’ clothes, our love affair with Abba & rock’s most appalling spectacle
    Apr 8, 2024 – 47:26
  • Big Characters we have loved and why the Clash wouldn’t last ten minutes in 2024
    Mar 31, 2024 – 46:51
  • How Paul Cook broke into Hammersmith Odeon to see the Who, Slade, Queen & Alex Harvey
    Mar 28, 2024 – 18:16
  • Sharleen Spiteri saw Joe Strummer onstage and thought “that’s what I want to be”
    Mar 26, 2024 – 35:14
  • Album sleeves as lifestyle statements and 5 seconds that made Phil Manzanera a fortune
    Mar 25, 2024 – 36:40
  • Phil Manzanera Part 2: an insider’s guide to Roxy Music (and a great Bob Dylan story)
    Mar 24, 2024 – 43:07
  • Phil Manzanera’s enviable life in Roxy Music and beyond
    Mar 22, 2024 – 38:45
  • Fish is bowing out to become a Hebridean shepherd. What’s he learnt in 45 years onstage?
    Mar 20, 2024 – 46:11
  • The extraordinary story of Steve Harley’s greatest hit
    Mar 18, 2024 – 6:57
  • Great divorce albums, Powerpop snobs and dark tales of 1999
    Mar 17, 2024 – 1:01:10
  • Stephen Fall’s reviewed 3,333 of his albums. Buy the book!
    Mar 14, 2024 – 22:35
  • It’s Arthur Brown, the god of hellfire … paging Health & Safety!
    Mar 12, 2024 – 20:28
  • Suzi Ronson - Bowie’s stylist - knows why rock and roll is all about hair
    Mar 11, 2024 – 37:48
  • How the Beatles invented pop video and acts we love who always sound the same
    Mar 10, 2024 – 33:51
  • Is social media killing pop music? And where have all the bands gone?
    Mar 4, 2024 – 43:08
  • For Henry Normal comedy is like “sugar and salt”
    Mar 3, 2024 – 28:40
  • Steve Howe of Yes tells a few tales from topographic oceans
    Feb 29, 2024 – 32:20
  • The evergreen record that’s 50 years old & Jeremy Thorpe at a hippie commune
    Feb 25, 2024 – 59:31
  • Richard Coles has faced every audience imaginable, one armed with pea-shooters
    Feb 23, 2024 – 30:44
  • For Jah Wobble driving tube trains was even more thrilling than playing Glastonbury
    Feb 20, 2024 – 35:46
  • Steve Wright and other great radioheads, McCartney’s bass & the non-profits of Python
    Feb 19, 2024 – 51:19
  • Max Décharné reboots the golden age of the Teddy Boys
    Feb 18, 2024 – 35:02
  • Guy Garvey remembers the Grumbleweeds in panto, Santana fantasies & a song nicked from Roy Castle
    Feb 14, 2024 – 27:03
  • Lulu, when Prince did a bad thing and how the Beatles changed the shape of the human head
    Feb 12, 2024 – 53:04
  • Musicians and their mothers and the records we could never sell
    Feb 4, 2024 – 47:31
  • Tom Hibbert (the world’s funniest music writer) and why Madonna should be sued
    Jan 28, 2024 – 46:23
  • TV's greatest musical moment - and are we still allowed to laugh at hopeless old rock bands?
    Jan 22, 2024 – 50:10
  • Graham Gouldman knows where to alphabetically file 10cc records
    Jan 21, 2024 – 17:25
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    Jan 15, 2024 – 53:01
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    Jan 13, 2024 – 33:21
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    Jan 7, 2024 – 53:36
  • Noel Coward, Gallagher & Squire’s superpower summit & the art of the Bob Dylan backbeat
    Dec 31, 2023 – 54:57
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    Dec 18, 2023 – 48:34
  • Denny Laine, the Move’s catastrophic court case & the man who's made 700 albums in 2 years
    Dec 10, 2023 – 59:19
  • The Beatles as seen by their roadie, co-conspirator & friend Mal Evans – and Kenneth Womack
    Dec 5, 2023 – 43:31
  • A drink to Shane MacGowan, Spinal Tap rebooted and lunch with Randy Newman
    Dec 4, 2023 – 40:31
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    Dec 3, 2023 – 41:36
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    Dec 1, 2023 – 1:02:35
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    Nov 29, 2023 – 45:50
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    Nov 27, 2023 – 1:00:34
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    Nov 21, 2023 – 38:40
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    Nov 18, 2023 – 44:29
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    Nov 14, 2023 – 27:49
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    Nov 9, 2023 – 33:05
Recent Reviews
  • Fffffffjjkhvc
    More Tube stories please.
    What a brilliant listen Jah Wobble’s brief experience on the Underground was….especially the bit where he was training as a guard/driver. More pop stars in public transport job stories please.
  • Number37
    Too much hot air.
    Make it shorter, much of the ‘banter’ is excruciatingly dull.
  • gooofpronanaspendradilly
    Love the concept…
    Love the guests, love the info… but for god’s sake will you two rude old farts LET YOUR GUESTS FINISH THEIR SENTENCES!! Go back and listen to how many times you interrupt a perfectly interesting train of thought or comment from your guests with another question.
  • Scot T. G.
    Always great but buffer that theme!
    Always loved this podcast. Still amazing, insightful, educational, great guests. But that infernal acoustic intro/outro is ear-piercing & louder than the voices we love to listen to (mark & david’s). Can some high-end be EQ’d out, or bring level down just a touch? Thankfully those bumpers are short. Love David’s theories he comes up with, and he’s usually always right. Stackwaddy game never disappoints!
  • jpitt32
    Great
    Great Podcast!
  • DaveyWavey-9666
    Sometimes too much Beatles
    I like the podcast and even find it, but they talk about the Beatles a lot, and I mean a lot.
  • Ave L
    Like a fine wine
    Still hugely enjoyable after all these years. Rapidly getting into Grumpy Old Men territory but all the better for it.
  • bhoyo
    Time well spent
    Like a particularly good afternoon down the pub with two old mates (two knowledgeable, opinionated and funny old mates). Life-affirming and delightful -- and they probably always get their rounds in.
  • Lit plastic
    One of the mandatory music podcasts
    I’ve been listening to the Word in Your Ear podcast since it was the Word podcast and I was a subscriber to the magazine. I really enjoy Mark and David’s take on music and culture and I know you will. They really know what they’re talking about and they do it in a funny and insightful way. I count this podcast, the Sodajerker on Songwriting and the Rockonteurs as just mandatory musical info and enjoyment. I’m always happy when I see a new episode has been uploaded.
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