Thinking last night....WIll BBC radio realise what they've lost here and realise they should now push other DJ's of the Peel ilk to the fore for the sake of intelligent music choice (Andy Kershaw, Mark Radcliffe for example).
Or can we now expect nothing other than the Children's TV presenters and Streetwise Urban types that seem to be the norm now for peak time listening.
The BBC so obviously understand what they lost that yesterday a certain DJ was playing Atmosphere and claiming it as Peels' favourite song! If they knew what they had they wouldn't have spent fifteen years trying to marginalise him in the schedules I suspect.
My own thought is that, if you put aside the influence he had on you personally and your tastes and what a genuinely nice person he appears to have been, the thing that actually distinguished him from all the rest and made him utterly unique was not, as has been claimed elsehwhere, that he was near the cutting edge, or that he championed quality music, or even that his taste was so broad. It was simply that, whilst he had his own opinions of good and bad, he tended to put those aside to let people make up their own mind.
I have never heard such appalling music as I heard on the Peel shows but equally he didn't censor that. He let me make up my own mind. All the Kershaws, Radcliffes etc. love music but that is the one thing they have never been able to do. What others give you is their version of good music. Peels version was that all music is good and that it wasn't his job to determine what was good for other people to listen to. THAT, above ALL else, was what truly made him unique.
God bless Peely.
Posts: 733 | Location: Welsh exile in English hell | Registered: Tue 11 March 2003
John Peel's passing did prompt me to wonder what Radio 1 will do now. Whilst he was around I suppose they felt obliged to give airplay to obscure acts of whatever calibre. Will that continue? Moreover will Radio 1 now feel 'freed up' to give up on 'cutting edge' music altogether, now that they no longer have a 'big name' to champion their cause? Instead might they go unashamedly mainstream and concentrate on squabbling for ratings with the commercial stations?
We will not see his like again. He comes from an era of DJ's who played for the people, the new music that excited them and not market research driven 'playlists'.
It is in a way, remarkable that he survived in the 'establishment' BBC. A testament to his charming, humourous and intelligent reasoning I imagine.
How many other popular music DJ's have the range of broadcasting enthusiasm and ability that JP brought to 'Home Truths'?
Did you see Andy Kershaw on 'The Six'? The media normally wheel people out to make the right noises on these occasions, but the poor guy looked genuinely shell shocked.
That said it all.
John.
Posts: 5040 | Location: Norwich, Norfolk UK | Registered: Tue 11 December 2001
Well put. I picked up innumerable things from Peel (though not lately I'll admit), but there've been many many times when I've almost switched off because of what he was playing.
nick.lees at btinternet.com
Posts: 3826 | Location: Kent, UK | Registered: Sat 16 June 2001
Mike is right - there were periods (e.g. the early eighties) when the industry in general and the BBC in particular were quite content to maginalise Peel, leaving him in his graveyard slot with his listeners.
There is something slightly depressing about R1's coverage and 'tributes'. I thought the Lamacq choices on last night's show were safe in the extreme (if he played any Fall or Beefheart he must have played them very early on - because I didn't hear any).
I left the radio tuned to R1, so instead of the sonourous tones of the Today Programme, the less sonourous tones of that twat Moyles woke me up. They were all having a snigger about trying to set fire to Peel at an Xams party, rapidly pointing out that obviously they thought he was a really great guy.
Perhaps there is a happy irony in that Peel, because of his longevity and loyal following, had a profound effect not just on music radio, but on music in general - while the vast majority of BBC pap-product DJs are happily forgotten quite quickly.
Tim
Posts: 892 | Location: Rainy Putney | Registered: Sun 13 August 2000
On Radio 3's Late Junction I thought Verity Sharp had it just about right. She played Country Joe's Porpoise Mouth because it reminded her of an interview she did with him (he was waxing lyrical about psychedelia), said a few words about him and then said something along the lines of: I'm going to get on with what John would have wanted me to do - play lots of obscure music. And she did.
nick.lees at btinternet.com
Posts: 3826 | Location: Kent, UK | Registered: Sat 16 June 2001
quote:Originally posted by Mike Hughes: The BBC so obviously understand what they lost that yesterday a certain DJ was playing Atmosphere and claiming it as Peels' favourite song!
Peels' actual favourite tune was "Teenage Kicks" by the Undertones.
Posts: 1339 | Location: Newcastle, Washington, USA | Registered: Fri 04 June 2004
quote: ... I'm going to get on with what John would have wanted me to do - play lots of obscure music. And she did.
I remember the day when Bill Shankly died; John opened his show with "You'll Never Walk Alone" and never said a word about Shanks - just carried on as normal.
Posts: 1429 | Location: UK | Registered: Sat 30 December 2000
OK. Teenage Kicks may have been his much publicised favorite record but I'm a Lonesome Fugitive was his favourite song. The song he sang in the shower.
Everyone always says Teenage Kicks was John's favourite track. Anyone know why when he did his top 50 alltime Festive 50 tracks in 2000 he put Atmosphere at No1 ahead of it? Can't remember listening to that show.
You've lost me on that one sir. Teenage Kicks was a single song and not an album. Both songs and tracks are interchangeable terms for what goes on vinyl, cd etc. Therefore, it would be the same as a song, would it not???
Peel himself explained his festive fifty choice as being just that. A compilation of the favourite things he had played over the years but not necessarily in the order he would have played them or like them. In other words, he had taken account of other people's views etc.
He did also point out that what he sang in the shower was tempered to the extent it might sound ludicrous, thus, no Teenage Kicks by a middle aged man with teenagers at home.
There, that was simple. Anything else?
Mike
Posts: 733 | Location: Welsh exile in English hell | Registered: Tue 11 March 2003
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