R.I.P. John Peel

[madcap]

Sad news today that radio 1 DJ John Peel passed away, he more than anyone else was responsible for promoting new/underground/world and non mainstream music in the UK.
I for one will miss him as he introduced me to many bands I would have otherwise been in ignorance of.

Many thanks John.

[Bob]

Sad news, indeed. Much respect is due to the great man.

[DeeCrowSeer]

John Peel dies...

I'm not sure how familiar non-UK residents will be with the disc-jockey John Peel, but he's been with National Radio 1 (in the UK) since it began, and recently became the station's only saving grace. He's one of the few men who could get away with playing hip-hop straight after a poetry recital on crackling 78 vinyl, and then plunge straight into Norwegian techno.

I'm not sure if there's a definite Moorcock connection, but I feel sure they must have moved in similar circles at some point. Either way, there's a link below to a more eloquent (and better informed) tribute than I could muster:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/...336387,00.html

[DeeCrowSeer]

Sadly I forgot to check in this section before posting in the Q&A section, but I don't suppose you can too many tributes to the man. His show was far and away the finest thing on UK radio, and he just sounded like the nicest man you could ever hope to meet.

Radio 1 really is nothing without him.

[Roivas_Susej]

Im not from the UK but I was a fan, the only thing I have recorded from him is Radio Inferno done with F.M. Einheit an Italian,German,English theatrical reading of Dante's Inferno.

[DeeCrowSeer]

Is that something you recorded from the radio, or is it something that was available in shops?

[silverhand]

Saturday mornings won't be the same anymore. I always listened to his Home Truths programme on BBC R4, sometimes railing against the vapid mitherings of some of his contributors; I mean velevet rubbers for god's sake, but it was always a great prog.

[M-A_19]

Radio 1 really is nothing without him.

Apart from a publicly funded tool for assisting the major record labels in promoting endless hours of cynically marketed pop shite of course.


whenever I'm on a job, where they play radio one in the office I always think, "Christ I paid for that loser to get airtime"

Can't we set up some sort of MP3 stream to the afterlife? John could DJ us an evening with Jimi hendrix and Bob calvert, Nice.

Music in general has gained a lot from John peel in the last 50 years and today suffered a huge loss.

[DeeCrowSeer]

I mean velevet rubbers for god's sake, but it was always a great prog.

Do you mean "rubbers" as in condoms? I can't imagine such a thing ever cropping up on Radio 4, but I had to ask.
:oops:

[kid]

This was really a shock. It took a while to sink in when I heard it first. And he was sixty-five? Yeesh. I always assumed he was fifty something, but still, sixty-five is too young. :(

It seems like all the good radio people are dying off. First Alistair Cooke, now John Peel. I'm praying that Mark Radcliffe is still in good health.

[Mikey_C]

John Peel was a legend. I spent my formative years listening to his entire programme 10pm-midnight, Monday - Thursday, under the sheets glued to all the punk tracks, many of the bands (eg Siouxsie) before they even had record deals. Then Joy Division, classic dub / reggae, he never stayed still. Somewhere along the line he left me behind, but he carried on seeking out new bands and launching them. Right back to the 60s: Bolan (have a listen to him reading spaced out children's stories on "My People Were Fair" and "Unicorn"), Bowie, Floyd, Zeppelin, the Faces - the list is endless; they all owe him one. I'm sure Michael Moorcock and Hawkwind will have benefited from his acquaintance somewhere along the line.

"Home Truths" was not exactly my cup of tea but showed another dimension of the man's talent for talking to ordinary people. Andy Kershaw was on Radio 4 tonight and said that Peel had been suffering from diabetes and looked very ill and down when he last saw him - down because his Radio 1 programme was being moved to a later slot and he was feeling marginalised. He implied that this was contributing to his illness. Radio 1? Turn out the lights....

[silverhand]

I mean velevet rubbers for god's sake, but it was always a great prog.

Do you mean "rubbers" as in condoms? I can't imagine such a thing ever cropping up on Radio 4, but I had to ask.
:oops:

No, it was a piece on his show about people who liked rubbing velvet ribbons!!! The number of people who contributed, wittering on about it was mind boggling. :? :roll: This was what made the show there'd be something like that next to someone else's harrowing experiences.

[Dead-Air]

Underground music on this side of the pond owes plenty to the great man as well. When you see a record with "Peel Session" on it, you pretty much know it will be good, likely better than the artists' more "official" releases. The guy just didn't seem to have time for shit on his show.

[DiGiMac]

If I started to list the bands I first heard on his shows and the records (not CDs) I bought as a result, this post would run to several pages.
I used to listen to Peelie on a tiny radio under the blankets in '78 and his show was the only way to get to hear alternative music before buying.
His live sessions are legendary - forget MTV unplugged! - and the number of artists he championed over the years is uncountable.
For the younger members of the board, he promoted Yes on his show before they were even called Yes. He was a pirate station DJ right back in the sixties and despite his age the music he played was still next year's sound (or even next decade's).
Bye John. Rock 'em in Heaven!

[DiGiMac]

I agree with DeeCrowSeer that two threads for this topic are not too many!
Go and have a look at the tribute Bill Nelson (BeBop Deluxe, Red Noise etc.) has posted on his site
www.billnelson.co.uk