Word In Your Ear

As if by some magical alignment of the planets, the  Specials, Madness and the Beat were all listening to the same music and developing the same look at precisely the same time, though completely unaware of each other. And when they started releasing records, the 10 year-old Daniel Rachel was transfixed. What happen next is recorded in his hectic and engrossing book, Too Much Too Young: the 2-Tone Records Story, the huge characters, the daily dramas, “the dance sensation that’s sweeping the nation”, a period whose white heat really only lasted 18 months but had a massive cultural impact at the time (indeed its crucible, Coventry, now has a 2-Tone Village!). And the movement’s main architect, Jerry Dammers, was a middle-class, ex-hippie art student raised in the church. All sorts of points come up in this engaging pod, among them …… the pivotal meeting between Suggs and Dammers at the Hope & Anchor.… the significance of Walt Jabsco and the 2-Tone merchandise – “when the rag trade gets hold of you, you’re made”.… the crossover between violence at gigs and football matches in the late ‘70s and the right-wing factions that attached themselves to Madness.… how the music press adored 2-Tone then brutally turned the tables.… Rico, Saxa and the revolutionary twin-generational line-ups of the Specials and the Beat..… why the Bodysnatchers only lasted 11 months.… why 2-Tone failed in America until the Dance Craze movie arrived.… how each member of the Specials thought they were in a different band.… why there were so many “2-Tone casualties”.… and the brief window between punk and electronic pop that helped 2-Tone take off.Order ‘Too Much Too Young: the 2-Tone Records’ story here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Too-Much-Young-Soundtrack-Generation/dp/1399607480Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jude Rogers – writer, broadcaster, old pal of the pod - first heard Kirsty MacColl when she was nine and felt a connection ever since. She’s just written the sleevenotes for ‘See That Girl’, the best, most diverse and exquisitely packaged compilation of her music ever assembled, an eight CD box-set of singles, rarities, unheard songs, live and Glastonbury appearances, demos, BBC sessions and collaborations, along with an entire unreleased album. As Jude points out she wasn’t overlooked, but all the things you applauded about her made her very hard to market. She wouldn’t play the game. She refused to be fashionable. She was funny and honest and wrote about an unvarnished, real world which robbed her of a sense of mystery, and a lot of her songs were about fallibility and failure. Among the highlights here …   … a long-running lyric thread that began with There’s a Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis.   … why what she wrote about men (and women) was so original. … her strained relationship with her father. … what Johnny Marr admired about her and the power of her “Elysian chorus”. ... why you’ll never find another song like ‘Autumnsoupgirl’. … how she and Dave Robinson’s hairdresser launched Tracey Ullman’s career. … and David Hepworth’s inspired idea for ‘In These Shoes?’, the West End Kirsty MacColl musical. Order the 8CD box set ‘See That Girl’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/See-That-Girl-1979-2000-8CD/dp/B0C9GCDZSTTickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho in London on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s winning hand from the rock and roll card deck includes … … a silver salute to musicians who don’t dye their hair. … did Al Pacino play Phil Spector? Roger Daltrey as Franz Liszt? Was Gary Oldman Joe Strummer? … rock stars you’d swap lives with. … the “theme-park-ification” of pop music. … the mysteries of rock and roll are slowly evaporating. As Tom Waits said: “before the internet, we used to wonder. I miss the wondering.” … the immortality of the Florida salesman who appears on the cover of Abbey Road (and had obituaries when he died). … why Leonard Cohen thought his romance with Joni Mitchell was “like living with Beethoven”. … how a split-second made and destroyed the lives of two photographers covering Lee Harvey Oswald at the Dallas Police Headquarters. … musicians who look even better older.   … how Pink Floyd helped kick-start rock’s love affair with football.   … the unenviable world of Robbie Williams.   ...and is Abba the only act that works as holograms? Plus Led Zeppelin’s Victorian Wiltshire thatcher and birthday guests Mike Sketch and Peter Petyt.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho in London on November 27th: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slade were as revolutionary as T. Rex or Roxy Music, Daryl Easlea points out. At one stage they were outselling Bowie and Bolan. They were the band that hauled the sedentary early ‘70s audience to its feet. The sound of the Ramones was built around ‘Slade Alive!’ and you can feel them in the bones of the Pistols and Oasis. We talk here to Daryl about his funny, energetic, nostalgic and affectionate new book, ‘Whatever Happened to Slade?: When The Whole World Went Crazee’, stopping off at various stations on the route, among them … … why there are “two tiers of Slade”. … the drunken conversation that turned them into a skinhead band overnight. … a key moment involving Crispian St Peters, Kim Fowley and the Tiles Club. … what made them football terrace heroes. … how these “smashers and grabbers” tore up the live circuit. … the very ‘70s way they dealt with Don Powell’s accident. … why American audiences had their “mellow harshed”. … the publican’s son who styled them. … the transformational moment at the '72 Lincoln Festival. … the story of the ‘Give Us A Goal’ video filmed at Brighton’s Goldstone Ground. … and why the main salesman in their line-up was the one “with tinsel in his veins”. Slade were as revolutionary as T. Rex or Roxy Music, Daryl Easlea points out. At one stage they were outselling Bowie and Bolan. They were the band that hauled the sedentary early ‘70s audience to its feet. The sound of the Ramones was built around ‘Slade Alive!’ and you can feel them in the bones of the Pistols and Oasis. We talk here to Daryl about his funny, energetic, nostalgic and affectionate new book, ‘Whatever Happened to Slade?: When The Whole World Went Crazee’, stopping off at various stations on the route, among them … … why there are “two tiers of Slade”. … the drunken conversation that turned them into a skinhead band overnight. … a key moment involving Crispian St Peters, Kim Fowley and the Tiles Club. … what made them football terrace heroes. … how these “smashers and grabbers” tore up the live circuit. … the very ‘70s way they dealt with Don Powell’s accident. … why American audiences had their “mellow harshed”. … the publican’s son who styled them. … the transformational moment at the '72 Lincoln Festival. … the story of the ‘Give Us A Goal’ video filmed at Brighton’s Goldstone Ground. … and why the main salesman in their line-up was the one “with tinsel in his veins”. Order Daryl’s book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whatever-Happened-Slade-Whole-Crazee/dp/1783055545Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word in Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Higgs' brilliant and wide-ranging book 'The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned A Million Pounds' came out ten years ago and just keeps on selling. It sold initially to the fans who bought their records. Then to those absorbed by the fringe figures in their mythology - Ken Campbell, Alan Moore, Robert Anton Wilson, the Discordians. And then to people who just wanted a staggering and barely believable story about the attacks by two free-wheeling cultural terrorists on the worlds of art and music at the end of the 20th century. It sold so well in fact that it's just been republished in a 10th Anniversary edition with additional material.John Higgs is an exceptional speaker as this pod demonstrates and talks here about the outer reaches of their extravagantly lunatic strategies - the ABBA court case, the dead sheep, the pagan rituals on Jura, the collaboration with Tammy Wynette - and how many backfired on them and why Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty have barely seen each other in almost 30 years. This podcast was recorded in front of an enthralled audience at 21Soho in London on October 30th 2023.Order the 10th anniversary edition here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/KLF-Chaos-Burned-Million-Pounds/dp/139961035XTickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The Beatles gave us a continuing soundtrack of unparalleled charm and reassurance", Derek Taylor said. "As long as they kept on delivering fresh songs along with the morning milk, everything was right in our optimistic world". It happened again on Thursday. Is the old magic still there?Also on the menu in this week's podcast...... Fact or fiction? The extravagant adventures of Bill Drummond and why burning £1m still haunts the KLF.... does it matter if musicians falsify their past? Paging Buffy St. Marie, Sixto Rodriguez, Seasick Steve...... why calling the Beatles "the original boy band" is so ridiculous and wrong and how their story fires our desire to believe.... how Lucinda Williams beat the autocue system.... Crowded House, the strange tale of 'Woodface' and the track that kept them off American radio for two years.... why Peter Jackson's 'Now And Then' video is like "fan fiction".... Giles Martin's theories about producing music the way people remember it sounding (and why he was sacked by Martin Scorsese and then re-hired a few weeks later).... and - in other piping hot news - the man behind 'Manuel and His Music of the Mountains' and the tax problems of the Singing Nun!Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21 Soho on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are broadly three Ian Broudies in the public imagination. One is the songwriter with a catalogue of softly psychedelic left-field pop tunes. The second is the record producer behind Echo & the Bunnymen, the Fall, the Coral and Terry Hall. The third is the co-composer of our new national anthem. He talks here about early life in Liverpool and the records that enthralled him (See Emily Play, Autobahn), what he learned from his mentor Roger Eagle (who ran Eric's Club), a life-shifting moment with Steve Wright, what matters most in production, the disastrous time he introduced the Spice Girls on Top of the Pops and why the FA rejected the original version of Three Lions, wanted a new title and asked him to drop Skinner and Baddiel. He's funny, outspoken, candid, modest and affectionate and movingly philosophical on the rigours of composition: "as soon as you finish a song it becomes something - but it loses 90% of what it could have become".This podcast was recorded in front of a live audience at 21Soho in London on October 30th, 2023 and Ian's new memoir is just out - 'Tomorrow's Here Today: Lightning Seeds, Football and Post-Punk'.Order Ian's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tomorrows-Here-Today-Lightning-Post-Punk/dp/178870902021Soho: https://www.21-soho.com/Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Billy Sloan, Glaswegian broadcaster and music columnist, has written his memoir, ‘One Love, One Life’, about a career that’s allowed him to point his microphone at an astonishing array of musicians and started back in the old analogue world of tight-deadline newspaper journalism where you hammered out your Chuck Berry interview as the rolls of film were biked back to the office to be processed. This covers a lot of ground including … … the moment that changed his life. … why the London Press Corps were “a pack of hyenas”. … Rod Stewart v Michelle Mone – a classic revenge saga that ticked every box. … interviewing a naked Grace Jones (and how Dame Edna got involved). … the exquisitely “horrible” Chuck Berry. … queuing all night for 85p Who tickets, aged 15. … the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, “boo-ed onstage, roared off”.   … a trip to the Reeperbahn via Rory Gallagher. … life at the Sunday Mail and the Daily Record. … the great Scottish rock boom of the early ‘80s “when if you had a floppy fringe and desert boots you’d expect to be flagged down by an A&R man with a chequebook”. … and the star that made him feel and “you’re only one duff question away from getting a right hook”. Order Billy’s book here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Love-Life-Stories-Stars/dp/178530481XTickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21 Soho on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We spin the reels of the rock and roll fruit machine this week and get the following pay-outs … … the preposterous present they gave Bobby Charlton when he retired. ... “the leaning man from Alabam”. … ‘Skinny Minnie Shimmy’ by Lattie Moore And The Emperors and other apparently fictitious rock and roll hits. … a Radio One DJ who was also an actor, erotic sculptor, travel writer, sheep farmer, flamenco guitarist and ballet dancer. Why has no-one made a film of the life of Mike Raven? … why Born To Run was “a quantum leap”, the record where Springsteen wanted “to sing like Roy Orbison and write like Bob Dylan on an album that sounded like it was produced by Phil Spector”. … a leaked 1982 Radio One memo of ground rules for DJs! “Don’t resort to ‘common talk’ in a pathetic attempt at humour.” “You can say Cornflakes but not Shredded Wheat …” … how rock is adopting the Gilbert & Sullivan business model.   … Richard Thompson, Steve Cropper, John Fahey, Hubert Sumlin … : who’s the greatest guitarist of all time? … the story-spinning genius of John Prine. … the afterlife of the Love Affair. … Ernest ‘Boom’ Carter’s brief but marvellous moment of glory.… and birthday guest Giles Fraser wonders at what point a band shouldn’t use their original name.Rolling Stone’s top 250 guitarists …http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-guitarists-1234814010/nile-rodgers-5-1234814197/ The amazing story of Mike Raven …http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Raven Everybody’s in the Mood by Howlin’ Wolf …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV0gDlzEnYUGet your exclusive Nord VPN deal here: https://nordvpn.com/yourearIt's risk-free with Nord's 30-day-money-back guarantee!Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21 Soho on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toothsome hors d’ouvres, mains and ‘items from the trolley’ on the rock and roll menu this week include … … Bowie’s Pin-Ups v Ferry’s These Foolish Things: who won?… the worst band name in history and why. … the fan who hired a plane to fly a message past Morrissey’s record label. … the Stones’ Hackney Diamonds: best album since Black And Blue or tedious riff-less dirge? … why only solo acts can tell stories onstage.   … why the Dutch love the Byrds. … things we never imagined 50 years ago. … Spanky McFarlane, Gloria Salt … country music siren or twinkle-eyed PG Wodehouse dame? … the two main topics the Stones write songs about. … how modern fandom is expressed. … who ever thought they’d hear Dylan say the word ‘Wikipedia’ onstage? … and has anyone got a copy of ‘Darker Than Blue: Soul From Jamtown’ on Mick Hucknall’s Blood And Fire label? And who remembers the ‘Hard-Up Heroes’ album? Plus cycling with an umbrella, Barbra Streisand’s autocue and birthday guest Cathal Chu on the best and worst onstage banter.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21 Soho on October 30th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ysY3FvyFaeSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.