Favourite John Peel quotes

"There's one in every community, isn't there. That was 'Ace of Spades' by Paska, and that's from a double e.p. called If it's Not the Heat, It's the Mosquitoes. Paska comes from Finland where it turns out the word 'paska' is an exceptionally rude word. Perhaps it's just as well that none of us speaks Finish.

"Ah, the sound of distant seagulls"

Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because they don't have any surface noise. I said, "Listen, mate, *life* has surface noise."

"Think my chances of making the Liverpool side are gone now. Might still be able to get a game at one of those London clubs though"

"This is for the Pig"
"These cookies are hot"
"Where do they get their names from?"

And of course how could we forget...
"Always the same, always different"
"This is The Fall"

"...The first Roy Harper track to make the Festive 50 since 'When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease' many years ago. Walters always says that if I die before him and they do some sort of 'tribute to John Peel' on Radio 1, he will play 'When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease'..."

*sniffles*

[Kevin]: I'd like to speak with Tawney Ann Smith please?
[Girl]: Hey, this is (??)
[Kevin]: Heeeyyy, this is Kevinnnn! Whatcha doooin? (several seconds of rambling conversation ensues) So I was just listening to the Leaving Trains? And uh...we're playing with the Leaving Trains tomorrow night!
[Peel]: Is there somebody there called Glen?
[Kevin]: Hello?
[Peel]: Is there somebody there called Glen?
[Girl]: Uh, Glen's not here right now...can I take a message?
[Peel]: (sounding very official) My name is John Peel. I'm calling from the BBC and I wanted to talk to somebody about Trumans Water.
[Kevin]: (sounding like he's not sure this is real) Uh, I'm in Trumans Water...

Also, the specially recorded intro by DLT which Peel played again and again and again during his Guitar Storm night: "Guitar Storm! Alright?"

People like Mike Read and DLT would often complain that they couldn't go anywhere without being recognized, but of course would go everywhere in a tartan suit carrying a guitar, so they would have attracted attention in a lunatic asylum. In the streets of London, people would go, "Who the fuck is that? Isn't that that Mike Read bloke?"

"You know, Aretha Franklin can make any old rubbish sound good, and i think she just has."

Classic.

ah how soon he forgot his alleigances (if it's true about 'Wham Rap') eh...

Home Truths - after an hilarious T-in-C contribution from one listener:

"thankyou for that Peter, though something in your manner suggests to me that your opinions are best viewed through the sights of a police marksman's rifle."

"Oh well, you can't be mad with glee all the time"

I am definitely not mad with glee today :-(

“well, there are probably rude words in that, but they’re in Tai”

“I play it despite the fact that the Australians are currently stamping all over us at cricket, I mean I know you don’t know anything about cricket, perhaps I should play a bit of the Coventry to enliven this program”

"it's all part of the record, it's not me making mistakes, c'mon, stop messing me about, lads"

A motorcycle revving noise.

Someguitarsbeingveryloudandheavy.

Then some guitars beingveryloudandheavy with a man shouting. all last about five seconds.

"Three tracks from Napalm Death, there, in session tonight..."

In 1993 Peel took over the lunchtime slot for a week after then-controller Johnny Beerling was challenged by someone at a conference. He'd obviously been told "Look man, we don't want to compromise your show, but remember there will be a different audience listening, and we do have a daytime playlist to follow... just bear that in mind, OK?" First record - "Why Are People Grudgeful?" by The Fall, followed with the obscure reggae original version of the same song. He then continued in the same vein, playing a lot of hard-trance, the odd Beefheart classic and making snide comments about most of the playlist. For instance, the Chris Issak which included the line '...and you can't do a thing to stop me' to which Peel retorted, "Yes I can, mate, I can take your awful CD out of the machine and throw it as far away from this studio as possible." For a brief moment, we thought we'd won. Next week, he was back on the night-shift. Bet off.

from TV Cream website. Thought this one was very funny!

Towards the end of the 1984 Festiev Fifty - "Right, the brighter amongst you will have noticed there are something like 17 minutes of the show left, and only three records. I wonder if you can guess what they are? Answers on a postcard to me, John Peel, at Radio 1."

*ten second silence*

(with quiet rage): "This is the Mighty Wah!"

Well, it meant a lot to me and the other idiot.

"You know, i actually *like* that song!"

Fwiw their keyboard player Andy Connell had previously been in A Certain Ratio and they still had (Magazine's original drummer) Martin Jackson in the band then IIRC.

(x-post)

"Well, err.. here's a track I've never played on the radio"

or afterwards...

"Bit more of a Janice track that one".

Lovely to hear Janice Long on R2 just before I went to sleep last night, late and away from all the razzmatazz.

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"

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"

"coming up after this are the highlights of the Pearl Jam concert at [wherever].....which should last about 5 minutes I reckon"

'they love their mummies..... with a white wine sauce'

that sort of humour you couldnt script.

RIP John and thanks for the memories.

I`ve been digging out the old tapes and will put a few up soon.these are some of the best tributes I`ve come across.Keep it up.

"If you're so clever, why are you on your own tonight. How many times have I said that to you....?"

RIP and thanks John

Peel said "Why do ppl assume that if you don't love something then you must hate it? Why don't they realise that there are stages in between, like....indifference?"

"The best thing i like about your band, is i can't tell who you've been listening to..."

What a quote from the man who listens to everything!

“It’s quite humbling at Festive 50 time to know you’re broadcasting to the entire nation. I don’t know why Radios 2,3,4 & 5 even bother putting out programmes at this time.”

“I was just thinking that there’s probably no-one – apart from The Pig – who’s given me more pleasure than Mark E. Smith”

More than anything though was his ability in common with the great broadcasters that you were in the presence of a friend. I have loads of his remarks saved to tape. I’ll try and dig some out. One classic is football related and I don’t want to quote it incorrectly but it’s a peach.

Also he always seemed genuinely surprised when it all started going wrong, wrong track, wrong speed, not starting. I loved it when he would make the producer come in to confirm that he was pressing the right button or that his equipment ws wilfully showing the wrong track or information. We’ll all miss him.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.bending/

1 (After a couple of seconds silence following an extremely long-winded end to a Sisters of Mercy track ('Emma' for the nerds) "....one of the longest fade-outs in the history of recorded music". Actually. I think he introduced it with "this is the first time a Hot Chocolate track has made it into the festive fifty..."

