Word In Your Ear

Clint Boon saw Manchester lift off twice and auditioned the young Noel Gallagher

Clint Boon was at the heart of “the two biggest musical revolutions of my lifetime” – as a teenager for Joy Division and Buzzcocks, and later the Stone Roses, Happy Monda

The Slits, a movie in waiting - “Marvel superheroes with their pants on the outside!”

The Slits burned very brightly – but briefly - and were gone, their bumpy and courageous tale crisply told in Zoë Howe’s updated ‘Typical Girls?’. She looks back here at

Shawn Colvin – songwriter, storyteller, urban cowgirl, singing waitress

Shawn Colvin was in the spotlight from the age of 10 playing her parents’ parties, singing in bars at college, acting off-Broadway and joining country swing bands before

The world’s greatest radio station! & things we loved about Dolly Parton

Passing the conversational Dutchie 'pon the left hand side, we fire up the following …   … “speech, not music, brings people together”   … if music gets ever broader,

Blur’s thrilling early years in words and pictures by Dave Rowntree

Dave Rowntree had a camera with him as Blur took off in the early ‘90s and his book ‘No-One You Know’ distils the thrill of a band in ascent – backstage, in studios, with

Natalie Merchant returns playing ‘Mother Goose as an 18th Century feminist’

Natalie Merchant joined 10,000 Maniacs when she was 17, had a long and successful solo career and then began teaching children in New York State. Realising the value of r

The Proclaimers know the exquisite delight of your songs being sung in football stadiums

The Proclaimers have only had a handful of hits but they’re songs that have kept expanding for nearly 40 years. And the World Cup was a reminder of how far they’ve reache

What are the great singles that have entered our bloodstream? “Nobody hums an album!”

The original rock podcast - now in its 20th year! – knocks the week’s news across the conversational net. Amid the top-spin, rallies and double-faults, you’ll find …  

Martin Simpson’s 60 years on the folk circuit ‘making people cry for a living’

Martin Simpson got backstage when he was 15 and met Jimmy Reed and Big Joe Williams and it changed his life forever. He’s been on the folk circuit ever since, still at th

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

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 en

Stiff Records’ 50th birthday! – the farcical magnificent record label and why we adored it

Stuff, nonsense, the white heat of debate and yesterday’s news today! Which this week involves …   … which of these didn’t host a TV chat show – Ian Botham, Charlotte C

Elliott Smith, his life, his afterlife and the friends who believed in him

A sense of melancholy hangs over the music of songwriters whose lives were tragically short – Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Eva Cassidy, Judee Sill - and we’re left knowing v

How Kylie became the whole world’s sweetheart

Michael Cragg’s devotion to all things Kylie once led him to Melbourne in search of the actual carousel horse she rode in a pop video. He got a tattoo a day later. Can’t

Sandy Denny’s life and luminous talent celebrated by Linda Thompson

‘Sandy Denny: A People’s History’ has just been published, memories from fellow musicians, old friends, producers, writers, fans and admirers. Linda Thompson met her when

The Abbey Road photo miracle, Glen Hansard and TV we’d pay to watch

The news slapped on the conversational barbecue and served with a side of old hokum. This week’s mixed grill includes …   … our favourite story in the whole of popular

Bowie, the Cure, Neil Young and the golden age of the video shoot

Tim Pope caught the video wave in 1981 and made hundreds of promotional clips, often three or four a week, edited at night and on-air days later. You’ll have seen them, s

Pauline Black of the Selecter, the girl who invented the Rude Girl

Pauline Black was seen singing Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell songs in Coventry folk clubs and recruited by a local reggae band. Then converted to ska and joined the Sel

Tony Fletcher - teenage label boss! – remembers the Jam, the Tube and the ‘80s pop explosion

Tony Fletcher launched Jamming! when he was 13, wrote for the Face at 16, ran a label with Paul Weller at 17 and a year later was presenting the Tube. And was in a band s

Is AI wrecking rock history? – plus festivals in heatwaves and Kate Bush dancing

Testing the temperature of this week’s news to see what trips the fire-alarm, which includes …   … does having a Number One still matter?   … Pauline Black’s sliding

Jonathan Richman, on-the-road songs and the best-known solo ever recorded

This week’s news in a conversational cocktail-shaker and served with ice and a little paper parasol. Those Happy Hour highlights include …   … six musicians who keep ge