Favourite John Peel quotes

On his 60th birthday he said: “I’d quite like to die on the air but not in a melodramatic way. I would prefer to go during a long track.

“Then a continuity announcer would come on saying, ‘John seems to have been taken ill. We will take you over to Radio Two’.

“Then you’d hear the sound of my heels being dragged down the steps. And that will be that.�

My vote for the new JP: John Kennedy on XFM 104.9 Same fanaticism, same wide range of music, same mad hours (11pm-1am). And a thoroughly decent bloke to boot.

at the sonar festival about three years ago, peelie was playing an outdoor, daytime set. typically the crowd loved it and things were getting a bit nutty; especially one guy down the front who had obviously done what the tabloid business refers to as a mind-bending cocktail of drugs. he looked a bit odd to begin with but as the music went on - with john dropping a stonking happy hardcore version of dreamlover by mariah carey, limb by limb by cutty ranks and something that sounded like an entire symphony orchestra falling down a flight of stairs - he became more unhinged, tried to climb into the dj booth, had to be stopped from pulling the speaker stacks down and the proceeded to get his cock out. having seen all of this, the next track selection had me in pieces. it was the ramones with "i wanna be sedated".

"Isn't it great that Billy Joel has two records in the top ten?"

Delivered stone-faced and grim-voiced to camera, in a tone which suggested that the Queen Mother had just died.

"I'm not 18 either"

"At number 10, it's the multi-talented Tina Turner."
"At number 9, it's the multi-talented Prince."
"At number 8, it's the multi-talented Frankie Goes To Hollywood"
and so on and so forth until he got to:
"and at number 2, it's the...er...it's Nik Kershaw."

Janice: 'Ooh, I used to have him on my bedroom wall'
Peel: 'That was very athletic of you Janice'

'Of course if I keep getting this worked up about it I'm going to give myself a heart attack. And then people are going to say "well he would have wanted to go that way". Let me assure you that I wouldn't'

'You may have noticed that this week I have a somewhat careworn look to me. The normally bright, lively eyes are sunk in dark, echoing caverns, the crowsfeet that normally give me that mature, we're-all-men-here, Michael Parkinson look now reaches round to my ears and threatens to advance beyond'

'...a young woman of the genus 'punk' afforded me hours of subseqent mirth...'

'I hope all you degenerate young hooligans have a bracing Christmas and that in the new year we can devise some method of helping keep you off the streets'

God I'll miss that man.

JP (jaunty): Well that was the best song I've heard since...well, tea time. Mind you, I had a late tea.

"Well, that's heavy metal guitar playing, or I'm a Dutchman... This is the Jan Van Der Peel show..."

Already he's sorely missed. And always will be. R.I.Peeie

"Well, that was powerfully average...". Hilarious, cos he was so right. And it gave me a handy phrase to use from then on...

"One night I should do a show where EVERY record ends with the sound of an explosion..."

I have a wistful smile and tears in my eyes too now John, RIP

That true to a point. But remember, this was mid 70's, (pre-punk of course)and at the time Springsteen was being touted VERY HEAVILY in the UK as "The Future Of Rock & Roll". Fair minded bloke that he was, I suppose Peely thought he'd at least hear what this "future" sounded like before condemning...

Thank god punk came along and dumped on that tedious American blah rock. And Peely was in no small way responsible for that, so thank you John and RIP.

well, you guys have more than paid us back when it comes to "blah rock" in the last 10 years....springsteen's not blah to me though....not like snow patrol or keane is blah....the first springsteen albums are anything but blah imo....

"I have it on very good authority that they all love their mothers".

"Are you done? ... er ... come on .... oh you're taking the piss now"

Words to live by.

"If you've just missed that, I'm sure someone was taping it, it'll be in Camden market any day now".

The first time Peel played 'Sliver' by Nirvana he was so taken with how Cobain's feedbacking guitar kicked in he played the first ten seconds of the song again. He had that knack of pinpointing exactly what was brilliant about a band and at that moment he managed to perfectly sum up Nirvana.

'It is my duty to warn you that in the next few hours you may be exposed to language and concepts you find unsettling. If this is the case I suggest you turn over [beat] And here's fuckatron, on cunty records, with "I sodomised my dad"'

"And if that doesn't get to number one, I'll come round and break wind in your kitchen."

But he never read out my request that he replay Human Bomb by the Massed Donovans.