2 After fearsomely anti-war 'The Green Fields of France' by the Men they couldn't Hang. "I think it's the barely suppressed emotion that makes it such a good song"

Am I the only one who loved him more for who he was than for his musical taste?

I listened to Peelie a lot in the 80s and then stopped but he always had a special place in my heart as the anti-DJ DJ. I thought he played an enormous amount of rubbish but I knew he cared. He was the only one who even tried to break the rules and open things up.

Andrew

It's been wonderful reading it, and recalling hearing some of these quotes live on Peel's show more than a decade ago, and even more wonderful that people are quoting them exactly word-for-word! (I think the one about "raining kisses on their eager upturned faces" was about Bolt-thrower, incidentally. And the full retort to Janice Long admitting to having David Cassidy on her wall was, "That would seem to indicate a degree of dexterity i never thought you were capable of Janice, I must say" - which rendered his TOTP co-presenter incapacitated for the chart rundown that followed!)

I remember from the 80s him playing 'I Was A Teenage Armchair Honved Fan' from one of his greatest gifts to us all, Half Man Half Biscuit, and he confessed, "We all were in our house!" And then more recently about the same band: "In our house our bosoms swell with love for them".

Does anyone else remember his brief flirtation with old yodelling records in the late 80s? They were fantastically entertaining, and after one such gem he murmured, "Not a dry eye in the house I'll warrant".

Living now in Rotterdam I used to listen to, and of course tape, his twice-weekly half-hour World Service shows, from which...

"That's Laura Cantrell, and I listen to her records so much I feel like a sort of stalker in a way..."

On 'Lottery Winners on Acid' by the Crimea:
"That could go on for another three-quarters of an hour, as far as I'm concerned..."

Don't let this stop. Someone somewhere must be working on tribute compilation CDs with his intros included, surely?

The programme that was on BBC4 at midnight, featuring archive footage of Peel faves in session for the BBC was aces as well. I wish Peel didn't have to be dead to get a programme featuring live music by the Bonzo Dog DooDah Band, Billy Bragg, Half Man Half Biscuit and the Fall on telly.

We were also wondering if the Undertones are secretly rubbing their hands in glee at the royalties flowing in from the liberal usage of Teenage Kicks as a byword for Peel at the moment. They played it at half-time at the Celtic match last week, FFS!?!?

bit in observer at the weekend about the autobiography and suggesting sheila could finish it (the precedent for this being the John Shaw book earlier in the year) but from the numbers it looked like it might end up being 1/3 peel and 2/3s sheila. 1.6 million pound advance(?) for the book too, would hurt like hell to have to pay that back on top of everything else. and there's an unauthorised biography planned too.

the peel / datsuns thing on bbc website is a great little interview btw. and the Lock Up tribute show was great too, lots of punk and ska.

> "I told you I was sick"

not funny and not true. reports are that he was feeling fine right up until the attack.

During the mid-90s, when he was on late on Saturday afternoons, he passionately read out a snippet from a fanzine where the band (from Australia/New Zealand?) had told the interviewer all about Peelie. 'He was a pirate DJ and brought down the government', possibly connecting him with the Sex Pistols sailing down the Thames along the way and making him to be about 80.

That's one thing I would love to hear again. And how I wish he had made it well into his 80s...

Go to BBC & vote the undertones for the festive 50.

My abiding memory of JP is not the time I actualy met him but Reading 1977 when having played a track at the wrong speed he said "ah well it's your last chance to annoy the neighbours & we all chanted "John Peel's a C**t"

As my Dad is now in Sumatra I'll tell his story - my half brother was in school with JP's son & when my dad met Mr. Ravenscroft (who he recognised) he said what do you do for a living & JP replied "I'm John Peel" my Dad said "yes but what do you do?" wound JP up but he later said it reminded him where he stood.
I met JP once in Batisford & he was so kind it didn't feel like hero worship.

why's he wearing two watches in that one picture? i'm sure i remember him explaining it before but can't quite recall the reason.

"No three things go quite as well together as a Trio" 8)

...and his mum used to teach me at primary school!

"You might thing those are bronzed adonises from California, but
instead they're acne-scarred teenagers from Sheffield."

"it starts off quietly, throbbing, as you may be doing yourselves...
i certainly hope so"

classic! i've got some more good'uns on the same disk...

there's one where he's talking about seeing a band in europe (spain i think)it goes along the lines of...

"and you can see them in spain on the 12th, if you can afford it. and which of us in Blair's Britain cannot!!!"

the way he sed it is ace! i really miss him still...
h

amazing! :) And I never got tired or failed to laugh at hearing " Sorry, seemed to have played that at the wrong speed". I miss John, i always thought of him as my grandad :)

RIP Grandad!
you're greatly missed

Also many cases where he would read out some disgruntled letter or email, and finish with "There's only one 's' in disgraceful, by the way" or something akin to that.

"They sound a bit like...a sortof folk band, you'd imagine a folk band would be called Crispy Ambulance because they're always called things like '2,000 Megaton Turnip' and things like that."

"Bob Harris is preparing himself for later frenzied acitivity
on Radio One FM after the 10:30 news
and I'm sure he's probably listening to the show
at this VERY MOMENNT."

'That was Hank Williams though, with 'when god comes and gathers his jewels' and I suspect that in popular newspaper parlance that probably these days means testicles but I don't think thats what hank williams had in mind when he wrote the song'

Priceless

I think the thing about John as a presenter was that he wasn't 'a radio presenter'. He was still himself on the radio, not some kind of watered down, anodyne version.
Death to profesionalism.

Best one I remember was, during a Festive 50 in the early 90s, John announced that our local transmitter was going to be out of action for a few minutes. The signal duly went dead and crackled to life again halfway through the next record. After it had finished, John remarked "The transmitter should be back on again so, if you still can't hear us, there's something wrong with your radio!!"

When they opened the show with it I sobbed uncontrollably. I haven't been the same since.

I honestly still think about him every day.

Thread to contain the John Peel quotes from the Observer so that we can still look at it when they take the article away in 2027

and there was the John Walters quote "If Peel ever reaches puberty, the show's in trouble"

Dear All

I would be grateful if you would do two things for me to mark one John Peel’s passing:

1)As in the spirit of the original Festive Fifty, please send me your top three tracks (singles or LP tracks) in order 1 2 3. Please ensure you send both name of track as well as artist/group.

