Favourite John Peel quotes

"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.