"could't you just rain kisses down upon their eager upturned faces"

another: some advert on his show, for some other awful daytime dj like gary davies said "gary davies, playing the best music in the world", to which John replied "oh, he plays the Butthole Surfers does he, I must give him a listen"

I phoned Radio 1 up sometime in the late 80's, whilst listening to his show to request something. John answered the phone himself, in a sarcastic manner saying "hello, FABULOUS Radio 1"

Apparently his first ever words to them upon meeting him at the Picket in Liverpool were "You know, I've just seen a T-shirt with the slogan "Dead Girls Don't Say No". I really wanted to get it but the Pig won't let me".

Also TOTP "And that was Bon Jovi - "You Give Music A Bad Name."

Me and my mates rang the BBC several times during Peely's shows in the late '70's / early '80's, asking to speak to him, and never ceased to marvel at how often we just seemed to get put straight through.

"Coming up later: Nicky Campbell and his (brief but lethal pause) 'unique brand of humour'."

Introducing Bow Wow Wow's "C30 C60 C90 Go":
(pause) "Click."

After playing June Tabor:
"Now there's a woman who needs her neck biting."

June Tabor then took revenge by recording a message during her next session, which Peel apologetically aired:
"And John: next time you feel like biting my neck, make sure you've put your teeth in first."

After playing a rubbish record by the Pat Travers Band called "Rock 'n Roll Suzie", formally announcing that he would never again play another track with the words "rock 'n roll" in the title.

Cueing up Nick Lowe's "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass" for the first time:
"I've not actually heard this yet, so let's hope it doesn't have any Rude Words in it."
(pause)
"Starts very quietly."
(another pause)
"Good so far..."

another one I just thought of: "and there I go talking over the end of the song, ruining it for those of you taping it at home"

I only met the great man once, but that was enough. The tale started many years before when i had emailed John regarding a track he had played many years before but had never left my conciousness. The track was 'The Sound of Worms' by a certain Tony Burello. My e-mail asked a) did he remember the track and b) where i might be able to get a copy of said record. A few days later i received a mail from john@hometruths, it never registered with me automatically that it was indeed his Peelness but when i read it i put the 2 together. He replied by saying that he did remember the track but could not remember who had recorded it, but that if he found it in his collection he would send me his copy..I was bowled over, stunned and amazed. Would I, me, be the proud owner of a disc form John Peels private collection, and not just any disc but The Sound of Worms.

I never heard anything back. But receiving that e-mail was like winning a trophy, i was honoured.

Fast forward 3 years and John is playing at the Triptych Festival in Glasgow as part of a showcase with Pan Sonic, Wire, Irmin Schmidt and a few others. I arrived and went to the bar, there was music playing in the bar area and i look over to see John Peel standing, record in hand, no more than 10ft away, he played a cracking dub reggae number, and a smile played accross my face. All the while i can hear Pan Sonic destroying the place in the main hall, half of me wants to stay and pray at the altar of Peel, the other half wants to go and twitch to the brutal frequencies of Pan Sonic. I hurry to catch them. Pan Sonic end a brilliant set and at the back of the hall the soundboard and some decks are set up , it is then that i notice John lurking about the decks, oh yes. As soon as Pan Sonic fin(n)ish, John plays 'Love will tear us apart', and it sounded immense, the sound system in the hall was superb and it was a pretty big space. I took this opportunity to go and speak to the man himself. As the records are playinh John lounges to one side, no scratching, no dicking about with the eq's, no looking intense and no gay flourishes. I walk to the barrier and he comes over for a chat, i shake his hand and i simply say 'The Sound of Worms'. 'Tony Burello', he says immediately, he remembered!! For a brief moment i thought he was gonna produce the record and present it to me. To be fair i think that would have been too much to take and I may well have fainted. We chatted for a minute or so, about what i cannot remember, but it hardly matters. He was accomodating and polite and i imagine would have been happy to talk about wine and music all evening.

He went on to play a brilliant set, very much like one of his shows, some hardcore techno, an amazing samba track that got faster and faster and a whole load of brillant tracks. In the end he finished up to great applause and Schmidt came on and dj'd a whole load of Can tracks that sounded incredible in the big hall..

All in all a brilliant night, but there is no time to be sad, John Peel will live forever.

he made a lot of people very very happy, which is an amazing skill in of itself.

This is one of my favorite threads on ILM.

I just read this from start to finish, every single Peel quote in his voice in my head. Wonderful wonderful stuff.

Kat's Karavan is on Spotify, there are a bunch of Peel quotes inserted inbetween some of the tracks...

if that doesn't get to number one then i'm gonna come and break windin your kitchen

Hello=Re John Peel quotes, im looking for This one fades in, or this one starts quietly< does anyone know where i might find links? thanks Neil.