2)Send this email to a bunch of people, asking them to send their top 3 to me at festivefifty@hotmail.co.uk by midnight 17th December.

I will collate the answers and put out a definitive Festive Fifty at www.festivefifty.net on 24th December this year.

I know this sounds a little…….but my love of music was fuelled by Peelie and having read the Mick Wall book, it brought it home how much he gave us and I would like to give a little back myself. If you think this is bollocks, then please do not reply but do me a favour, send it on as there are plenty of people who will not feel that way.

Cheers

I'd told him my name was "Steven with a v", so, of course, that is what he'd written

I'd told him my name was "Steven with a v", so, of course, that is what he'd written!

Well, if that doesn't get to number 1, I'm going to shave off DLT's head

I still have this on tape - one of my most cherished recorded moments. To be precise, it was Kylie's "Put Your Hand On Your Heart" which was pummelled out of the way by a track by Japanese thrash band SOB.

Oaf

(btw, peel's last show was 14th October last year, not the 13th - it was the thursday but this year the 14th is a friday so they've moved it forward a day - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/alt/tracklistings/peel_archive.shtml?20041014

the bbc don't seem to link to the tracklisting archive anymore. they are still there, just not linked to from anywhere that i can see. a pity)

http://www.cubanboys.co.uk/

"...I believe thats referred to as intelligent drum and bass, which obviously means there's a genre of stupid drum n bass out there...."

Genius. What a guy...

btw... never have i seen so many records and cd's....!!

(with a sense of awe in his voice)"...... welll I liked to see you do that electronically chaps!" to the audience.

Beautiful man were Peel.
Since his passing, I trully haven't listened to Radio 1 since. There trully is no one that can hold a light to him.
FACT!

If anyone has anymore links to mp3's etc, t'would be massively appreciated.

:o>

Peel's biography, Margrave of the Marshes, is currently being read by an actor with totally the wrong kind of Liverpool accent on Radio 4's Book at Bedtime. Peel's syntax (which often worked well in short journalism) is tortuous and laboured; he strains too hard for effect. As a result, you need to concentrate hard to follow the story, and the final impression is of someone protecting himself from any real revelation (and vulnerability) by quirky faux-jovial humour and a rather forced attempt at "breezy charm". I know Peel admired Vivian Stanshall's variety of dry, eccentric English humour, but he isn't quite able to pull it off himself. Perhaps he just wasn't feeling the necessary joie de vivre for this style during his last couple of years.

one of my favourites:

...after playing a record....

"Mmm..think I played that at the wrong speed.......sounded better for I think"

Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the band, but after the track finished he dryly remarked.

"A somewhat disappointing track there, on an otherwise flawless album."

anyway, sheila must have read this thread as my 'fades in gently' quote gets a mention, as does my nom de plume - stirmonster. how queer!

btw, ilm is referred to as a dimly lit corner of the internet. ha!

Opening gambit circa 1987: "Sit back and unravel your jumpers to the limpid beauty of A Witness".

We need an archive of the shows, people.

'This one's dedicated to anyone doing their O levels at the moment. Ah, don't worry about it. I only got 4 O levels and I did OK. If I got a few less I could have got a daytime radio job...'

JP... "Oh. Well, er, I've got a Scratch Pervert here. Is it broken? Oh. OK. Er, hang on. You mess about with that and I'll see if I can find something to... er... play. Right. OK, here's something to listen to and we'll see if we can get this fixed. I've no idea what this is, by the way. Are you OK?".

He was just brilliant.

'i cant believe we ve been on air for 12 minutes and i ve not yet played anything by the white stripes'

song ends... "And that's Any Trouble and it's called Yesterday's Love. Was is Coventry you said, was it, Ian? The other day apparently they were playing one of these tapes in Coventry and people were just standing there listening to them and not buying any records. And, of course, the message in any shop -- and in the Virgin stores no less than in any other -- the message is CONSUME! CONSUME! Buy! Buy! ...and then fuck off out of the shop."

"i do think this is the best radio program in the world, i mean i know that sounds a bit big headed. but its nothing to do with me, really. does it sound big headed to you? I think it really is, i dont think there is a better radio program in the world."

Haven't got any Whitney tonight, Janice, but here's Bolt Thrower"

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/jonwilliamspwn/JonWilliams.jpg

Sometimes I think I'll go mad with the wonder of it all

"Somebody brought me a little white label of a record, unmarked, and I haven't had a chance to listen to it except during that long Dylan record a moment or so ago. And it turns out to be the debut single by Generation X. And that, I feel, is something I should share with you."

Also in 1977 he contrived another listening break for himself:

"At the beginning of the programme I mentioned that we were going to play you three versions of Hey Jude, and indeed we are. The first and the third of them are by Godfrey Daniels and they are excellent - almost as good as the one in the middle in fact."

We were then treated to a glorious doo-wop rendition and soulful ballad with towering Phil Spector-style 'wall of sound' production, separated by The Beatles' definitive version. Thirteen minutes later...

"Three versions of Hey Jude. And are you still with me!"

Wonder what he was listening to on this occasion? Answers on a postcard...

John Peel played a gig at Wolverhampton Poly in 1978 and this represented the only time I met the great man. And I say met in a very loose manner. I didn’t really have a conversation as such but communications were made via pieces of paper being handed backwards and forwards.

First up was an autograph request on the only scrap of paper I had to hand. It came back duly signed with the legend “John Peel is fab”. However the “b” was not well formed and, since then, people who have seen the treasured autograph have repeatedly asked why he signed “John Peel is fat”! I’m sure he would have been highly amused!

Later I decided that I’d try a request. However, I was hardly going to sacrifice the signature, so what else could I scavenge? Then I recalled the Beecham’s Powder sachet I had in my pocket (I had an awful cold at the time!). So I downed the powder without the aid of any water – quite a feat without choking as anyone familiar with the medication will be aware. A hurried request was scrawled on the back of the packet and it was again passed up onto the stage registering a few funny looks from the people with John! “It’ll go straight into the bin,” I was convinced. No-one in their right mind is going to take any notice of some idiot with white powder all over his face handing him a empty aspirin packet! Oh well.

For the next week or so I listened in to his show and there were plenty of mentions of Wolverhampton:

“Well all of this week’s programmes are dedicated with a gratitude bordering on reverence to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Ipswich Town and Leeds United who did us a lot of favours on Saturday. Very grateful for that…”

Wolverhampton Wanderers doing Liverpool favours. How times change!

