Tribute to John Peel, Britain's Preeminent DJ

Many years ago in a land far away (namely Britain) before CD's, MP3's and Digital downloading became the norm of the day the only way to hear good new interesting music was to either follow the ramblings of music journalists writing for the popular music papers of the day, i.e. NME, Sounds, Melody Maker and the like or to listen to the 'John Peel' show. John Peel was probably the most famous British Disc Jokey ever and had a huge influence on the British Music Industry including some of the DJ's who would come to follow. People such as 'Andy Kershaw' and 'Janice Long' - Both of whom I had a lot of time for in the 80's and who both managed to develop their own unique styles whilst being a little more contemporary (aka earlier time slots) than Mr. Peel. I think he also had a big impact on the next wave of British Bands in the late 70's early 80's. Giving exposure to bands who wouldn't otherwise have seen the light of day with his brave and rebellious play lists he really helped to promote the Indie Label ideal. This was a time when 'Indie' really meant 'Independent' and didn't just relate to a style of music.

The reason 'John Peel' was such a great show to listen was partly that he didn't compartmentalize (is that a word - spell-check, yes it is!) himself to listening to just certain types of music. He was absolutely a bastion for the Punk/Indie movement of the mid-late 70's but he also introduced me and many thousands of other listeners to other worldy delights from across all sorts of international ponds. There was rarely heard Reggae from Jamaica (Let's face it, other than Bob Marley a young white boy in Britain would hardly ever get to hear any other reggae groups), The Bhundu Boys from Africa (A group he championed until they even managed to tour Britain and I'm sure this was down to him), the burgeoning grunge sound of Nirvana in the late 80's along with the best of the British talent including Punk, Electronic, Garage, Acoustic, Experimental, well pretty much everything and anything you could think of was at one time represented on his show. In fact he went out of his way to find music that you wouldn't get to hear anywhere else. Of course with this he paid the price in as much as his time slot was pushed to around 10-11pm at night. But he always had a devoted audience and many's the night I would lie in bed with my headphones on being lulled to dreamy bliss by the likes of 'The Fall' or some never heard before 30's blues record (scratches and all).

To be sure not everything he played was going to be to your liking but you just never knew when your musical life was going to change. When you would have an epiphany, much like the one he had playing "The Undertones" 'Teenage Kicks'. I particularly remember when he played "The Nails" '88 Lines about 44 women' and the subsequent influx of mail he received regarding the song and how people could get hold of it. Remember, this is the mid 80's. Back then you had to work to track down your favorite groups and sometimes you actually had to put pen to paper and converse with people, this could result in spending as much as 13 British Pennies on a Stamp - Horror!

He loved to champion bands that he thought needed listening too and had a well known almost symbiotic relationship with the Undertones ever since making it plainly obvious to anyone with ears that 'Teenage Kicks' was his favorite record by playing it endlessly upon it's release. His unbridled enthusiasm for new and diverse music dragged me out of my closeted ways. You see at the time I got into music (this was about 78'-79') Punk was the cool thing to listen too and he helped introduce me to a whole other world of music I just didn't know existed.

It was with great sorrow that I heard of his passing back in October, 2004. He was beloved by pretty much everybody in the music-scene in Britain and his free-spirited ways will surely be missed. His charismatic and gentle low-key voice was instantly recognizable and even when not playing music I enjoyed his engaging rhetoric and the unbridled enthusiasm he showed when talking about the songs he played from his play-list. If I learnt anything from him it was to keep your mind open try new things but above all to have the guts to like what you like and that's why I can play 'Dancing Queen' by "Abba" followed by 'What a Day' by "Throbbing Gristle" and not feel weird about it. Not feeling weird is a great feeling.

Thanks John.