Favourite John Peel quotes

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"

JP @ glasto 2003. RIP.

"Apologies for the slighly chaotic nature of the preceeding link, it was accomplished with rising panic...."

After playing two tracks from the unreleased "Viva Hate": "Ah, I do like springing these surprise on you, the musical equivalent of introducing wildlife into your underpinnings...."

oh, hahaha... the only football chants i'm familiar with are the ones in which ppl chant "UNITED!" and make a U shape with their arms...

Is it just me or does everone hear these quotes in the voice of Mr Peel as you read through them?

perhaps a sound sample comp of all his best bits would be apt.
It could be the final "Peel Session", as such.
*wipes away a tear*

"People ask me, ‘what was the best year for the music?’ I always say, this year is the best year for music. Prior to that it was the previous year"

"I like to be in the position where I play something and I don’t even know if it’s good or not"

And one for our fellow Beefheart fans:

"When we were coming back from Frank Freeman’s, he [Don Van Vliet] asked if he could listen to a tree. I’ve always thought that’s a really strange thing to have done, but of course it could have been his way of saying that he wanted a pee – probably was. He might have said ‘listen to a tree’, because it rhymed with ‘having a pee’. His thought processes were not like those of other men – you could well believe that he wanted to listen to a tree.

"If anybody else had said it, I would have said ‘stupid bastard’ under my breath. But with Beefheart you thought, well, he knows more than I do and if he wants to listen to a tree, and I’m in a position to enable him to do so, then I’m going to give him a chance to do it, because it would be quite wrong not to. So he got out of the car and disappeared. It was one of those things where Pete Frame ought to have arranged for a plaque to be put there. Beefheart probably just went and had a pee, I don’t know. Or he may have just listened to a tree. I’d like to say that I can see him silhouetted against a gibbous moon with his ear firmly pressed to a fine old elm, but I just don’t know."

How's that for service?

I have asked if anyone can let me know exactly what he said 'though.

(in reference to the required method of getting to his 'DJ page' on the Radio 1 website) "To visit my DJ page on the Radio 1 website, just click on my face. *pauses* Click. All. Overmaface. (said to a rythm)

(after playing an old Carcass session track) "They don't write them like that anymore!"

So being a smart-arse, I sent him a letter saying just that. A few weeks later, a letter with a Radio 1 postmark landed on my mat. Sure enough, it was a signed photo sent by Peelie. But it was a signed photo of Kid Jensen, with a post-it note attached to it, saying, "Is this the sort of thing you want?"

Priceless. I'll miss him.

he played a record on his show called 'Vana White' and pondered aloud who she was. someone phoned in with the details - she was the dolly girl who turned the letters around on Wheel Of Fortune. peel makes some disparaging remark about the quality of daytime quiz shows. someone else phones up and points out that the british version of WOF was presented by Nicky Campbell who also had the radio show immediately after his. oops.

OK, not a Peel quote as such, but I do remember the opening of one particular show where - god help us - the first record up was Kylie's 'I Should Be So Lucky'. It played for a while and then gradually - very very gradually - it was crossfaded into some gutwrenching hideous noise by Extreme Noise Terror or some such bunch. Wonderful.

"That was Big Country there, the band that put the 'Tree' in CUNTry!"

Back in 2001 Peelie was doing the rounds of cities around the country visiting various bands and promoting local events. This time he was here in Birmingham to compere at the Radio 1 live in Birmingham for bands Broadcast, Plone and Magnetophone live at the Irish Centre in Digbeth. Earlier on that day myself and a few others had had the good fortune to enjoy a curry with John and everything had been going fine until I put my foot in it later when we returned to the Irish Centre. Plone had just played their set and I was 'woo-hooing' with excitement- (just as they do in the great plains of Texas). Suddenly loud and clear over the Tannoy, was the almighty voice of John Peel. His exact (well as far as I can remember) words were "Right. Whoever is woo-hoo'ing, kindly stop that right now. I do not tolarate this kind of behaviour. If you do not stop it I will make a bee-line to you and bop you on the nose. You'd be amazed how fast a man of 62 years of age can move!!!!!!". I had never been so embarassed (and frightened) in all my life!

Fantastic stuff :-) A year later Peelie asked me back to play at another Radio 1 gig in Birmingham where he was in the audience. (Ironically it was supposed to be a Radio 1 showcase for Brum- dispite that the BBC hadn't actually got anyone- apart from boring bands like Ocean Colour Scene (yawn)- in from Birmingham). Both of us chatted afterwards for ages. Me and everyone else here from brum, are gonna miss him dearly :(((

Incidently I haven't woo-hoo'ed since.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1339898,00.html

JP: Ah well, Hello, are you in a band?
CG: Yes
JP: How Lovely...

".. and here comes the good bit..."

"You would meet people who you would assume were complete knobheads who actually turned out to be quite nice. Sometimes it worked the other way as well!"

"And now for something by the appallingly titled Tasty Bush"

Like Dan Hartman: "We had an extremely pleasant conversation about toll-roads in New England."

"Straight in at the all-important No.39 spot..."

"At 27 it's Meatloaf - Hear him and weep" (instead of 'Read Em and Weep')

"At 26 it's the Sisters of Mercy with Thompson Twins" (instead of the Thompson Twins with Sister of Mercy)

(after playing the Smiths' Stretch Out and Wait for the first time, with it's lyric 'And is there any point ever having children?')

"I wondered about that long and hard, but in the end I decided there's always a chance that they'll be the ones that make the world a better place"