“I had a magnificent weekend and a I earnestly hope you do too (sic). I mean that most sincerely. On the Saturday I went to Derby to see Liverpool win with two of the most handsome goals I can remember seeing in a very, very long time. But the night before that I’d been in Nottingham to see Essential Logic, who were very good – you may remember their session on Wednesday which a lot of people asked me about then, and were impressed with - and also Robert Rental and The Normal who I thought were very good also. But the stars of the show were Stiff Little Fingers, the first time I’ve ever seen them live, and they really were devastating. And I came away from Nottingham, and from my subsequent gig in Wolverhampton, with the usual pocketful of bits of paper and dedications and, for the second week in a row, I’ve left these at home so I shall have to read them out on tomorrow night’s, and Wednesday night’s, and Thursday night’s programmes. My apologies for that.”

Ah, a pocketful of pieces of paper – promising!

“At me gig at Wolverhampton the other day, someone said to me how come you’ve stopped playing records by Souixsie and the Banshees and I thought to myself why have we stopped playing records by Souixsie and the Banshees?”

And later in the week…

“And what else is there? Oh yes, I got a bunch of requests that I came away with at the weekend which I didn’t read out because I’d left ‘em at home and I’ve got some of them now but not all of them. Gaffa for Carl of Nottingham, Kevin Coyne for Sarah, Stu, Bob and Drum, Ultravox for Nick and Val and something for Dan, David, Howie and Deborah. And of all of these something is what’s gonna get played. In fact it’s the Neon Hearts because quite a few people at the gig in Wolverhampton asked for something by the Neon Hearts and I didn’t have it with me. This is their Popular Music.”

So was that my request? I’d made it for my then girlfriend and her cat! There was a David and a Deborah (separated by Howie!) and Deborah rather than Debs (as requested) but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers! Still not totally convincing, though.

“The Only Ones. Three tracks coming up from the LP Even Serpents Shine. And at some stage of the weekend’s festivities somebody called Dave came up and said would I play something by The Only Ones for Debs and Katch. So they got a bonus. Three tracks, as I say. The first of them’s called Inbetweens.”

Ah heaven!

“Well, we continue to tiptoe elegantly through The Only Ones’ album Even Serpent’s Shine. More on tomorrow night’s programme I shouldn’t wonder. The tracks there are called Inbetweens, Out There In The Night, and then the first track on side two which is Curtains For You.”

A small claim to fame but, at the time, it was most appreciated. Debs and Katch got away ultimately but I still have a cassette tape of highlights from the week’s programmes with John’s autograph fashioned into a makeshift sleeve.

Thanks John for the soundtrack to a mis-spent youth.

John Peel played a gig at Wolverhampton Poly in 1978 and this represented the only time I met the great man. And I say met in a very loose manner. I didn’t really have a conversation as such but communications were made via pieces of paper being handed backwards and forwards.

First up was an autograph request on the only scrap of paper I had to hand. It came back duly signed with the legend “John Peel is fab”. However the “b” was not well formed and since then people who have seen the treasured autograph have repeatedly asked why he signed “John Peel is fat”! I’m sure he would have been highly amused!

Later I decided that I’d try a request. However I was hardly going to sacrifice the signature so what else could I scavenge? Then I recalled the Beecham’s Powder sachet I had in my pocket (I had an awful cold at the time!). So I downed the powder without the aid of any water – quite a feat without choking as anyone familiar with the medication will be aware. A hurried request was scrawled on the back of the packet and it was again passed up onto the stage registering a few funny looks from the people with John! “It’ll go straight into the bin,” I was convinced. No-one in their right mind is going to take any notice of some idiot with white powder all over his face handing him a empty aspirin packet! Oh well.

So for the next week or so I listened in and there were plenty of mentions of Wolverhampton:

“Well all of this week’s programmes are dedicated with a gratitude bordering on reverence to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Ipswich Town and Leeds United who did us a lot of favours on Saturday. Very grateful for that…”

Wolverhampton Wanderers doing Liverpool favours. How times change!

“I had a magnificent weekend and a I earnestly hope you do too (sic). I mean that most sincerely. On the Saturday I went to Derby to see Liverpool win with two of the most handsome goals I can remember seeing in a very, very long time. But the night before that I’d been in Nottingham to see Essential Logic, who were very good – you may remember their session on Wednesday which a lot of people asked me about then, and were impressed with - and also Robert Rental and The Normal who I thought were very good also. But the stars of the show were Stiff Little Fingers, the first time I’ve ever seen them live, and they really were devastating. And I came away from Nottingham, and from my subsequent gig in Wolverhampton, with the usual pocketful of bits of paper and dedications and, for the second week in a row, I’ve left these at home so I shall have to read them out on tomorrow night’s, and Wednesday night’s, and Thursday night’s programmes. My apologies for that.”

Ah, a pocketful of pieces of paper – promising!

“At me gig at Wolverhampton the other day, someone said to me how come you’ve stopped playing records by Souixsie and the Banshees and I thought to myself why have we stopped playing records by Souixsie and the Banshees?”

And later in the week…

“And what else is there? Oh yes, I got a bunch of requests that I came away with at the weekend which I didn’t read out because I’d left ‘em at home and I’ve got some of them now but not all of them. Gaffa for Carl of Nottingham, Kevin Coyne for Sarah, Stu, Bob and Drum, Ultravox for Nick and Val and something for Dan, David, Howie and Deborah. And of all of these something is what’s gonna get played. In fact it’s the Neon Hearts because quite a few people at the gig in Wolverhampton asked for something by the Neon Hearts and I didn’t have it with me. This is their Popular Music.”

So was that my request? I’d made it for my then girlfriend and her cat. There was a David and a Deborah (separated by Howie!) and Deborah rather than Debs (as requested) but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers! Still not totally convincing, though.

“The Only Ones. Three tracks coming up from the LP Even Serpents Shine. And at some stage of the weekend’s festivities somebody called Dave came up and said would I play something by The Only Ones for Debs and Katch. So they got a bonus. Three tracks, as I say. The first of them’s called Inbetweens.”

Ah heaven!

“Well, we continue to tiptoe elegantly through The Only Ones’ album Even Serpent’s Shine. More on tomorrow night’s programme I shouldn’t wonder. The tracks there are called Inbetweens, Out There In The Night, and then the first track on side two which is Curtains For You.”

