John Peel RIP

RIP Peelie.

A great loss as a man, a great loss to music.

Peel did deserve to go gently into old age. He contributed uncalculably to British culture. Many famous people are indebted to Peel. He was very important. But he never let that importance go to his head. He was always that affable endearing shambolic cove with whom you would love to share a pint or two. The world is a poorer place for his passing.

Sincerest condolences to Sheila and the family. But also a hearty thank-you. John was unique.

I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

I'm gonna call her on the telephone
Have her over cos I'm all alone
I need excitement, oh I need it bad
And it's the best, I've ever had

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

xxx

Blasting this repeatedly right now is so cathartic.

RIP Peelie. I'll always remember the Festive 50s, the endless championing of bands I'd never of -- or heard of again -- and, most of all, the deep, abiding love of music.

As said on ILE, devastating, shocking, unfair; it is all casting a jagged black shadow of incomprehensibility and unassimilability across the bright London afternoon.

What would have been the last song he spun over the air?

This is still available on the radio player till about 11 tonight - please listen to it again.

also Lou Macari!

R.I.P. john...

On the day after Chris Moyles was declared the "Saviour of Radio 1" by Mark Thompson is the day that Radio 1 lost its one true asset.

It's all too sad.

Feeling stung, what a shame.

I was lucky enough to be involved in a Peel session a few years ago.

Well, once I found out, I just *had* to work a Fall reference into one of the tracks, just to say a sly hello to JP. I looped and slowed down MES singing LEAVE THE CAPITAL! and at the fade out of one of our songs I played it through my gutar from a scrappy dictaphone speaker.

Of course, Peel noticed! I was thrilled when he played Leave The Capital the night before our broadcast. After the session track played out, the next night, he made a comment along the lines of 'Ah, the great man ranting away' over the MES loop/fade.

Like I say, I was so pleased.

Moyles, you'd better be on your best fucking behaviour about this tomorrow morning, oughtn't you?

well i know it's not anyone would want to hear or probably agree with but there's a huge poster by Old Street roundabout featuring Zane Lowe and the legend 'In New Music We Trust' - make of that what you will

Same slsk username as here, aldo_cowpat

but this is so so so different.

my teenage spiritual awakenings/traumas were all soundtracked by John Peel shows.

literally stunned by the news.

m.e

yes, it's a bit like criticising Michael Buerk for wearing a purple tie when the Queen Mother died. They've had to do a tribute on the turn of a dime so you can hardly blame DJ Spoony for it.

RIPJP

what a legacy to leave behind though...

What's my prize?

RIP

I guess we'll probably never see a DJ have this kind of influence ever again huh?

John Peel's contribution to rock and roll is inestimable, may he rest in peace.

That is fantastic! A prize beyond my wildest dreams: especially since I already happen to have a picture of DLT that's been signed by all the members of Showaddywaddy - so I now have a complete set which I'm sure would really impress all friends, if only I had any!

R.I.P

:-(

(x-post)

It's curious that he's an obviously had an enormous effect on rock music in general, and is revered as a cultural force in the UK, but outside of alt-rock fans here, his name barely registers. CNN had a small obit on their frontpage, but so far nothing on MTV's, Rolling Stone's and Spin's sites (though it might be early for them).

Right now I think I'll play Bridget St. John (yet another artist he nurtured) in tribute.

that's the one thing that cheers me slightly: that we did love him, and we did show that love.

John was born in Heswall near Chester, and after completing his military service in Britain in 1962, went to Texas and began working for WRR radio in Dallas. At this time The Beatles success was reaching its peak and John with his Liverpool connections found it helped his ratings to claim acquaintance with the group. He was in Dallas when John F Kennedy was shot and was at the press conference just before Lee Harvey Oswald was shot.

For the next three years he moved to various radio stations in America, among them KOMA in Oklahoma City and KMEN outside Los Angeles. He returned to Britain in 1967 and joined Radio London with the celebrated show The Perfumed Garden.

John has been with Radio 1 from the beginning in 1967, establishing himself with the late night programme Top Gear. John was the first DJ to give exposure to punk, reggae, hip-hop, long before they crossed over into the mainstream. Almost anyone who is anyone in the world of music has recorded a session for Peel.

Apart from regularly topping music paper Best DJ polls, John won the 1993 Sony Award for Broadcaster of the Year and in 1994 was named Godlike Genius by the NME. He also presents Home Truths for Radio 4.

John has been awarded a host of Honorary Degrees MA (University of East Anglia), Doctorates (Polytechnic University of East Anglia and Sheffield Hallam University), Hon. Degrees (Liverpool University, Open University, Portsmouth University, Bradford University) and a Fellowship (John Moores University Liverpool).

John is a lifelong fan of the Archers. He lives in Suffolk with his wife Sheila, affectionately known as The Pig.

John recently celebrated 40 years on the air and continues to seek out the best new music around.

Six years ago. There's still an obvious void left behind.

I've been reading "John Peel: A Life in Music." The haphazardness of his early years makes it clear that the music world was very lucky to have John Peel end up doing what he did for so long. I can't imagine the stars ever aligning again to let a dj tenaciously investigate and promote and record new music, yet have the continuity of decades and the platform of a national radio broadcast.

Wow. Six years. Still missing Peel big time.

Of course there are enough shows ripped by kind people on the internet that I could probably still spend the next decade or so listening to him as much as I did in my teenage years (still sometimes find bits of paper I scrawled misheard song titles on to look up on Ceefax the next morning), but for some reason I've done very little of that. Partly not knowing where to start, partly the sadness of a show so forward-looking trapped in amber.

I listen to his shows all the time. God bless the internet.

where are some good places to get old Peel shows?

I found a bunch of Festive Fifty episodes on P1rate B4y.

there's an entire internet group dedicated to preserving and archiving those sessions... a friend of mine is in it and tyler I can try to hook you up if you fail to find other sources.

I have a bunch of "Peel out in the States" CDs, and a couple of C90s where I hadn't edited out JPeel from the songs (I did this once, tape lost anyway)

Er...this is impressive. 254 shows from '67 - '04:

http://soundcloud.com/das-boy/sets/john-peel-show/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPzyN8Qq5XA