Free Daily Podcast Summary
Word In Your Ear: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world,
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- 2 days ago37 min
Sid Griffin (#1): the Long Ryders leader laughs at the absurdity of teenage life!
A whole new format we’ve invented for people who’ve been guests before and were so entertaining we wanted them back. So we’ve devised some random questions to spark a few memories and revelations. First up, Sid Griffin of the Long Ryders, touring the UK this autumn, who looks back here at his early life before he “went to L.A. to quote-unquote make it”. You’ll love this as much as we did, especially … … the Beatles song he knew he’d understand when he was older … his teenage band rehearsal when the drummer got a hammer in his head … the rock star he always wanted to be … what happens when you wear the bug-infested cap you find on a bus … DJ Carl ‘Weird Beard’ Markert burping in Pepsi commercials on WAKY Radio … Gregg Turner and the Angry Samoans – “bad songs in bad taste” … things he can still recite from childhood … the best use of music in a movie … how arch-rival Norrie Paramor made George Martin even richer … and the greatest B-side ever written. Plus English teacher Mrs Atlas and his deathless crush on Mimi Babcock. Long Ryders tickets here … thelongryders.com/tourHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 5 days ago42 min
An Indie Sleaze special! – up and down with the Strokes, Libertines and Arctic Monkeys
“Good hair, good shoes, something to say” were the requirements of Indie Sleaze whose vanguard lit up the fading music press in the first decade of the 21st Century – acts like Franz Ferdinand, the Rakes, the Cribs, Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. Janine Warren saw the Strokes in Camden in 2001 and life took a whole new direction. Her book ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect’ looks back at old-school rock PR, unmanageable bands, and the summit and collapse of the last scene she thinks we’ll ever see. You’ll enjoy … … Morrissey at St George’s Hall, Blackburn … deejaying at Liquidation in Liverpool playing psychedelia and Northern Soul … the impossible task of being Pete Doherty’s PR: “like sand running through your fingers” … the day its editor realised the NME was doomed … the indie dilemma: wanting fame and publicity while appearing not to care … the rise of Arctic Monkeys, the first big digital success story … the financial crash, big label panic, illegal file-share and other woes of the 2010 music business … why rock scenes are a thing of the past … and the greatest Indie Sleaze record ever made. Order copies of ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect: the Last Indie Music Scene 2000-2010’ here:https://www.roughtrade.com/product/janine-warren-foreword-by-alex-kapranos/the-world-was-a-mess-but-his-hair-was-perfect-the-last-indie-music-scene-2000-2010?algolia_query_id=5510672a106c0f77be3b364fe1f570ce&algolia_object_id=57550933459275&algolia_index=shopify_prod_products&algolia_position=Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 1 weeks ago58 min
Nicky Hopkins’ hidden genius, the Oasis film and the best songs about rain
This week’s news in three separate files - the Good, the Bad and the Befuddling. Which involves … … have Oasis created their own economy? … are stadium gigs now like historical re-enactment? … “people listen to music more intently in Manchester as they’re inside while it rains” … ‘includes All Things Must Pass miniature garden gnomes!’ The mad money-draining joy of the luxury box-set … when bands don’t change but audiences do …Sun = Happiness, Rain = Sorrow: lyrics as an emotional weather forecast … the pianist who wouldn’t play minor chords … Nicky Hopkins on records by the Kinks, Beatles, Who and Stones (“She’s A Rainbow was like a music-box Mozart”): has any session player made a more vital contribution? … “Lose two teeth in German nightclub brawl, go back to Burnage”: real and fictitious rock band Monopoly sets! … Blue Nile, Ann Peebles, Beautiful South, Paul Simon? What’s the best song about rain? Plus J Blackfoot, Paul Simon’s Kathy from Brentwood and birthday guest Matthew North.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 1 weeks ago38 min
Clint Boon saw Manchester lift off twice and auditioned the young Noel Gallagher
Clint Boon was at the heart of “the two biggest musical revolutions of my lifetime” – as a teenager for Joy Division and Buzzcocks, and later the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Hacienda and onstage with Inspiral Carpets, a world of characters as big as his own. His memoir ‘The Manchester Chronicles’ is about obsessions, schoolteachers, purple winklepickers, mobile discos, good luck, catastrophe and being in the right place at the right time for 30 years. Along with … … why Manchester listens to music so intently: “we’re stuck inside while it rains” … auditioning Noel Gallagher “as the Lockerbie plane flew directly overhead” … the new economy: making a Number 2 album funded by t-shirt and cassette sales … growing up on Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Little Richard and Gary Lewis & the Playboys … Inspiral Carpets’ obsession with West Coast psychedelia … when the band all got houses with their Mute advance “and I just bought some $800 sunglasses” … great bowl-heads haircuts (Stones, Byrds, Jefferson Airplane) and why he got one too … seeing the Pistols at the Electric Circus: “I left college the next morning” … the sudden split: playing Glastonbury one minute, living on milk tokens and income support the next … his 1975 disco playing Mud, the Rubettes and Showaddywaddy (“I was a 14 year-old Ted”) … and how 24 Hour Party People captured “the spirit, chaos, colour and madness”. Order copies of ‘The Manchester Chronicles: True Tales of Music, Madness and Mayhem 1976-2006’ here: https://geni.us/manchesterchroniclesHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 1 weeks ago39 min
The Slits, a movie in waiting - “Marvel superheroes with their pants on the outside!”