A small claim to fame but, at the time, it was most appreciated. Debs and Katch got away ultimately but I still have a cassette tape of highlights from the week’s programmes with John’s autograph fashioned into a makeshift sleeve.

Thanks John for the soundtrack to a mis-spent youth.

John was famous for playing records at the wrong speed and supplying numerous ad-libs to cover his embarrassment. I seem to remember that when he played a track from XTC’s dub experiments album Go Plus at the wrong speed he kind of liked it and decided that it was in keeping with the spirit of the concept and therefore OK to continue playing the track at the slowed down speed! CDs had a lot to answer for and reduced our listening pleasure! However, he could also manage his party trick with session tapes!

“The first from Ivor Cutler - without his accordian and without his band - is The Obliging Fairy (giggles).”

The tape runs at an alarmingly slow speed.

“It’s not like that either! That doesn’t sound entirely happy. I tell you what I’ll do, while we’re sorting that out – is that a technical problem? That’s what we call a technical problem…”

Great fun! On the same evening he played a session version of the fondly remembered Egg Meat.

“This is another from Ivor Cutler, An oldie actually. I mean an old tune, an old piece, it’s called Egg Meat.”

Ivor announces the title Egg Meat

“Told you!” inserts John before Ivor recounts the weird and wonderful story of a young lad helping his mother to feed meat to the eggs!

“Well, I’m as mystified as you,” he stated at the conclusion, “ but no doubt William, [aged] 3, could understand it entirely!”

Hope the Ivor Cutler quote will make up for it!

"Why does the iron monger sell egg meat?"

I found out on TV Cream that God (aka Mr Peel), Kid Jensen and Paul Burnett formed a somewhat unlikely fighting party to pound the daylights out of Simon Bates after an especially torturous Radio One Christmas Party, but Simes had buggered off before they could lay hold of him.
Who's up for a John Peel Memorial Lynching of that irritating little twerp? Let's do Chris Moyles and his band of tosers while we're about it.

The day after it happened, someone had emailed/texted into the breakfast show along the lines of "Enough about john Peel" to which Chris Moyles basically was "Sod off you, We've just lost a mate, alright!"

So, he's ok by me.

.. the other DJ at Radio One for whom Peel had difficulty disguising his contempt was Andy Peebles. I have several hilarious put-downs on tape. For example:

1) introducing Glasgow girl-group Strawberry Switchblade with... "Andy Peebles would doubtless describe them as 'Those Bonnie Wee Lassies from North of the Border' "!

2) and saying in another link the phrase "if I may say so." He continued.. "You probably wonder why I say "if I may say so". One of my colleagues at Radio One says it all the time in a context I can't fully understand. I find myself screaming at the radio "why SHOULDN'T you say so!!".

and best of all...

3) introducing a session track entitled 'He's An Angry Bastard But I Like Him' by Norwich band Serious Drinking, circa '84. Peel preceeded it with an inane Radio One jingle featuring the voice of Peebles. As it ended he enthused, in his most mischievous voice, "That's Andy Peebles. He's an angry BASTARD but I like him!!"

I stumbled upon this message-board just recently. Brilliant! So many reminders of quotes I heard at the time and also lots that I missed. I have approx 120 C-90 tapes of Peel from (mainly) '78-93, with the bits I didn't want edited out and replaced with 'fillers' of classical music or film soundtracks I'd borrowed from the record library (Ennio Morricone is excellent for creating a grandiose intro before a Fall, Cocteau Twins or Smiths session track!). Many years were spent with stopwatch at the ready and finger on the pause button...

Anyway, before I reminisce further and start coming over all dewy-eyed, I have a special REQUEST. Does anyone have a taped record of the special Saturday afternoon series of six shows Peelie recorded in (I think) 1981, when he sat in for John Walters, on holiday from his regular 'Walters Weekly' spot?? These were one hour compendium programmes including some of Peelie's all-time favourite records along with fantastic old sessions from the 60s (Sun Ra, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Fairport Convention, Ann Peebles etc) and many curiosities and audio-articles from the BBC archives which were nothing to do with music but very funny. Some fascinating stuff - plus of course liberal lashings of the Great One's sardonic wit. Looking back now, I suppose the programme was a kind of precursor to 'Home Truths'.

I got in touch with Peely a couple of months before he died to ask if he knew whether R1 had any tapes of the series. Louise in his office replied saying that they didn't - and apparently John could hardly even remember recording the programmes! But, believe me he did - and they were superb.

If anybody has some or all of the 'Peel's Pleasures' series on tape and would be prepared to either make a copy or else lend them to me to copy, please could they contact me at on p3t3r_r4p4p0rt@h0tmai1.com.

Many thanks.

Just after playing Bricks and Mortar by The Jam in 1977 John detailed the following story about his father:

"My father always used to maintain that back in the 1930s, in the cocktail era, when he was a dashing young chap, he once went to the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool - he went there fairly frequently, I believe - but on one particular occasion, after a meal and after the events of the evening, he called the waiter over and said 'Waiter, clear this table, I wish to dance upon it,' which I thought was rather splendid. And in the same spirit..."

What he went on to play is not recorded but the story is a typical gem and the sort of aside for which he is so fondly remembered. I'm sure if all of his shows had been recorded, many of the anecdotes he never got the chance to record for posterity in the second half of his autobiography would have been available to us.

he played the 'new' single "hello, goodbye" - which he clearly loved because his immediate remark was

"that's enough to make all the other groups go and live up the lesser tributaries of the amazon"

my other favourite was from only a few years ago
he read out some very strange request he had received, played something i've completely forgotten, and then said

"for all i know i may have just read out the code for the invasion of belgium"

though nothing compares to him calling his brief run of programmes on radio luxembourg as the cowdenbeath2 stenhousemuir2 show

pure genius!

and what does radio1 trumpet now? Moyles boasting about the fun of calling someone a slag!

It's often said in Neasden
That Glibs's Glabs is best
They'll keep you warm if up to form
And fit inside your vest

Of course, they're made of pig iron
And woven through with grit
And have the best facilities
For synthesizing shit

So off you go and get one
They're only one and two
From Harrod's or the Co-op
Or free with Uhu Glue

Peel as a poet I'm less enthusiastic about, but it's better than I could have done...

1) Reading out a letter along the lines of: "Dear John, why do
you always play such rubbish on your shows. I think you could be
playing more bands like Nitzer Ebb and Stylecouncil". John: "Well, you may like this then: this is Napalm Death".

