From Dylan to Chappell Roan, pop’s 60-year obsession with Brigitte Bardot

From Dylan to Chappell Roan, pop’s 60-year obsession with Brigitte Bardot

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold January 4, 2026 Duration: 56:24

Cartwheeling into 2026 with the usual cast of rock and roll heroes and pantomime villains. Behind you this week you’ll find …

 

… Boy George? Rick Wakeman? Chas Smash? Vanilla Ice? Pop stars who’ve done panto

 

… will there ever be another Rock Knighthood?

 

… Dylan, Elton, Chrissie Hynde and Lil Wayne mention Brigitte Bardot in songs: but who’s seen any of her films?

 

… “the Brigitte Bardot idea of beauty was conceived at the same time as the idea of rock and roll”

 

… Chris Rea’s obsession with Miles Davis – and the tale of Benny Santini

 

… Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ and ‘Hello’ by the Beloved and their roll calls of saints and sinners 

 

… David saw Bob Marley at the Lyceum but now thinks he’s seen a show that was even better

 

… the great attraction of cinema is “our furtive dreams in the dark”

 

… what Van Morrison owes Hugh McCracken for the intro to Brown-Eyed Girl

 

… and birthday guest Andrew Slattery’s Hepworth v Ellen SmashWaddy reviews quiz!


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Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear


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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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