Kula Shaker’s Crispian Mills had a colourful childhood
Crispian Mills knew he’d be onstage as he’s from a “family of professional show-offs” but they begged him not to be an actor. He talks here about his extraordinary showbusiness childhood and the band that emerged from it full of psychedelia, echoes of the East and warm invitations to join the First Congregational Church of Eternal Love and Free Hugs. Along with … … his mother Hayley Mills playing him Tubular Bells to get him to sleep - “profoundly scary” … Roman Polanski’s ‘special’ Marlboro cigarettes when filming Tess in Brittany … grandfather John Mills being “discovered” by Noel Coward in Singapore and memories of him playing Gershwin and Cole Porter on the piano … “you need talent and hard work but nobody makes it without luck” … what the record store hippie told him when he bought Deep Purple In Rock aged 12 … leather jacket, polka dot shirt, Brian Jones bowl haircut, My Bloody Valentine gig – “I’d found my tribe!” … supporting Oasis at Knebworth – “I couldn’t see how they were going to cut it” … Adam and the Ants, Rock Me Amadeus and playing Ramones songs in the school band … returning from Rishikesh in 1995 and watching the Beatles’ Super-8 clips: “as if we’d been on the same holiday” … nostalgia for the big TV and radio events of the ‘90s … Shirley Manson’s speech about the “tragedy” of the 21st C music business … and Kula Shaker’s Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show – “oil slides, pure analogue!” Tickets for their 2026 tour here: https://kulashaker.co.uk/pages/liveHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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38:14
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38:14
The Beach Boys’ story gets more tangled by the minute
“All bands are sad stories,” Peter Doggett points out, but is there a more woven, moving and, at times, farcical tale than that of the Beach Boys? It gives the sound of them a greater melancholy and resonance with every passing year. As his fascinating new book Surf’s Up reveals, nothing that happened is straightforward and very little as simple as it sounds. We talk here about … … Dennis Wilson and the Beach Boys’ creation myth … what started their revival … why they’d never have survived beyond 1962 without Mike Love … was Derek Taylor’s ‘Brian is a genius’ campaign partly to explain his procrastination and eccentricity? … the chaos of SMiLE and the long shadow of the Beatles … Murry Wilson’s “superstar” ambitions and original plan for the group … the days when they looked like Old Testament prophets or hippies from Central Casting … Dennis and Manson, Carl v the draft, Mike Love’s arrest … scandals that would have sunk them in the days of social media … the “Brian as victim trope” and his extraordinary appearance on “The Tension Behind the Music” … when Bart Simpson turned them down … can anyone name a good Beach Boys album cover? … and the band’s future, a controlled touring franchise with no original members Order Peter Doggett’s ‘Surf’s Up: Brian Wilson & the Beach Boys’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Surfs-Up-Brian-Wilson-Beach/dp/1917923341Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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36:29
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36:29
What makes a rock star a ‘ledge’ & the daft rituals of the ‘70s disco
Five decades of rock and roll with none of the names redacted. In the despatches this week … … Kevin Rowland? Adam Ant? Toyah? Morrissey? Which Smash Hits cover stars are now ‘legends’? … a classic encounter with Van Morrison down a Bristol alley … the boy who mailed dead rodents and Boomtown Rats singles to radio stations became Pope Leo XIV! … 25 recent big-name Hollywood films all flopped. Are robots the new movie stars?… was Sticky Fingers the last Stones album with songs? … best nights out for a tenner … RIP Gilson Lavis and Donna Godchaux ... the daft rituals of the ’70s ‘slow dance’ … when Percy Sledge was a hospital porter … “Run for your life, it’s Eater!” … Tom Waits’ on-brand luggage, Boo Hewerdine and birthday guest Mike Sketch on the joy of gigs on your own (and in a scout hut in Staveley).Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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50:39
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50:39
Rock’s fascination with the Third Reich exposed by Daniel Rachel
Musicians have flirted with Nazi imagery since the ‘60s, lampooning its theatre, absorbing its style, exploiting its shock value, even promoting its ideology. Daniel Rachel’s new book ‘This Ain’t Rock ‘N’ Roll’ points up extraordinary examples – “from Tommy Steele to Kanye West” - and how our reaction intensified over the years. Which leads us to … … parallels between stadium rock and the Nuremberg rallies … hearing the Sex Pistols’ Belsen Was A Gas and seeing their Nazi insignia at the age of 12 … David Bowie’s German memorabilia and belief that “Hitler was the first rock and roll superstar” – and the doctored photo of his “Nazi salute” at Victoria Station … Bernie Rhodes versus Malcolm McLaren on the “reclaiming of the swastika” … the lyrics and imagery of the Siouxsie & the Banshees … Viv Stanshall and Keith Moon’s atrocious visit to Golders Green ... the German invention of the tape machine that started the record business … “I’m not the Simon Wiesenthal of rock and roll!” … Joy Division, New Order, K-Pop, Brian Jones and his SS uniform, Ron Asheton of the Stooges, John Lennon, Lemmy, Blue Oyster Cult, “Adolf Hitler on vibes”… “Rock and Roll has a duty to recognise its downfalls”. Order ‘This Ain’t Rock ‘N’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika and the Third Reich’ here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/this-aint-rock-n-roll/daniel-rachel/9781399635721Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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35:59
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35:59
Paul Weller – ‘gloriously chippy’ – as seen by friends, family, fans and collaborators
Dan Jennings’ podcast ‘Desperately Seeking Paul’ is so successful he’s used 250 of the interviews in a best-selling oral history. ‘Dancing Through The Fire’ has voices from right across the spectrum – family members, band members, writers, pluggers, label bosses, collaborators and famous fans. He talks to us here about … … Weller’s real name and when he changed it by deed poll … a theory about bands formed in towns not cities … the handbrake turn from the Jam to the Style Council – one minute the intense young man cutting out his press clippings, the next espadrilles, singing in French and “nibbling Mick’s ear on the River Cam” … Weller’s “very English” need to be heard and respected - but not loved … the role of his manager father in the Jam’s success, the days when the family phone number was in the Fan Club ads ... how Noel Gallagher engineered a Bono/Weller photo op … Paul’s glorious chippiness – Band Aid, the pop press, “offering a journalist out for a fight in Victoria Park” ... John and Paul Weller and echoes of Only Fools And Horses … when the Jam played ice rinks and swimming pools … the cab-driver gossip grapevine … cutting 1.5 million words to 250,000 and the book’s biggest revelations and surprises. Order a copy of Dancing Through The Fire here: https://geni.us/dancingthroughthefireHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
New Zealand