John Peel Day

[Bored Of Education]

7 years ago today

I appeared on John Peel shows on Radio 1 (two sessions) and Radio 4 (a documentary that he did on people who were born on Christmas Day) and I then rang him up on Radio 5 to ask him if I was the only person to have done this. That must be some sort of record multi-radio frequency Peel link. He even remembered the band I was in - or pretended to, sweetly - and described us as 'noisy fun'.

Him saying "..and on bass, Max Yobitch [our bassists nom de plume] not his christened name, I think" on the aforementioned sessions

I remember he was sitting behind me at Glastonbury during the World Cup in 1994 and explaining to his mate what was going on and I realised that John Peel commentating on football matches would be ace. Man, I miss him.

A previously, to me anyway, unheard piece of genius

[Gangster Octopus]

John Peel Day

The original thread.

[Sits]

John Peel Day

In my formative years I used to illicitly listen to my transistor radio after lights out, and when John Peel's intro music came on at 10pm I knew I was up really late.

I remember that in amongst The Fall, Siouxsie etc. he had a soft spot for Sheena Easton.

What a great bloke. Not because of the Sheena Easton thing. He just was.

[Toby Gymshorts]

John Peel Day

R.I.P. John.

I'm still really sad.

[EIM]

John Peel Day

http://peelplayer.com

Every track from every festive fifty ever.

[Toby Gymshorts]

John Peel Day

I think I fucking love you.

[EIM]

John Peel Day

I am rather spiffing, as it goes.

[Toby Gymshorts]

John Peel Day

And I am only human.

[Calvert]

John Peel Day

Here!
Peelplayer has a Fall song every second track.
Fuck that.

I remember listening to him once way back in the days of vinyl and he played a Ramones single which kept skipping.
Other people may have apologised and taken it off but he let it skip through to the end then said 'that was the Ramones - it jumped a bit, but I'm sure you did too'.

Introducing TOTP always looked like a real chore to him.
The sarcasm was professionally restrained.

[Amor de Cosmos]

John Peel Day

I didn't know he'd done TOTP. Dumb idea. If anyone was built for radio, and radio only, it was surely JP.

[Calvert]

John Peel Day

Maybe I dreamt that he'd done TOTP.

Nah, I'm sure I remember him putting on a brave face introducing some of the aural shite passed by that programme.

Must have been contractual for R1 D.J's.

[I.Wright]

John Peel Day

"Hello, this is Top Of The Pops. He's Kid Jensen. If you don't know me, I'm the bloke who plays screaming Belgians at 10 o'clock"

One of Peel's many sarcastic lines on TotP.

[Calvert]

John Peel Day

Superb.

Didn't he appear with Rod Stewart miming mandolin and pissing himself laughing?

[I.Wright]

John Peel Day

Isn't youtube great. Seems the Belgian quote wasn't quite accurate.

[Calvert]

John Peel Day

Hahaha.
A 14 year ban, indeed.
Respect, sir.

[Wyatt Earp]

John Peel Day

No, AdC, it was great to have him on Top of the Pops. He didn't get to say much, but it was great anyway. The more Good Stuff on TOTP, the better; this was the Clash's great error. And, Calvert, I think he properly wanted to do it.

[torres]

John Peel Day

After a song by Aretha Franklin and George Michael once he said "that woman could make any song sound good, and I think she just has"

Nicky Campbell introduced a few editions with him and he loved his time with Peel.

[delicatemoth]

John Peel Day

Sheriff John Stone wrote:

http://peelplayer.com

Every track from every festive fifty ever.

Except 'I Wish I Could Sprechen Sie Deutsch' by Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle. There's something else there instead.

torres, I think it was "any old rubbish" and I think that's why they dropped him from presenting duties.

[torres]

John Peel Day

Ah, thanks delicatemoth.

[Amor de Cosmos]

John Peel Day

Why at Last! wrote:

No, AdC, it was great to have him on Top of the Pops. He didn't get to say much, but it was great anyway. The more Good Stuff on TOTP, the better; this was the Clash's great error. And, Calvert, I think he properly wanted to do it.

In that sense I suppose so. To me though he was this warm audible presence, like John Arlott or 'Uncle Mac' on Children's Favourites. I never wanted to see JP, it would diminish him somehow. That was the great thing about radio, people lived in your ears and your head, nowhere else. It was a special, far more intimate world, than TV.

[Calvert]

John Peel Day

Why at Last! wrote:

... this was the Clash's great error.

Aye, it was the ruination of them, they could've sold a few more units.
All they had to do was mime for two and a half minutes but they just wouldn't do it.The awkward squad, that's what I call them.
They may even have made it onto Christmas TOTP, been introduced by DLT and fired out White Man In Hammersmith Palais dressed as Santa while your gran tapped her foot and ate her turkey.

[E10 Rifle]

John Peel Day

A scenario which I find impossible to disapprove of, personally.

The Clash snubbed TOTP, but capitalism found a way round it somehow and soldiered on, the sneaky bastard

[Mr Beast]

John Peel Day

John Peel was great on TOTP in the mid 80’s. I remember after Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love video was played he said “Robert Palmer there…nice to see he’s ditched all that sexist nonsense.”

Just what is missing since he died is summed up nicely by Jarvis Cocker:

"Peel's appeal came down to something very simple: he was an enthusiast. The only reason he was doing what he was doing was because he loved it - and he loved it so much that he wanted to share it with people. To have your own radio show and play just what you like! To communicate with the audience just as if you were talking to a friend. What a simple idea! How obvious!
So how come no one else is doing it?"

[Greenlander]

John Peel Day

Thanks SJS for the peelplayer. I spent half the night reliving my youth but did this really make the Festive 50?

No.35 1993 - The Boo Radleys new direction?

[Wyatt Earp]

John Peel Day

Calvert W. McCutcheon wrote:

Aye, it was the ruination of them, they could've sold a few more units.

You think I meant "commercial error"?