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John Peel Day (7yrsgone)
Insert your Peel anecdotes, links and tributes in this thread.
Just posted some links over on http://twitter.com/drownedinsound and http://facebook.com/drownedinsound to Peel on This Is Your Life, a short conversation with a very young Huw Stephens and details about a special 6Music Peel Lecture, which ponders Can John Peelism survive the Internet? http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/john-peel-lecture/
Huge selection of Spotify playlists can be found here: http://drownedinsound.com/news/4136745
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John Peel introduced me to the following
Indie
Shoegaze
Madchester
House
Acid House
Techno
Ambient
Industrial
Death Metal
Blues
Drum and Bass
Loads of different African/World Music
and also LOADS of hip hop that wasn't getting played anywhere else
he was, and remains THE MAN
& Ivor Cutler too of course
miss you John
My favourite Peel anecdote will always be
At Pheonix Festival, I think it was before the Fall on the mainstage, he was DJ'ing. In a quiet moment, the man next to me shouted "PLAY SOME POLVO JOHN!"
He did, which was a) cool, and b) introduced me to Polvo.
What a guy.
That's really sweet.
I recorded more music from his show than anywhere else
I then went on to purchase more music from bands he turned me on to than all the rest of the music I have purchased from anywhere else.
I cant imagine that any other DJ has shaped musical lives as much as he has.
On a romantic note, Mrs Knees and I have come to realise that years before we met we must have been staying in listening to (and recording) many of the Peel Sessions at the same time.
It's odd
Growing up I didn't listen to his shows that often, but I know more about his shows now, festive 50s etc and realise how fantastic it was that he was playing such varied stuff.
Current radio djs should hang their heads in shame. There'll never be anyone like that again, will there?
this is an important point
even if you never actively listened to Peel his voice and tune selection were such a beacon on the musical (and broadcast) landscape that he influenced everything - even the top 40 - an he is SUCH a vital part of the diversity of the musical output of the UK
I found his show completely unlistenable
But it was so important it existed as it was the first point for stuff to then filter down from to the less adventurous ears below. He couldn't be more missed really.
.
I don't think any radio djs *can* be quite like him in the current climate, given both the impact on the radio that Peel had, and the way that the internet is shaping music.
There are still some decent DJs about though, like Benji B (now that Mary Ann Hobbs is off Radio1) and Gilles Peterson...and a lot of stuff on 6Music.
Peel was more of a father figure in my life
than my real father was at the time.
Peel also always said that his favourite record was the next thing that he hadn't heard yet, which is something I've always tried to adhere to.
Father figure
yeah, he had that thing
http://twitter.com/#!/BodyInTheThames/status/128744175159095297
I only listened to John Peel for a brief period in 2003-4
it was pretty great
I remember him playing 'Private Birds' by AGF and it totally blew my mind that music like that existed.
He read out my text message
on his show when i was at Glasto in 04 cooking sausages. What a moment that was.
I also had a personal minutes silence when I was in Aquas Calientes this time last year.
RIP John
He gave me my love of music.
It's quite astonishing how much he affected my early music tastes, and only now (15 years later) I am STILL trying to catch up.
I hope we're all going to adopt the official Peel dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxuRRyRMZtM
(Peel was brilliant on Top Of The Pops. Someone's made this compilation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrH-SnpaS14)
http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4203715#r4955676
Massive respect for John Peel
Not sure about canonising him though. Just a bit backward looking and contrary to 'what Peel was about'. (And potentially KILLING MUSIC obvs).
I agree with that
I loved his shows, they introduced me to a lot of amazing stuff as well as a good amount of unlistenable crap. I think it's nice to remember him but I don't like the amount of rubbish indie which gets put on with the suggestion of 'he would have loved it' or the overplaying of Teenage Kicks.
One of the best things about his 'legacy' is Tom Ravenscroft's show on 6Music, he's a great DJ, and he's obviously inherited a lot of brilliant records and enthusiasm, without making the connection explicit all the time.
Tom Ravenscroft's show is brilliant
nah
canonise the fuck out of him
the shadow of Peel's hand hovers over almost all the great music flowing through the airwaves of the 2nd half of 20th century Britain
Listening to Peel
as a teen on a crappy transister radio under the bedclothes when I should have been asleep, and hearing the opening drum salvo of the Damned's New Rose. Punk had arrived and Peel was my music mentor from then on.
^ this
but 25 years later
if you haven't visited it yet, check out
http://keepingitpeel.wordpress.com/
We had Peel days twice a year when I was doing my undergrad
It was really refreshing.
I sadly missed out on John Peel's shows. I regret not tuning in when I was younger
Still have fond memories of watching him doing the Glastobury footage when I was younger unlike the intolerable ballbags the BBC have on now.
