John Peel - RIP: The most important broadcaster ever.
Radio DJ   John Peel   died last week, and the world of music will never be the same. John Peel gave big breaks to more bands than anyone else in the UK music industry.
His patronage brought onto the airwaves 'new music', for the first time the likes of David Bowie, Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Buzzcocks, The Smiths, The Manic Street Preachers, Radiohead, Blur and Joy Division got a chance to be heard.
All other DJs, radio programmes and TV programmes of the day would only ever play established and trusted artists whose popularity was guaranteed. He really would trawl through the mailbags of demo cassettes. That's why we had Pulp and T-Rex, because he'd been discovering bands like that since 1967. U2, Nirvana, The Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd, The White Stripes, and The Sex Pistols are among the others he helped introduce to the public. He also got the first radio play of fellow Liverpudlian's The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
He would invite artists into the studio to record 'sessions' to play on his show. Later the 'Peel Sessions' recordings would be issued on record/CD as musical releases in their own right. 'Peel Sessions' broadcasts released include (amongst others): Jimi Hendrix, New Order, Buzzcocks, The Smiths, The Fall, Syd Barrett, Tim Buckley, Ultravox, Thin Lizzy, Happy Mondays, The Damned, Stiff Little Fingers, The Undertones, Billy Bragg, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Jesus and Mary Chain, Smashing Pumpkins, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Madness, Robert Wyatt, The Jam, Adam & The Ants, Graham Parker, Bonzo Dog Band, Lindisfarne, Napalm Death, Nico, The Only Ones, Family, Kevin Coyne, Soft Machine, The Cure, and my personal favourites - Led Zeppelin on the BBC (mostly from the Peel sessions) and Peter Hammill.
My own personal memories include my first hearings of The Buzzcocks (Boredom), Jimi Hendrix (If six was nine), The Smiths (Hand in Glove), and Elvis Costello. Also I first heard of the deaths of Elvis Presley and John Lennon on his show.
"If it wasn't for John Peel, there would be no Joy Division and no New Order" -
Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order.
"If it wasn't for John Peel, Black Sabbath would never have been played on the radio." - Ozzy Osbourne
"We would try out new songs on the (Peel) sessions and these often were the definitive version" -
Johnny Marr of The Smiths
"His patronage was one of the most significant things that happened to us in our careers" -
Blur lead singer Damon Albarn.
"Inspirational since the age of 14. Who am I going to listen to now?" - Radiohead singer Thom Yorke
"The single most important broadcaster we have ever known" - Feargal Sharkey of The Undertones.
"A unique voice in British broadcasting - used that voice to unearth new talent and different subjects and make them accessible to a much wider audience." - Tony Blair
Over one hundred albums or EPs have been released as part of the Peel Sessions, by almost that number of different artists.
I just ordered:
Nirvana - The Peel Sessions CD
and
David Bowie - Radio Sessions with John Peel 1969-73
There was a BBC documentary on TV last night in tribute to John Peel. It was followed by a documentary that was made a couple of years ago about his contribution, which followed him around for a few weeks. It made the point that some people have their egos inflated by fame, and others are humbled by it. John Peel fell into the latter category, never understanding the fuss. He likened himself to the owner of an art gallery showing the next generation of great artists. The acclaim was due to the artists - not the gallery owner.
His long time producer (John Walters) described that certain BBC radio executives had regularly wanted him off their schedules to make way for more mainstream music. He would argue that their insistance on mainstream scheduling attracted great criticism, and that the inclusion of Peel added great credibility to their (BBC) radio network (the BBC radio franchise from the government sets out certain quality programming criteria, new music, hours of broadcast, news content, documentary content, plays, opera, classical music, etc). He also advocated that John Peel could actually be the most significant contribution made to British culture by BBC radio at the end of the day. Most of those BBC radio executives have come and long since gone over the years, whilst John Peel remained.
John Peel worked in the USA from 1960 to 1967 under the name of John Ravencroft, including Oklahoma radio KOMA, and was in Dallas in 1963 when Kennedy was shot, and can be seen in the background of one of the TV press conferences following the shooting.
When he returned to the UK he was asked by a radio station what name he wanted to use on air, and with his droll Liverpudlain humour (a la Beatles), he replied "Helen Llewellyn Product 19".
Check this out - the price!
At the funeral today, widely covered on UK TV, were the White Stripes and Jarvis Cocker.
I don't think there is anyone interested in music ... who doesn't owe John Peel something. Paul Morley (Art of Noise).
Trawling through the mailbags of demo cassettes, never having the time to listen to them all, he said that he was in constant fear of those artists that he missed - had he missed the next Bowie or Radiohead ?
Living in America, I never had the pleasure of hearing John Peel on the radio, but I certainly heard his name quite a few times. Knowing that he often championed bands that he believed in, rather than the ones that were simply "hip" or popular, makes his a voice that will be missed. Amazing that someone could be so passionate about new music for thirty-five or forty years; I'm sure most of his peers had given up on exploring what's new long ago. Very informative essay.
Johnny Waco
The Peel Sessions recordings are quite incredible - unique. Go to Amazon.com (or better still, Amazon.co.uk) and search (under 'popular music') for 'Peel Sessions'.
Great Article
he was without a doubt a great guy. i sadly never heard him on the radio, but have seen him on numerous Glastonbury coverage shows, also seen clips of his radio shows on tv. in both of those he seemed to be this nice guy who really spoke to the people of the indie music scene. At the Glastonbery shows, he always made shout out to smaller bands that he liked in the smalller tent shows and that was great to see. a great guy overall. - RIP john Peel
I first heard   Cockney Rebel   (Sebastian) on the John Peel show.
Tribute by Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers)
Definately the greatest music broadcaster ever. I own some Peel Sessions of various artists and find him to have an awesome music taste. It's not surprising that some BBC radio executives over the years would have liked to have gotten rid of him. The sort of broadcaster who gives Trout Mask Replica radioplay is not going to have masses of fans, however he did have a strong cult following. I only wish that I'd been old enough to have bothered discovering him before he sadly passed away. To have listened to his radio show would have been awesome.