10 Reasons Why John Peel Was Cool Tuesday October 26, 2004 @ 04:30 PM By: ChartAttack.com Staff
It is with great regret that we announce that legendary British DJ John Peel has died. Peel was on holiday in Peru with his wife Sheila when he suffered a sudden heart attack. He was 65 years old.
Usually we at ChartAttack reserve our special obituaries for musicians, but Peel was particularly integral in the world of alternative music - more so than almost any musician we can think of. So, rather than dwell on the shock and sadness of his death, we prefer to celebrate his amazing life. Here are our Top 10 Reasons Why John Peel Was Cool.
1. North American music fans have always been jealous of the U.K.'s music climate - music isn't background noise there, it's a true part of everyday culture. It's a scene where bands like The Flaming Lips and The White Stripes are as valued as Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Why? Well, a lot of it's got to do with John Peel.
2. John Peel hosted his show on BBC Radio 1 for almost 40 years. He started the gig when the station started and worked there up until the time of his death. Peel was the only member of the original Radio 1 line-up who was still on air in 2004.
3. Unlike so many other radio DJs, Peel was graceful, soft-spoken and incredibly well informed. He didn't just read back the name of the tunes, he educated and charmed his audience.
4. John Peel was an original pirate radio star. After a stint on-air in Dallas Texas in the '60s, Peel returned to the U.K. and joined the pirate station Radio London. To protect his identity, John Robert Parker Ravenscroft changed his name to John Peel.
5. Peel is largely credited with breaking punk rock into mainstream Britain. While he started on Radio 1 playing mainstream rock, he quickly added punk bands to his playlist and later broke bands like Joy Division and The Undertones.
6. The greatest thing about Peel's show was that he never stuck to one genre of music. Sure, he's famous for introducing bands like The Smiths to the general public, but he would also throw reggae, hip-hop and world beat onto the airwaves. He defined himself by his love of good music, not specific trends or genres. His show motto was "A balance between things that you know people will like and things that you think people will like."
7. When Peel really liked a band, he'd invite them in-studio to record a live "Peel Session." Often the recordings were so great that the band would release the session as a proper record. Bands that have released Peel sessions over the years include The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Fall, New Order, The Pixies, Stereolab, The Wedding Present, The Smiths, The U.K. Subs, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, The Jam and many, many others.
8. In recent years, Peel branched out beyond his role as a music tastemaker. He hosted the BBC Radio Four program Home Truths (which dealt with family life) and narrated BBC TV's Grumpy Old Men.
9. Even though he was older than many young band's parents, Peel was exploring, enjoying and sharing new music right up to the time of his death. He eagerly accepted demos from young bands and was constantly breaking new bands.
10. John Peel turned countless young music fans into true connoisseurs. Although the show was hard to listen to in North America (until it began to appear online in recent years), almost every hardcore music fan has gone to lengths to hear episodes of Peel's show. Be it through tape exchanges with U.K. pen pals or experiments with short wave radio, discovering Peel has long been a musical rite of passage - all of which pales in comparison to the thrill that U.K. fans must have experienced growing up and listening to Peel every week. He truly shaped that way countless people listen to music, and for that he will be truly, truly missed.
-Elizabeth Chorney-Booth