2) After playing Salma & Sabina, who covered Abba songs in Hindi.
Peel: "Wasn´t it the poet Keats who once said "A thing of beauty is
a joy forever?" I think he may have had Salma & Sabina in mind".

Another of the many football-intro gems...

...list of artists ....'but we're going to start with a record which sums up pretty neatly our attitude to the European Cup.... straight into the (spoken) first words of a great old record by Bobby Lee Trammill.... "If you ever get it once - you're gonna want it again"! ...

If Peelie had been rattled by criticism from - or the puerile behaviour of - a R1 colleague, he could never resist a dig in return:

- ...'always a delight to hear the voice of Muriel Gray on Radio One, even if she is outstandingly rude. In tonight's programme.....'

...or just a plain old piss-take....

- 'Applause is due tonight to Simon Bates, the Beast of Radio One, for making the Colemanballs column of Private Eye with the following: "We've got 10 prizes to give away in today's competition, so if you're one of the 15,000 who have entered you've got a one-in-a-million chance of winning". (pause).... Yeah, I see what you mean. In tonight's programme...'

Other intros:

- following a list of particularly obscure and bizarre-sounding bands ... 'I know that what you really want to hear are the records you bought a couple of years ago played over and over again, but there's not a lot of point doing that, I think'...

- 'Tonight we reach the moment we've all been waiting for in one way or another - the end of the Festive Fifty..!' (this was during the period when Peel began to get disillusioned with the F50, 'cos people kept voting for the same records, year after year).

Anyone got any more??

(He did play the record at 33 a few days later without comment, I'm sure it was the wrong...)

http://www.weirdenergy.com/fall/peel_fall-intros.mp3

*introduction*
It's time again for two hours of John Peel's Music, guaranteed to put a smile on your face, a song on your lips and something undescribable on your feet.

*working at BFBS*
It's wonderful down here at BFBS, because occasionally you get people coming around to sit in and watch the programme and listen to some of the sounds. And you know that they're gonna come in like 'I say, this is all jolly interesting, goodness me. So that's what a studio is, that's what a John Peel is like, is it?' And they sit there and then after about two records they crawl out like broken men.

A curious thing happened while that was going on: a member of the BFBS staff actually came into the studio and asked me about a record which I played on my domestic programme. She has actually taken an interest in the music, so of course she's been drummed out of the building as you can imagine, she's been beaten up by security people just around the back.

And from Richard, one of the three pieces of mail which arrived this week, and it says 'Look out for the german all-female ensemble called Breast. Have they made any records?' Well if they have I certainly wouldn't be able to play them on the BBC, not with a name like that, because at the BBC nobody has breasts of course. But here at BFBS they look at things very differently. I've got quite a reasonable set of breasts myself actually.

There's nowhere here to put my bicycle. In the old buildings, before we moved down here, I could take my bicycle and just leave it in somebody's office. But this can't be done any longer, because somebody whose job it is to go through all of the regulations to try and find things to obstruct people, and they came across the information... something to do with like, will the bicycle possibly foul the carpets in some way, although I'd like to see it doing it, or it constitutes a fire-hazard within the meaning of the act and all that kind of stuff. So it means that my bicycle is manacled to a parking-meter outside. But I did bring in the front wheel in case somebody stole that, and left that in the place where I normally leave my bicycle, to see exactly how much of a bicycle constitutes a bicycle. Because I had this problem once before with somebody else who would never allow me to bring my bicycle into their building, and I wanted to know how much of it you could bring in in parts before it became a bicycle. And of course people really aren't interested in these kinds of sophistries, they're more likely just to punch you in the face and tell you not to be such a smart aleck. But within the law, I think I'm right in saying, if you are riding a bicycle, then you are yourself part of that bicycle, so if the bicycle is banned from the building, then it seems logical that the rider should be as well, so in fact I shouldn't be here, as I am part of a bicycle, or indeed you could even say that I am a bicycle.

I was trying to get hold of a cup of coffee while that was going on and there is, immediately outside the door here, a large coffee making machine, but I'm told that this is for the use of BFBS UK only, which is quite wonderful. It's the kind of thing you think doesn't happen in 1984. I expect they got their own toilets somewhere as well, and their own lift, and they're probably allowed to bring their bicycles into the building, too. Privilege - what a wonderful thing it is. (plays a record)
Very pleased to report that the BFBS UK elitist coffee machine seems to have broken down. There are lots of puzzled looking men probably called Eric staring at it this very moment, hands on their hips.

Here's an oldie which I always enjoy, you probably loathe it, I don't know, don't really care. It's my programme, not yours.

Kevin (one of the engineers), our man in the studded leather bracelets and AC/DC tour jacket says that they sound like a very sick Judas Priest, but of course in my estimation Judas Priest sound like a very sick Judas Priest.

Charles (one of the producers) was also suggesting that we should get the Emerson, Lake & Palmer version of the same piece and play that in next week's programme. First person to take a step towards me with it, I tell you, he gets it.

A little scratchy towards the end, that's Barrington Levy and a ripple of applause for the BFBS equipment which was built out of old washing-machine parts in the late 1940s.

And this week's programme is being engineered by Nicky, who's loveliness is enough to drive fat men to drink, but in her defence she'll come and have a drink with you while you do it. But Kevin has dropped into the studio to tell me that he's just been to see, in the last week, Yes and Status Quo. So representatives from the Peel Foundation are taking him outside for a full frontal lobotomy in the hope that something can be done to improve his emotional condition.

*letters and phonecalls*
Not a great deal of mail this week, and I wish you would write, I'd be very grateful if you did, because BFBS interpret this as the programme becoming even less popular and it'll end up as being an insert into 'The pruning fork in peace and war - an eight part documentary starring Wendy Craig as nursy'. You have been warned.

And a letter, this is very welcome indeed, from Cyprus. It's been quite a long time since we had one from there, and it's from sapper Sam Parker in Nikosia, and as always I'll drag out the record to play you next week, but I just wanted you to know that your letter has arrived and has been greeted here with a great deal of excitement: 21 gun salute and massed brass bands playing in the street outside.

And here's a letter from Brad, who is Private Bradbury, from what looks like 1st Armoured Field Ambulance. Isn't that cheating? I don't know, I don't think you're allowed to do that. I mean the armoured ambulance is the sort of thing which happened in the First World War but not since. (plays a record)
I must admit I've been fantasising about those armoured field ambulances while the record was playing, the idea of the Red Cross on the back doors parting as they are thrown open and a 25-pounder sticking out of the back.

