{"podcast":{"title":"Word In Your Ear","slug":"word-in-your-ear-3755187","podcast_index_feed_id":3755187,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/5ff0586154e2a73589267809?cache=false","website_url":"https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5ff0586154e2a73589267809/1620937674526-4e6eb29c967e869bd9d5a9d205d55599.jpeg","author":"Word In Your Ear","episode_count":986,"summary":"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.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-24T06:19:56.425854+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/word-in-your-ear-3755187"},"episode":{"title":"Matt Johnson & the unique story of The The plus George Michael and the sunbed","slug":"matt-johnson-the-unique-story-of-the-the-plus-george-michael-and-the-sunbed","published_at":"2026-04-01T18:50:02+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/word-in-your-ear-3755187/matt-johnson-the-unique-story-of-the-the-plus-george-michael-and-the-sunbed","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/word-in-your-ear-3755187","url":"https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5ff0586154e2a73589267809/e/69cd68da7d4a54c657e79302/media.mp3","summary":"Matt Johnson’s life story has been mapped out as one long Q&A conversation from meetings with old friend, fan and BFI director Jason Wood. ‘Cognitive Dissident’ traces his trajectory from the East End to Soho to the beloved albums he made with a series of super-groups and his 2021 comeback. He looks back here at …   … his earliest musical memories – Donovan, the Move, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown   … the old East End and the Two Puddings pub run by his parents, “full of ghosts”, Bobby Moore, Francis Bacon and the Krays   … his Uncle Kenny promoting the Who, the Kinks and Jerry Lee Lewis   … “Get yourself on a sunbed!” and other advice from George Michael   ... what he learnt at De Wolfe Music, aged 15, in the red-light Soho of the late ‘70s   … legendary manager Stevo signing the band’s CBS contract at midnight in Trafalgar Square   … “cigarettes, coffee, warm analogue equipment”: the Proustian scent of old studios   … his NME ad recruiting The The members via the Residents, the Velvet Underground, Syd Barrett and Throbbing Gristle   … being part of “the Long Mack Brigade” with Cabaret Voltaire, This Heat, Wire and the Gang of Four   … Leonard Cohen’s premonition of the internet   … the Albert Hall: “like a tennis player playing Wimbledon”   … the genius of Hank Williams   … and his 2018 comeback, “like reunion of old army buddies”   Order ‘Cognitive Dissident’ here: https://omnibuspress.com/products/cognitive-dissident?_pos=1&_psq=cognitive+dissi&_ss=e&_v=1.0 Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Matt Johnson’s life story has been mapped out as one long Q&A conversation from meetings with old friend, fan and BFI director Jason Wood. ‘Cognitive…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2324,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/word-in-your-ear-3755187/episodes/matt-johnson-the-unique-story-of-the-the-plus-george-michael-and-the-sunbed/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/word-in-your-ear-3755187/matt-johnson-the-unique-story-of-the-the-plus-george-michael-and-the-sunbed.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}