The Shadows and the chequered tale of the first British rock’n’roll band

The Shadows and the chequered tale of the first British rock’n’roll band

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold August 18, 2026 Duration: 42:57

The Shadows were the strongest brand in British pop, adored and widely imitated. When they went out of fashion, no-one wanted them to change. Bob Stanley salutes their enormous influence and creation of the guitar hero and unravels their rapid post-Beatles decline in his superb new book, ‘The Shadows: the Definitive Story’. And talks to us here about …

 

 … Hank and Bruce arriving in London aged 15 when the 2i’s coffee bar was a labour exchange and a social club

 

… entering a talent contest won by a Malayan opera singer

 

… the magic of cowboy culture transported to British suburbia and their four cartoonish stage names

 

… meeting Jacques Tati at the Paris Olympia and being asked to write a song for his upcoming movie

 

… the rapid post-Beatles crash – bow-ties, panto and Cliff announcing his Christianity

 

… “being thrown through a mangle twice a night by Arthur Askey in Stockton-on-Tees is not why they joined the music business”

 

… getting Hipgnosis to design their album sleeve while stuck playing Batley Variety Club

 

… the return of instrumentals with Albatross and the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

 

… when Hank was asked to join the Move

 

.. the Swedish vogue for “barbed wire groups”

 

… and Neil Young’s ‘From Hank to Hendrix’ – which everyone assumed was about Hank Williams.

 

Order copies of Bob’s book here: https://tr.ee/rSilFTJwfO

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: 50

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