I know that a lot of my favourite bands wouldn't have been where they are now if it hadn't been for him championing them. Mogwai spring instantly to mind.
my favourite John Peel thing I own
is the bit at the beginning of Mogwai's Government Commissions (BBC Sessions) where the album starts with him saying 'Ladies and gentlemen...Mogwai!!!' I think that came out after he died, might be wrong though.
It did
Came out in 2005 and they dedicated it to him
The interview I did with him
accidentally ran on for a bit on tape. In the background, you can hear him whinging about dropping some cheese down his cardigan.
:D
The memories
of watching the Glastonbury footage on the tv and seeing him out and about, getting great acts from around the world to play little sets in their makeshift studios, are ones i'll always remember. His passing made me start to try and open my ears to all the music what was out there, regardless of genre, my record collection (as well as my love of the Fall) owes a lot to the man, he also inspired me into dj'ing, and my obsession of getting to watch as many bands/gigs as I can, to spend so much time looking for new music. he's missed more than ever 7 years on, i'll be proudly wearing my peel t shirt and raising a glass in his honour tonight when I go out to a gig this evening
Going to do a little tribute on my show tonight
got 3 tracks lined up.
The Misunderstood - I Can Take You To The Sun
The Fall - Garden
The Damned - Neat Neat Neat (first Peel Session I ever heard)
The thing above about him being a father figure is so true.
I remember turning on the radio and John Peel was playing Shitmat
it was a musical highlight for me. I was so amazed that there was a radio show which played so much wonderful music or all styles and genres, I literally couldn't believe that such a thing existed- on BBC Radio of all places.
Peel was a complete one off and I miss him dearly
I still have quite a few sessions on my computer which I recorded myself, mainly Nina Nastasia and Herman Dune. My favourite bits are the bits at the start and end with Peel talking, always makes me smile although sometimes makes me feel a little sad too.
The Peel sessions that have been released are good but they'd be so much better if the peel intros had been left in.
He saved phone numbers
A friend of mine met him at Glasto years back and they were talking about The Magic Band. John asked for his number, to which he did, and they parted ways. About 3 years later my mate Doug checked his answer machine to find a voice message from John saying he had The Magic Band in session later that night at his home studio and invited him over to see it. Just a shame he was at work all day and got the message too late. What a guy to have saved his number and called him years later remembering the chat and to give that kind of invite.
Perhaps a silly request
I was trading emails with Damon from the Swirlies a while back and he was really keen to get hold of a recording of the session that Swirlies did for Peel, just for John's introduction that lapses into "Swirlies...swirly...swirl...swirling" type rambling. I'm asking as I've never heard their sesh and their bloody aces. (ditto Trail of Dead's first live set, which John proudly announced had the most number of consecutive uses of Fuck in the history of Radio 1, and the middle two AC Acoustics sessions).
I nearly met him twice whilst I worked in Soho but I bottled it both times, one time he was just quietly slowly pacing round the back of the Beeb studios and he looked so lost in thought I didn't want to bother him. Very much wish I had, but doesn't everyone think they could have been his best friend in some way?
I was lucky enough
to go to a handful of Peel sessions when I was working as a music PR, and it was always a massive treat being in his presence, but I think my favourite memories of Peel were when he'd DJ at places like Universe/Tribal Gathering, Sonar and Fabric.
The first time he played at Fabric was wicked - he was up in Room 3 and the place was packed out. He was as varied as ever with his selection but played quite a few Birmingham Techno tracks, as I recall. His whole family was there with him, as it was really a big deal to him to be playing there. My friend who worked at Fabric had organised the Peel Fabric Mix and arranged for him to DJ there to launch it. John had been a bit skeptical of the attention at first - he felt that sometimes people considered him a bit of a novelty. But after discussing it he was genuinely flattered to have been asked and to have been taken seriously.
Anyway, at the end of his set at Fabric the whole crowd was chanting his name for ages. He didn't really know what to do with himself in the face of such adoration, but a couple of his family shed a tear at the outpouring of respect. It was a really nice moment.
RIP John.
lovely story
Loved his programmes - I just miss hearing his voice, so much.
I said
hello to him at a gig in Brighton that he was curating. The bands were SM and the Jicks, the Black Keys, and Themselves (cracking line up). When introducing Themselves I remember he said "ladies and gentlemen, introducing this band forces me into a grammatical error - this is Themselves!"
I remember entering a competition on his show to win a Too-Pure compilation 10"
I didn't win but he sent me a letter back asking me if i had any postcards of the village i was from as his father used to take him to my local castle when he was a child(Ewloe in North Wales)i couldn't find any postcards so i took a picture of the castle and sent him that instead.
last time i saw him was in the Queen Vic at ATP Directors cut.i respected him too much to go and drunkenly peck his head asking him about his childhood adventures in Ewloe.
Truly amazing man