First published Inpress, Melbourne on 3 November 2004
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here
"Cry like a child, though these years make me older…"
Joy Division – The Eternal
I’ve always blamed John Peel for not seeing Nirvana play the Kilburn National on Thursday 5 December 1991. Why? A repeat of a Peel session from hotly-tipped band of the moment Curve a few weeks earlier led me to go to the London Astoria that night instead.
I related this story to some mates at a gig the night we learned that John Peel, probably the most important single figure in British contemporary music of the last 40 years, had died of a heart attack. The band, Oceansize, appropriately dedicated a song to Peel that night; an occurrence probably repeated at gigs all over the country, if not the world, that night.
It’s virtually impossible to explain how big an impact his sudden death made here. Radio 1 dropped their playlist, the 24-hour rolling news stations stopped rolling; nearly a third of the evening news was dedicated to this story. This was continued in large appraisals and features in the papers the following day. It was a though a major historical figure had died; which they had.
In an Australian chatroom, someone asked why were “Aussies banging on about a DJ from the UK who they have no access to”? Well…
The Peel Sessions not only gave new bands exposure, but the chance to record their music in a professional studio – something that might not have been possible without Peel’s patronage. This was the door opened for The Birthday Party and The Go-Betweens.
If you ever managed to listen to his shows, on World Service, online, or maybe something taped off the radio from the pre-internet days, you would realise that his tastes ran far wider than just Indie. He also brought dub, reggae, techno, hardhouse, death metal and you-name-it, to a conservative, but national, youth radio station. Without his pioneering beliefs and genuine eclecticism, we may never have had RRR or JJJ.
Although broadcasting from within the Establishment, he alone retained his autonomy, with carte blanche gained from his early days on offshore pirate radio. His shows were notorious for their rough edges, with records famously being played at the wrong speed, and song titles forgotten. What stitched it all together was John Peel’s dry laconic wit, delivered in his low, yet tuneful, gravelly tones.
But how widespread the impact of his unexpected death was didn’t really hit home until I heard some senior citizens discussing it the next day. When one opined, “Saturday mornings won’t be the same”, that I realised exactly how they were affected. They knew Peelie not as the groundbreaking late-night Radio 1 jock, but as the presenter of Radio 4’s Home Truths.
Home Truths is a spoken word show, which for six years has allowed normal people to share their stories of everyday life in British families. As its host, it was Peel’s special ability to listen that made the show work. So, whether he applied this skill to an unknown band’s demo tape or a Home Truths listener bringing her love of sniffing her cat to the nation’s attention, it didn’t really matter. What always shone through was his genuine interest and love of what he did.
In later years, his late night Radio 1 shows were broadcast directly from “Peel Acres”, his rambling barn in Suffolk. A few months back, his show was pushed back from 10 till 11 p.m. His long-term colleague Andy Kershaw said that Peel had recently said that this shift was killing him, and he was feeling marginalised and undervalued.
The most remarkable thing about his death has been the lack of any tall poppy response. Despite his inexplicable love of The Wedding Present, the worst thing you could say was that maybe his taste was too eclectic, which could make his shows hard to listen to. The overriding feeling is that this just isn’t fair! I was supposed to be able to grow old, still secretly listening to new sounds late at night, recapturing that feeling of nights when you were meant to be studying, but found what was happening on the radio far more exciting.
Without John Peel, I might never have heard so much music. So if I missed one band because of a conflict, I saw so many others. Thank you.
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft OBE (aka John Peel) 1939 –2004 – “Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat”
I related this story to some mates at a gig the night we learned that John Peel, probably the most important single figure in British contemporary music of the last 40 years, had died of a heart attack. The band, Oceansize, appropriately dedicated a song to Peel that night; an occurrence probably repeated at gigs all over the country, if not the world, that night.
It’s virtually impossible to explain how big an impact his sudden death made here. Radio 1 dropped their playlist, the 24-hour rolling news stations stopped rolling; nearly a third of the evening news was dedicated to this story. This was continued in large appraisals and features in the papers the following day. It was a though a major historical figure had died; which they had.
In an Australian chatroom, someone asked why were “Aussies banging on about a DJ from the UK who they have no access to”? Well…
The Peel Sessions not only gave new bands exposure, but the chance to record their music in a professional studio – something that might not have been possible without Peel’s patronage. This was the door opened for The Birthday Party and The Go-Betweens.
If you ever managed to listen to his shows, on World Service, online, or maybe something taped off the radio from the pre-internet days, you would realise that his tastes ran far wider than just Indie. He also brought dub, reggae, techno, hardhouse, death metal and you-name-it, to a conservative, but national, youth radio station. Without his pioneering beliefs and genuine eclecticism, we may never have had RRR or JJJ.
Although broadcasting from within the Establishment, he alone retained his autonomy, with carte blanche gained from his early days on offshore pirate radio. His shows were notorious for their rough edges, with records famously being played at the wrong speed, and song titles forgotten. What stitched it all together was John Peel’s dry laconic wit, delivered in his low, yet tuneful, gravelly tones.
But how widespread the impact of his unexpected death was didn’t really hit home until I heard some senior citizens discussing it the next day. When one opined, “Saturday mornings won’t be the same”, that I realised exactly how they were affected. They knew Peelie not as the groundbreaking late-night Radio 1 jock, but as the presenter of Radio 4’s Home Truths.
Home Truths is a spoken word show, which for six years has allowed normal people to share their stories of everyday life in British families. As its host, it was Peel’s special ability to listen that made the show work. So, whether he applied this skill to an unknown band’s demo tape or a Home Truths listener bringing her love of sniffing her cat to the nation’s attention, it didn’t really matter. What always shone through was his genuine interest and love of what he did.
In later years, his late night Radio 1 shows were broadcast directly from “Peel Acres”, his rambling barn in Suffolk. A few months back, his show was pushed back from 10 till 11 p.m. His long-term colleague Andy Kershaw said that Peel had recently said that this shift was killing him, and he was feeling marginalised and undervalued.
The most remarkable thing about his death has been the lack of any tall poppy response. Despite his inexplicable love of The Wedding Present, the worst thing you could say was that maybe his taste was too eclectic, which could make his shows hard to listen to. The overriding feeling is that this just isn’t fair! I was supposed to be able to grow old, still secretly listening to new sounds late at night, recapturing that feeling of nights when you were meant to be studying, but found what was happening on the radio far more exciting.
Without John Peel, I might never have heard so much music. So if I missed one band because of a conflict, I saw so many others. Thank you.
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft OBE (aka John Peel) 1939 –2004 – “Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat”
© James McGalliard 2007
