Word In Your Ear

Belfast author and old pal of the pod Stuart Bailie joins us to remember the lost captain of the good ship Pogues and we touch on Shane’s “feral” early life and the character he constructed to keep the world at bay; his place in the Irish literary pantheon, his intelligence worn lightly and Joycean use of language; the night they drank the proceeds from Fairytale Of New York; why the band’s St Patrick’s Day shows were three-day events and a magnet for lost Celtic souls, and how they became good by stealth but were so divisive in Ireland. This alongside other savoury and invigorating ingredients in this week’s rock and roll hot-pot, among them … … David’s five most-played tracks on Spotify in 2023. … real or imaginary Xmas singles? De La Soul’s Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa? Sonic Youth’s Santa Doesn’t Cop Out On Dope? Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Santa’s In The Clan? …. … the life and exceptional times of John Mayall, 90, and the people who passed through his blues academy. … why Spinal Tap might be best left alone.…and the song Randy Newman wrote about missing his ex-wife plus a tremulous joint recitation of Simon Smith & the Amazing Dancing Bear.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Pauline Murray kept a diary when she and Penetration were on the punk rock frontline and her vivid and emotional memories appear in a new memoir, Life’s A Gamble, beautifully illustrated with personal photos, press cuttings, late ‘70s gig listings and other lovingly archived memorabilia. It teleports you back to a time when pop music made daily headlines and battles were lost and won in fragrant dancehalls and knackered vans on motorways. As does this podcast, recorded with an audience at London’s 21Soho club in late November. Aged 14 she was travelling to London from County Durham and sleeping in railway stations to see the Pistols and the Clash. She formed Penetration in ‘76 and for two hectic years they were caught up in the whirlwind. This account of it all includes Alan Freeman, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Jonathan Richman, Tim Curry (as Dr Frank-N-Furter), why the deaths of Sid and Nancy has such symbolic significance, the female punk ‘sisterhood’ giving her the cold shoulder, her unwise marriage, and the profit and loss statement of the debt she still owes Virgin (the annual reminders have never stopped). And she talks movingly about the experience every group endures when their first flush of mutual love and enthusiasm turns to bitter inter-personal fall-out. One of her kids was in the audience. As was Gaye Advert! Order ‘Life’s A Gamble’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifes-Gamble-Penetration-Invisible-Stories/dp/191317270821Soho: https://www.21-soho.com/Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Glen Matlock came to our live podcast recording at London’s 21Soho at the end of November and lit up the audience with tales from his new memoir ‘Triggers’, stories of his early life in the late ‘50s and ‘60s, his brief and riotous shift in the Sex Pistols and his colourful adventures since. The full cast list includes Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, the DJ Mike Raven, Gary Glitter, John Peel, Kenneth Horne, Malcolm McLaren, Nick Kent, Ian McLagan, Ronnie Lane, Midge Ure, Wally Nightingale, Blondie and Bill Grundy. You get a real sense of the fabric of London around Ted Carroll’s record stall in Ladbroke Grove and around Denmark Street when the Pistols lived and rehearsed there. And look out for the night they played a Conservative Club to a crowd of six, the time McLaren begged him to return as “it wasn’t working out with Sid”, the Filthy Lucre reunion and his luminous account of Johnny Rotten’s audition backed by a jukebox playing Alice Cooper. Glen Matlock came to our live podcast recording at London’s 21Soho at the end of November and lit up the audience with tales from his new memoir ‘Triggers’, stories of his early life in the late ‘50s and ‘60s, his brief and riotous shift in the Sex Pistols and his colourful adventures since. The full cast list includes Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, the DJ Mike Raven, Gary Glitter, John Peel, Kenneth Horne, Malcolm McLaren, Nick Kent, Ian McLagan, Ronnie Lane, Midge Ure, Wally Nightingale, Blondie and Bill Grundy. You get a real sense of the fabric of London around Ted Carroll’s record stall in Ladbroke Grove and around Denmark Street when the Pistols lived and rehearsed there. And look out for the night they played a Conservative Club to a crowd of six, the time McLaren begged him to return as “it wasn’t working out with Sid”, the Filthy Lucre reunion and his luminous account of Johnny Rotten’s audition backed by a jukebox playing Alice Cooper.Recorded in front of a live audience at 21Soho, London, on November 27th 2023. Glen’s tour dates are here: http://www.glenmatlock.co.uk/ And you can order ‘Triggers’ here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/triggers/glen-matlock/9781788709446Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

You wonder why her life hasn’t been made into a movie. Jenny Boyd’s mother had so many children she didn’t realise her daughter had quit school and become a model. The world of London clubs and fashion magazines was the start of 60 years’ close observation of rock stars in every context leading, eventually, to the publication of ‘Icons of Rock’, her interviews with 65 musicians. Among the highlights in this pod she talks about...… what life’s like when your sister marries a Beatle.… the day a besotted Donovan played her the song he’d written about her (‘Jennifer Juniper’).… how the 16 year-old Cheynes’ drummer Mick Fleetwood took one look at her and declared “that’s the girl I’m going to marry”.… the Crazy Elephant and the Scotch of St James.… watching the Beatles write songs in Rishikesh.… her transition from being “a dollybird” to "a searcher".… modelling in California and the Monterey Pop Festival.… the characteristics songwriters have in common and the meaning of “the peak experience”.… being the only mum in the Fleetwood Mac orbit, life at their Kiln House commune and why Mick was “the pot of glue” that held the band together.… “talent is inherited but stamina often isn’t”.… and memories of Peter Green, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Graham Nash and “Magic” Alex.Order ‘Icons of Rock’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Icons-Rock-Fleetwood-Mitchell-Harrison/dp/1789466717/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1700664733&refinements=p_27%3AJenny+Boyd&s=books&sr=1-1Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

We ran our metal detector over this week’s rugged rock and roll terrain and dug deep when it beeped. Among those prime locations … … the secret of Top Gear’s golden age. … is Bob Dylan a “cold weather concept”? … why Holger Czukay’s ‘Movies’ is a pivotal record. … Daryl Hall’s restraining order on John Oates: inter-band fall-out scales brave new heights. … the ground-breaking ingredient in ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’ by John Kongos. … why Joni Mitchell, Lee Perry and Pink Floyd were early pioneers of sampling. … the night some loon climbed the scaffolding above the E Street Band. … pre-McLaren theft of the Burundi Beat. … the irksome mob rule of the internet: “all bands are now sacred and anyone who says different is a heretic”. … when an album cover is a “lifestyle statement”. … plus birthday guests Kevin Walsh and Simon Poulter and best of this year’s rock books.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

The week’s rock and roll luggage was put through the scanner by our sharp-eyed security chiefs and the following items kept back for scrutiny …… 82 year-old jazzer in lucrative samples windfall!… is there a more excruciating ‘mum’ moment than the 12 year-old Elijah Blue Allman’s in the Cher video If I Could Turn Back Time?…. the staggering sum total of what the Beatles did on 30 July 1963.… “Mailbox money”: how Phil Manzanera made more from a hip hop record than from 15 years of Roxy Music… why would anyone be a pop star these days?… further proof that in the world of the internet nothing is forgotten.… why the quantity of cash Kanye West pulled from the “athleisure” shoe market makes the music business look like toytown. And are “vintage trainers” the new rare vinyl?… when was the first sample?… and Christmas with David’s Uncle Stan.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on November 27th: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear