Punk Rock recalled by Chris Sullivan - can music STILL be outrageous?

Punk Rock recalled by Chris Sullivan - can music STILL be outrageous?

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold December 9, 2025 Duration: 34:03

What’s the word ‘punk’ come to mean 50 years later? It’s been adopted by the very people it sought to unsettle. Chris Sullivan – DJ, club runner, lecturer, former band-leader – arrived in London just as it kicked off and looks back at a time when everything was a challenge, no-one apologised, outsiders linked up and fought for recognition, and pop culture could change overnight. We talk to him here about ‘Punk: the Last Word’ which traces its roots from Socrates to Soho, touching on…

 

… does ‘punk’ now mean conformity?

 

… is pop music still allowed to be outrageous?

 

… Socrates, Rimbaud, Lee Miller, the Warhol superstars: 2,000 years of people who embody the punk philosophy

 

… how the clothes often precede the music

 

… the 1975 pre-Pistols world – “people dressing as teddy boys, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, records by Patti Smith, the Velvets, MC5”

 

… the days when you were attacked for dressing up, in his case by the Newport Rugby team and a guy with a starting handle at a service station

 

... new punk equivalents emerging in 2025

 

… how the spirit of punk gave people a drive and identity – Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Jonathan Ross, John Galliano

 

 … “I threw a policeman through a plate-glass window”

 

Order ‘Punk: the Last Word’ here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/punk/stephen-colegrave/chris-sullivan/9781915841254


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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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