The Slits burned very brightly – but briefly - and were gone, their bumpy and courageous tale crisply told in Zoë Howe’s updated ‘Typical Girls?’. She looks back here at the unforgettable things they wore, said and did as “outsiders in an outsider scene”, a band celebrated before they’d even played a note. And touches on … ... how other all-girl groups got started - the Moodies, the Runaways, Fanny, the Shaggs, Goldie and the Gingerbreads … Nora Forster – Ari’s mum, German print heiress, the “punk rock Baroness Nica” who bankrolled the Slits … Ari was a 14 year-old schoolgirl, Viv Albertine was 21: “I couldn’t have a relationship with her. It was like a having a child in the band”… Nick Kent’s account of the four of them “blazing down Oxford Street” … producer Dennis Bovell’s dub reggae project with “theWitches of West London” … their fractious relationship with Island Records and Radio One … “No birds on the stage!”: the author’s life as a female drummer … and the Pop Group, Rip Rig + Panic, “humour, playfulness, the freedom to be childlike” and the long legacy of the Slits. Order ‘Typical Girls?: the Story of the Slits’ here: https://omnibuspress.com/products/typical-girls-the-story-of-the-slits-omnibus-remastered?_pos=1&_psq=typical+girls&_psid=eb748e5dc&_ss=eHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 1 weeks ago27 min
Shawn Colvin – songwriter, storyteller, urban cowgirl, singing waitress
Shawn Colvin was in the spotlight from the age of 10 playing her parents’ parties, singing in bars at college, acting off-Broadway and joining country swing bands before making 12 solo albums. She’s touring the UK and Ireland from late September and looks back on it all with us from her home in Austin, Texas. Lots of great moments here, these among them … … growing up on hymns, Pete Seeger and the Kingston Trio with a Dad who tried to get stoned at a Judy Collins gig … being a spoons-playing singing waitress with Maria Muldaur in an off-Broadway musical … playing four sets a night of Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Simon & Garfunkel for tips and beer on the Illinois bar circuit … acting in the Simpsons and Larry Sanders … life in dance halls in country swing bands … her part in “the great ‘80s Urban Cowboy Scare” … how to connect with festival crowds when it’s raining … the Richard Thompson glass bowl requests system … and covers she never tires of playing – Joan Baez, U2, Gnarls Barkley.Shawn Colvin tickets here: https://tix.to/ShawnUK26Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 1 weeks ago1h 0m
The world’s greatest radio station! & things we loved about Dolly Parton
Passing the conversational Dutchie 'pon the left hand side, we fire up the following … … “speech, not music, brings people together” … if music gets ever broader, why’s radio getting more niche? … can YOU guess the NME’s 10 most influential bands in 2002? … a doomed Dolly Parton kidnap attempt at the Hammersmith Odeon: we were there! … ‘Voice-tracking’, ‘auditorium testing’ and other network radio secrets ... 61 year-old listener hears the Beatles for the first time and reports back. (Chapeau, Jelltex!) … short-lived TV spin-offs from Fawlty Towers and Dad’s Army … Madonna, 50 Cent and Courtney Love wrote children’s books? Anyone read Marcus Mumford’s ‘Barnaby and the Drumming Bear’? … familiar acts doing unfamiliar songs and well-known tracks by obscure people … and why Boom Radio is booming.Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 3 weeks ago36 min
Blur’s thrilling early years in words and pictures by Dave Rowntree
Dave Rowntree had a camera with him as Blur took off in the early ‘90s and his book ‘No-One You Know’ distils the thrill of a band in ascent – backstage, in studios, with fans, on tour buses and their first trips to America and Japan. It bristles with joy and exhilaration. He looks back here at life in lift-off nearly 35 years ago and ahead to his spoken word tour promoting it, stopping off at … … two years busking in France in the mid-’80s … why pictures taken on film are more like paintings than photographs … Blur’s unique chemistry - “all four of us had one sister and no brothers” … what he learnt from their label manager Dave Balfe … the writer who discovered Blur and other game-changing moments … how ‘the Fanerati radar’ and editor Miranda Sawyer encouraged him to publish the book … Japan’s confusing, intoxicating new culture in the early ‘90s … mile-melting on US tour buses in the days before social media and DVD … and why Blur today are in “the dream position”. Order tickets and copies of the book here: https://www.daverowntree.com/Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
About 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,
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