A card from Michael, and he says, could I play a record for his friend who has just come back from Nepal after two and a half years where he's been talking with the stones. I'm not entirely sure this isn't a medical condition actually, Michael. If the stones have been talking back to him, then I think we have real cause for concern.

Actually, judging by the amount of mail this week, I would say that the west's defences are being overlooked as you all sit there scribbling away on postcards and letters.

I'll play you another track from that LP before the end of the programme, cause I rather like it, I must admit. It's also the kind of record which gets people writing in to say 'I shall never listen to your programme again!' ... that kind of thing... and in a rather perverse way I enjoy that, which is why there's only about twenty of us left. We have a secret handshake and a tie and everything. We can recognize each other in the street.

And Kay wrote to me from Bielefeld, where he or she is stationed. He or she or uncommited, I don't know.

And this is from Section 25. I have to warn you that this copy of the record is pressed off centre. In fact all of the copies of the record that I've got are pressed off centre, and I've got four copies of it, cause they sent me a new one each time I complained that they were pressed off centre, and the new one was always pressed off centre. So this is for Micky who, if the postcard he sent me is to be believed, lives in the middle of a field, and he'll probably appreciate a record that's pressed off centre.

This is for Monty, who wanted something by Crass for Angelica, which I thought was stuff you put on top of cakes, but in this case it seems to be a person.

My day started off particularly well with a phonecall from Richard in Germany who told me, he says 'Do you want any wine? My father owns a vineyard.' Owns a vineyard??!! So I said 'Next time I come to Germany I shall come and stay with you - probably for several years'.
(plays a record)
I'm always very pleased to get letters or indeed phonecalls from anybody whose family own vineyards - or Mercedes Benz dealerships, or, because I have so many children, a toilet paper factory as well, if you want to get in touch.

Well I'm rather reluctant to get into more deeply military requests after all the mess I made with that 'S.T.A.G.O.N.' business earlier on. Simon says I still got it wrong, after what he said to me I misinterpreted it or something. Who really cares? I mean you all know what 'bobbies' mean, yet in our house if you said the word 'bobbies' people would fall over.

Somebody has sent me, for which I'm extremely grateful, a postcard which actually's got water in it. I mean it's got liked a sealed... do you hear the water splashing about? That's a postcard! Actually's got a bit of the North Sea in it apparently, a picture of a trawler or something like that. It's probably full of disease, too, if it bursts it'll probably kill the whole of central London.

*looks*
(after Violent Femmes’ 'Ugly' which ends with the singer shouting 'You're so ugly' repeatedly) - Oh I don't know, with the light from behind and a polythene bag over my head I can look quite arresting.

The people you don't actually know and who don't know you...when you turn up, and of course they're expecting you to look like one of Echo & The Bunnymen or something like that, and when you turn up looking like Echo & The Bunnymen's dad who hasn't been well for very many years, one can almost sense... the disappointment is almost tangible you know, which is why I tend to lurk here in the studios and not venture forth. It's like the 'Elephant Man' you know, bag over the head, that kind of stuff.

I've chosen to go to Portugal in the week of the Milk Cup final, so I shall be lying motionless in the sun like a beached whale while the lads are battling at Wembley.

They go on a great a length, I mean obviously to get their record played, but go on a great length about my sexy voice and so on, and of course that's one of the reasons why I don't travel very often, cause you always find... you gonna turn up somewhere, as I was when I first went to Berlin, and... people are gonna expect someone like Simon LeBon of Duran Duran to get off the plane, and when somebody who looks like Simon LeBon's uncle who had the unsuccessful operation gets off the plane... quite clearly, you see a lot of crestfallen folk, and it's more than I can stand frankly. And I just had another look at the letter that I mentioned before, and it says on the other side of it 'Would you please send us a photograph'. I've found actually, over the years, that it's best not to do this, because then you never hear from the people again and they stop listening, and quite often go into...you know, take holy orders, or go and start a new life in Papua New Guinea, and I think it's preferable if they don't do this.

One of the highpoints of my weekend in Berlin was the Atonal-Festival, and we weren't there for very long, it was just a lot of people shrieking really, banging instruments in a rather random fashion... But a young woman there did seem to show some kind of vague sexual interest in me, and like twenty years ago I should've been most gratified by this and probably tried to do something about it. But of course when you've deteriorated to the point that I've deteriorated to, you become a little uneasy. And I wondered, like, is she a dedicated sociologist who is prepared to stop at nothing to support some half-baked theory she has, or is she smashed out of her head, or is she just plain mad. And I rather suspect that she was smashed out of her head, because trying to get off with me is roughly equivalent to eating all of your meals out of wastebins.

I'm back from Crete, a gorgeous golden brown. If you could see me I'm sure you would want to dance around me.

As I mentioned before I never get invited to parties, and this is probably a good thing, because I'm the kind of bloke who ends up doing all the washing-up in rather a sulky fashion while everybody else gets undressed. I did once go to an orgy, but it was deeply embarrassing, because I haven't really got the figure for orgies and I had to sit there, pretending to be asleep for about four or five hours, while everybody else got on with it. Not for me at all.

*health*
This week, as with most weeks actually, I'm feeling terrible, but obviously the show goes on, and I put on a brave face and things, but I always feel ill, and I've always attributed this to the fact that I just work to hard really. I'm the classic kind of bloke who drops dead, and I was just discussing this with Simon, and he said 'Have you ever thought of glandula fever?' in much the same way as you might say 'Have you ever thought about the glass-topped coffee-table?' And so I shall have to look into the symptoms of that and perhaps by next week I'll have developed it, who can possibly say. What a little ray of sunshine he is for sure.

While it was going on my gums started bleeding. I'm not exactly sure what the significance of this is, perhaps it's the prelude to a religious experience. I certainly hope not.

Why am I laughing? I don't know... it's incipient madness, that's what it is. I'm quite looking forward to that actually, as I drift into an unattractive middle-age. I quite like the idea of waking up one morning quite plainly mad, I mean not dangerously mad, but just mad enough to be sent off somewhere where I can just sit and watch television and eat Indian meals for the rest of my life. I should be entirely happy doing that. You know, just waking up one morning imagening that you're something like an umbrella stand or something like that, and I find it quite an attractive prospect, I must say.

