Has there ever been a group like Talking Heads? Jonathan Gould’s Burning Down The House explores their affluent background, the root of their ambition and the springboard of the New York scene of the late ‘70s (he was a regular at CBGB). Along with …

... the romanticised image of CBGB and the reality

… their black music roots: “the same instrumentation as Booker T & the MGs”

… the influence of the Modern Lovers: “Jonathan Richman and Byrne were both oddballs, appealing but peculiar”

… how the economy of New York’s real estate let them rent a 2,000 square foot loft for $289 a month

… bands from affluent backgrounds take greater commercial risks: “there was always a Plan B”

… the art-school drop-out lineage that began John Lennon and Keith Richards

… how different they were from the CBGBs acts, a band that sang verses in French and “didn’t dress like the New York Dolls”

… the band’s dynamic, Chris and Tina “effectively one person”

... did Byrne really make Tina Weymouth “re-audition”?

… the success of the Tom Tom Club and the tension that caused

… Byrne’s invention of his own “white choreography”

… Stop Making Sense, as big a part of their legacy as any album

… and why there can never be a reunion

Mentioned in dispatches: Brian Eno, Adrian Belew, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Ramone and Fela Kuti.

Order ‘Burning Down The House’ here:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780063022980

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Freddie Mercury had an affair with a close friend’s wife and, in 1977, became a father. He’s now a grandfather. That’s the foundation of a new book ‘Love, Freddie’ by his highly respected biographer Lesley-Ann Jones which details a four-year, detailed exchange with his daughter ‘B’, now 48, and the contents of the 17 notebooks he gave her before he died in 1991. We talk to Lesley-Ann here about this gripping new tilt on his story which covers …

… the 41-page document B sent her in 2021 and how the author assumed it was a hoax

… why B was outraged by his portrayal in the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic

… how the notebooks Freddie gave her are legally owned by Sony “and she would burn them if they tried to collect them”

… Freddie’s turmoil at the time of her conception - engaged to Mary Austin, a love affair with David Minns

… B’s secret life in Kensington and Montreux and her father’s “scary knitwear” disguises

… “in the age of AI, even a real photo of Freddie and his daughter would be reckoned a scam”

… the unheard – surely priceless - recordings Freddie made of the two of them singing together

… how B’s existence stayed a secret and the members of Queen’s inner circle who might have known about her

… the photo of B, aged four, with her dad and David Bowie

… and how there were no denials about B’s existence from Queen or any Cease & Desist demands when the book extracts published.

Order ‘Love, Freddie’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Freddie-Mercurys-Secret-Life/dp/1916797962

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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All the leaves are brown and the sky’s a bit unruly but mellow fruitfulness abounds in this week’s pick of the rock and roll news. Add to basket …

… is Morrissey hacked off, broke or just desperate for attention?

… are stadium gigs the new tourism?

… bucket hats, Man City, lads culture … how did America finally ‘get’ Oasis?

… singles that weren’t on albums

… are we sated by an overabundance of music?

… how Gary Numan got a record deal

… why Gene Loves Jezebel are the new Sam & Dave!

… the new age of the rock and roll pilgrimage

… did Slade record the Hokey Cokey? The Dave Clark Five did Neil Young? The Troggs did Foxy Lady?

… the Jam, the Yardbirds, The Nice, the Smiths: bands who broke up because they couldn’t crack America

… selling Barry White records to Middle Eastern airline pilots

Plus Tubeway Army, the Scaffold doing Ging Gang Goolie, “Mister Ferry’s diction” and birthday guest Jelltex.

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Immortalised by Hendrix, ‘Hey Joe’ had its roots in 18th century murder ballads, ‘60s folk and rock clubs before the world got to hear it. Jason Schneider unravels its twisted genesis in ‘That Gun In Your Hand’, and talks to us here about the miracles that allowed it to happen and the sad fate of Billy Roberts, the man who claimed he wrote it. Along with …

… “all pop records are built on the back of other pop records”

… the allure of violent songs: “we get our kicks from real-life murder”

… the bit-part players in the story – David Crosby, Dino Valenti, Tim Rose, Cass Elliot, the Byrds, the Leaves, the Creation and Bob Dylan

… the final twist: how Chas Chandler was looking to make Hey Joe a hit when Linda Keith pointed him at Hendrix

… “a song with no chorus and a circle of fifths”: why it was a rock staple alongside Gloria and Louie Louie

… the cruel fate of Billy Roberts who never recorded Hey Joy as couldn’t bear to give away 50 per cent of the royalties

… the girl murders the man? “It’s a song still in evolution”

… how Andy Summers was the first person to hear Hendrix play in the UK

… 1,881 guitarists mass-performed Hey Joe in 2007 but could you even release a version of it now?

