Beastie Boys, Frankie, teds, punks, raves - ‘moral panics’ remembered!

Beastie Boys, Frankie, teds, punks, raves - ‘moral panics’ remembered!

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold December 16, 2025 Duration: 1:02:40

Shock, horror, public outcry and moments of moral turpitude plus with the usual news, rants and old hokum, which this week alights upon …

 

… why Gene Simmons thinks “musicians are treated worse than slaves”

 

... the high noon of Madonna and her foil-wrapped Sex book

 

… is Rufus Wainwright pop’s most successful nepo-baby?

 

… how CMAT forced Bertie Ahern to pull out of the Irish Presidency

 

… the Stackwaddy Quiz: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You? Getting Killed? Sinister Grift? Pitchfork Album of the Year or an entry in the Berlin Film Festival?

 

… from Mods & Rockers to illegal raves: pop scandals that hit the headlines

 

… can we blame Gap for the moment kids started to dress the same?

 

… was the death of Top Of The Pops the end of the pop consensus?

 

… Fela Kuta, arrested 200 times

 

… Jackson Browne, “never far from tragedy”

 

… is ‘70s funk and soul the best driving music?

 

… 42 year-old hears Hejira and the Stooges’ Metallic KO for the first time

 

… plus Tetsu Yamauchi RIP, David Sylvian in a converted ashram in New Hampshire and birthday guest Sandra Austin.

 

CMAT’s Euro-Country (which skewered Bertie Ahern): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz8_HxITJF0&list=RDnz8_HxITJF0&start_radio=1

 

Dave Brubeck ‘playing’ Golden Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qs1J612nZs


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Word In Your Ear
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