Stones, Blondie, Iggy and songs that make a movie & why we loved Diane Keaton

Stones, Blondie, Iggy and songs that make a movie & why we loved Diane Keaton

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold October 13, 2025 Duration: 54:06

Shifting the pass-the-parcel of news and removing the wrapping when the music stops. Which this week happens here …

 

… will rock bands get offered the Saudi money?

 

… “there could be no British nightclubs in 2030”

 

… Diane Keaton and why all men were besotted

 

… the day Led Zeppelin played an Aqua Theatre for an audience swimming and in boats

 

… “the optimum number of band members is either three or loads”

 

… did Easy Rider invent the music video?

 

… Trainspotting, Reservoir Dogs, Midnight Cowboy, Almost Famous – soundtrack moments that made their movies

 

… 12 million more UK tickets were sold than in 2019 yet 150 small venues closed in two years: “scale is now part of the appeal”

 

… the genius of John Sebastian

 

… the end of MTV UK and how video changed the landscape

 

… “Here’s to you Mrs Roosevelt”: how Simon & Garfunkel got into the Graduate

  

… can anyone fathom Ghost Town Blues by Prefab Sprout?

 

Plus Tim Hardin, Harry Nilsson and birthday guest Matthew Elliott on why three is the magic number.


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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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