Word In Your Ear
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.
Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience.
Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Update frequency
- every 2 days
- Average duration
- 43 minutes
- Episodes
- 857
- Years Active
- 2007 - 2025
The entertaining fictions of Max Romeo and Robert Smith and tech that actually works!
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 wonde…
Moon Zappa remembers life with her father Frank. ‘Pagan absurdists’ aren’t great parents
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 colourfu…
Daryl Hall - ‘60s soul session work, the right shoes and a barge trip with Bob Dylan
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 talk…
Rock star pilots, sacking Zak Starkey and bold pioneers of the psychedelic moustache
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.
… …
Dave Pegg, Fairport’s “longest-serving member” (fnarr!) looks back at hippie chaos and old heroes
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 …
Withering reviews of famous albums, Jaws versus Jeeves and the genius of Blondie’s Clem Burke
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 succes…
Why Sparks’ Russell Mael preferred British acts to the ‘faux honesty’ of Laurel Canyon
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 …
… …
Seven ‘lost’ Springsteen albums, romance in sitcoms and the age of spectacle
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 Winehou…
Ed Tudor Pole – singer, actor, serial showman – saw the pop and punk wars as ‘pure theatre’.
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 dramati…
AI’s Word In Your Ear theme tune (!!), the four stages of showbiz & taking kids to concerts
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 cha…
Hearing 45 year-old records you’d never played & the least likely-looking person to become a rock star
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.
... t…
What Kate Mossman discovered about rock’s elder statesmen
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 …
How John Harris and his son found a life-changing connection through music
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, wri…
Mike Rutherford looks back at 60 years onstage and the art of cheap rock theatre
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…
Mike Scott of the Waterboys remembers the shows that inspired him
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 …
The lost world of teenage love songs – and the best pop song ever written!
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 mus…
Nik Kershaw remembers Live Aid, snoods, fingerless gloves & a sudden male-female audience shift
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 & …
Gang Of Four’s Jon King now sees the comedy in their endless self-sabotage
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”.…
Has politics eaten entertainment? What’s ‘perfect sound’? Plus Brian James & how to make a speech
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…
Film-maker Denny Tedesco on dad’s old band The Wrecking Crew and new doc “Immediate Family”
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…