*records*
(Sizzler: 'Rat Race') - Well, me too, at times, I have to admit, I'm a victim of the pressures of modern life. I know that one of these days something's going to snap in my head and I'll start imagening that I'm a two and a half mile section of the East Langs Road or something - or Phil Collins, whichever is the least interesting.

(XXOO: 'How will I know when I'm really in love ?') - Your hat will fall off. I thought everybody knew that.

(Brilliant: 'Scream Like an Angel') - How do these people know what an angel screams like? Answer me that. On one side of a paper only.

(Hugh Griffith: 'Chant Down Babylon') - Well at our house, before we go to bed every night, we always chant down Babylon for five or ten minutes, and yet it's still there in the morning.

(In Excelsis: 'Carnival of Damocles') - I'm not entirely sure Damocles was the kind of chap who went to Carnivals much, but that's the title of it.

(A Certain Ratio: 'I Need Someone Tonight') - Ah, I do like a deeply meaningful lyric, although I suppose if you need someone tonight, it is a meaningful lyric.

(Sisters of Mercy: 'Temple of Love') - I think that if I found myself in any temple of love I should just lie down on the pews and have a bit of a sleep. That comes with age.

(The The: 'This Sinking Feeling') - That's The The and on the record it says 'With every kick in the face and every hurdle you pass the rewards get greater.' and if you've been passing hurdles you should see your doctor as soon as you possibly can.

(Kukl: 'Songull') - Now this is... talk about not being able to pronounce things, I'm in real trouble with this next one, because the name of the band... well it's spelt K U K L. Now how would you pronounce that? I mean given that it's some kind of nordic language that you're not entirely familiar with. Well I checked around a bit, with people who know the band and they said, well, it's pronounced 'Curcle'. So I said 'Curcle', I mean that seems, you know, feasible... daft, but feasible... so K U K L, Curcle, so I went ahead and that's what I said when I did a radio programme featuring this domestically, and a member of the band phoned up and said 'No, it's not Curcle at all, it's...' he didn't say it like this at all but he said '... it's pronounced Krchk'. And I said, well how can it be pronounced Krchk, I said, cause there's no 'R' in it... there's an 'L'... and the 'L' is at the end, you know, all that kind of thing. Anyway, he says it's Krchk, so this is Krchk, and frankly the title of the piece I have no intention at all of trying to pronounce, it's spelt S O N G U L L and it's almost certainly pronounced 'Lester'. (plays the record)
That's Kukl, pronounced Krchk and this is John Peel's Music, pronounced “Excuse me, but isn't that my ladder?”

(The Ruts: 'In a Rut') - I think it's fair to say that modern music is back in that rut again, actually, lots of beautiful youths in meaningful trousers.

(Vex: 'Sanctuary') - That's Vex and on the back of the sleeve it says 'four individuals with no set ideals making music to provoke thought' - and the thought which most immediately comes to me is that it's almost time that we've had enough records like that.

(Daniel Ponce: 'Bastardo Cuentos') - The name of the next artiste appears to be Daniel Ponce but it's actually pronounced, I think, Pon-che, and the track itself is called Bastardo Cuentos which translates approximately as 'Oh no, not another spanish referee'.

*about jamaican pre-releases (on recycled vinyl)*
…pressed on Weetabix...

…with real hazelnuts...

As you can tell, somebody has gone over that with the old Black & Decker sander just to give it that authentic feel.

It may not have done full justice to that expensive tuner you just bought, but it's a great record.

*about loud or 'difficult' records*
Well I expect they love their mothers.

Aren't you glad they don't rehearse next to you?

Well I'm glad I'm not their postman.

I don't think I shall be inviting them to my birthday party. They are the kind of people who park their vans so that nobody else could get in or out.

They sound like somebody's given a good kicking - set to music.

*miscellaneous*
With that record he has qualified for the immortal soul.

We're coming up to exam results, you see, for our William, and he's got to get a certain number of passes at A level in order to get into university and do the thing that he wants to do, which is archeology, and in the way that fathers do, I insist that the main reason he wants to do archeology is because he's got it in his head that this means that he can lie virtually motionless for days on end in the accumulated filth of centuries, so he won't have to change his lifestyle particularly.

Rip, Rig & Panic have in fact broken up, because some of them live across the road from my mum. Not that they've told me that they've broken up but I can see them in there and they look broken up.

Really needs to be played loud enough to start a civil defence alert...

The musical equivalent to those children's TV programmes where you make a model of the Battersea power station out of egg-boxes.

It's called 'Another Black Friday' and the press of it has been good as far as I can tell: 'the best production at the present time','"a rise to new musical directions', 'a brilliant fusion of body and brain' ... I don't know, that sounds like a motorcycle accident.

This is a record by Ledernacken, which can't surely mean what I think it means.

'Party Line' by Abbreviated Sealing, and of course whenever I criticize the name of a band somebody will write in and say “Of course what you don't realize is that it's a quote from Jean Jacques Pissoir's ‘Vortex - A Threnody”, and it may well be so.

That's Stump and that's another track in the forthcoming Peel Sessions EP series, if you see what I mean. It's not quite that but I'm not gonna try and reconstruct the sentence in front of you.

I don't like encores. It's like, if you see a great painting, you don't want an extra bit painted on the side.

Some of you might want to look at or contribute to Wikiquote at
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Peel

I'm terribly sorry but I couldn't make any sense out of your last two postings. Could you please spell it out for me?

Thanks a lot
Senior Aircraftsman 2nd Lieutenant Arnie Matthews (this is the name John gave me to 'impersonate' a member of the Brith Forces in Germany)

Dawn Patrol: From the Wiki link.
Quotes About John Peel
Can't believe they gave that greatest Briton shit to Churchill when there's a man among us who still plays Half Man Half Biscuit on the taxpayer's buck.
A member of The Dawn Parade

And how is the weather in Station 1-2 right now?

He did a brilliant transition from Ivor Cutler's surreal 'My Darling' straight into 'Kango Licht' by E.N. with the comment "Well if that was an example of Ivor Cutler's reality, just imagine what his dreams must be like".

Later in the program, after playing the second (and last) session track by E.N called 'Sehnsucht' he said "That was the second track of our Neubauten session. I only wish they'd recorded a few more for us, although I imagine they spent a great deal of their time in our studio brooding".

Loved it John.

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.