In which we salute the charismatic Taylor Hawkins – and the magnetic appeal of brothers in arms (Taylor & Dave, Pete and Carl, Bruce and Clarence, John and Paul) – invent some rock and roll retirement homes (Itchycoo Park, Barrytown, In The Land Of Grey And Pink), stage an album sleeve style-off and wonder if ‘80s hair will ever make a comeback. Other things mentioned in despatches include Cruising With Ruben & the Jets, the Wailing Wailers, Broadcast News, Working Girl and whether Strawberry Switchblade and Pete Wylie have their Smash Hits covers on their living room walls.
Entertaining things subjected to wry and rigorous scrutiny this week include:-
The most bizarre and tenuous rock autobiographies – eg the tell-all revelations of Elvis Presley’s nurse, Primal Scream’s tambourine player, Sinatra’s valet and the girl who made John Lennon a cheese sandwich.
How Roger Daltrey wound up living in a van.
Aimee Mann v Steely Dan and the curious world of support acts.
Would you rather see a “legend” or the next big thing?
The noble tradition of song stealing in reggae.
“Your bus leaves in ten minutes, be under it!” and other inspired ways of dealing with hecklers.
If you mailed a letter to ‘Andy Partridge, Swindon’ or ‘Rod Stewart, Essex’, would they get it?
And Dolly Parton’s dignified escape from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Plus there’s a ceremonial reading of Bono’s piss-poor poem about Ukraine.
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Have you ever heard a band but couldn’t work out where their sound came from? We’re saying: only once. What connects the Sweet’s Blockbuster! to Willie Dixon’s Hoochie Coochie Man? How can Noel Gallagher complain that musicians can’t afford instruments when instruments have never been cheaper? Why is songwriting now like VAR? Has anyone had more preposterous names than the offspring of Grimes and Elon Musk? How did Nile Rodgers transform Let’s Dance? … plus literary theft, smoking in films, Eno’s Music For Airports, Dylan’s new book, NordVPN and the movies you can watch endless times and why (Master And Commander and Brief Encounter among them).
Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going tonordvpn.com/yourear or use the code yourear to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!
And it’s our anniversary! We started our Word In Your Attic Zoomcasts exactly two years ago and we’ve now done 159 of them. Here’s a little taste of what you might have been missing …
Edgar Wright
Andy Partridge
Shamira Ahmed
Bob Geldof
Ian Rankin
Stewart Lee
Laura Barton
Alexis Petridis
Jon Ronson
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There’s “pop star good looks” – as opposed to “film star good looks” – and there’s “indie good looks” … but which acts were a hundred per cent hot? Plus … is there any such thing as an original pop song? How did the Linn Drum make us accept the mechanical? What’s the source of a lot of canned laughter? What was Springsteen’s great act of betrayal? And we explore the benefits of Nord VPN by way of South Korea’s favourite comedy and Peter Sellers and Bernard Cribbins in Two-Way Stretch. And birthday patron Jon Collins gets to call a meeting.
Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going tonordvpn.com/yourear or use the code yourear to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!
Maximum pulchritude: the Small Faces and PP Arnold doing Tin Soldier:
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In which we skip the light fandango through live recordings full of extraneous noise – hecklers on a Lou Reed track, barking dogs on a Joe Henry album, the audience chatter on Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard – remember why Gary Brooker’s voice was so affecting and applaud PJ O’Rourke’s wisdom about the art of childrearing. And turn cartwheels in the direction of a guesthouse run by a member of Horslips, an early sighting of “Little” Stevie Winwood, the Queen track not to play at funerals and a touching encounter with Dave Clark. Plus birthday patron guest Avi Chaudhuri gets to set the agenda.
Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world – and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