You can order ‘That Gun In Your Hand: The Strange Saga of Hey Joe and Popular Music’s History of Violence’ from Anvil Press here: https://www.anvilpress.com/books/that-gun-in-your-hand-the-strange-saga-of-hey-joe-and-popular-musics-history-of-violence

And from the US distributor Asterism here: https://asterismbooks.com/product/that-gun-in-your-hand-the-strange-saga-of-hey-joe-and-popular-musics-history-of-violence-jason-schneider

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Maddy Prior – folk royalty, an absolute hero of ours – is touring with Steeleye Span again this autumn 66 years after they started, a life someone should make into a movie. She talks to us here about her undimmed love of live performance and …

… when the height of your ambition is a £3 ticket to Blackpool Pleasure Beach

… “Rod Argent, the first boy I ever kissed”

… her fox-fur-trimmed Lambretta when a teenage mod

… the night Steeleye Span showered their audience with £4,000

… seeing Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, Josh White and Sony Boy Williamson in St Albans clubs

… driving Rev Gary Davis round Britain in a Triumph Herald: “Miss Maddy, you’d make a great nurse! Was that a compliment or an insult?”

… “Traditional music is great material to work with. It’s like steel – you can bend it but you can’t break it”

… hearing Dylan for the first time (with Donovan) and thinking “this man can’t sing”

… memories of her father who wrote Z Cars

… life with Tim Hart: “Living in sin? No, we’re living in Archway!”

… Tony Secunda, his spray-can and his promotional stunts – “Win 24 hours with a member of Steeleye Span”

… Alan Partridge and the great ‘Gaudete’ moment

… the new Steeleye Span album Conflict “about the rip and tear relationship we have with the planet that hosts us”

… and Singing For The Uncertain, her course for singers who think they can’t

Steeleye Span tour dates here: https://steeleyespan.org.uk/sample-page/tour-dates-2025/

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Our pencil-chewing, critical assessment of this week’s news gets mainly * and *** reviews, among them …

…. Sting v Summers & Copeland over Every Breath You Take, the goose that laid the golden egg

… what John Lennon would have thought about the ‘cancelled’ track on Some Time In New York City

… when did “critically acclaimed” come to mean unpopular?

… the knock-about days when a critic was “a jerk, a crank and a spoilsport”

… Jonny Greenwood’s dad was a bomb disposal expert? Pete Doherty’s mum was a Lance-Corporal in the Royal Army Nursing Corps?

… what matters more, the song or the record?

... Anthony Fantano, Rick Beato and the rise of the YouTube rock review

… “negative comments about a famous act’s new album are like graffiti on the walls of a hallowed institution”

… Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait, Andrew Ridgeley’s Son Of Albert (“half a star”) and the lost age of the crushing review

… and “you never mention Depeche Mode!”

Find out more about how to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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Debsey Wykes was in Dolly Mixture, one of the very few all-girl groups in post-punk London, a time when bands with charisma won the battle for attention and you promoted singles on the back of a truck. Her memoir Teenage Daydream perfectly captures a slice of late ‘70s life, the thrill of playing the pub circuit and trying to storm Radio One. Along with …

… the agony of re-reading teenage diaries

… being supported by U2 then watching their “annoying” ascent

… Girls With Electric Guitars and why rock hacks couldn’t take them

… forming bands for self-expression: “you reach that moment when all you want to do is scream!”

… “when Jean-Jacques Burnel rests his boot on your head you don’t wash your hair for a week”

… early adventures with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Cassidy and Bowie: “Cassidy was normal, Bowie was weird”

… diary entries: “the lead singer of the Only Ones has fantastic legs and glittery plimsolls”

… “Sugary Sweets Cause Youth Decay!”: the NME’s withering interview

… the satin-and-silk allure of Stevie Nicks

… violence at ‘70s gigs: “we were locked in the dressing-room with the sirens going off”

… “a cross between the Slits and the Nolans”: John Peel’s producer’s loathing for Dolly Mixture

… the vicious rivalry between ‘70s girl singers

… letters from her old boss and headmaster after she appeared on Top Of The Pops

Order ‘Teenage Daydream: We Are The Girls Who Play In A Band’ here: https://linktr.ee/new.modern?utm_source=linktree_profile_share

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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A tub-thumping, snare-cracking, cymbal-simmering, two-way backbeat to this week’s rock and roll news, the on-beats including …

… “Trauma-bonding?” Why being ‘a fan’ is like a love affair

… Ian Brown, Morrissey, Siouxsie, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison … why singers who don’t play an instrument are a different species

… the stadium-rock drummer transfer window

… Sigourney Weaver at Shea Stadium in ’65

… singers who don’t sound like their personalities

… what can a singer-songwriter write about if they get famous at 18?

… the unreleased Beatles Holy Grail?

… can you be a fan of someone younger than you are?

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

… how do you know a drummer’s knocking on your door?

… plus Leonard Cohen, Phil Oakey and are you ever too old to be wearing a Libertines military tunic?

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