RIP John Peel

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Last night in Liverpool, Neil & Tim Finn played at the Liverpool Empire.
For the first encore, Johnny Marr came on and they played 'There is a light that never goes out'.

Then, Neil was saying how sorry he was to hear of John Peel's untimely death - especially as they were playing in his hometown.
Someone in the crowd shouted 'Play Teenage Kicks' (refering to the seminal Undertones classic song).

Johnny Marr picked up his guitar and not only played, but sang the song too. The trio then finished with a version of 'Ferry across the Mersey'.
 
He payed our first single in 1980 and was dead proud at school the next day..without him my teenage years would have been spent at the "Hot Spot" with all the other nerds!
 
This news only filtered through to me in the US this morning when my sister emailed me to tell me - we were both regular listeners in the late 70s and most of the 80s and we are both gutted. He was singularly instrumental in bringing us both up on the likes of The Jam and SLF and sending us down the alternative music path that we still both follow (thank god!).

Peely was a legend - will be very sadly missed - I'll be sending an email to Rolling Stone today to ask for obit. :( :( :(
 
r i p

been down under for 8 months and this was the first thing i saw in the papers when i got back, a great loss to the country in general never mind the music business. the bbc pricks who have been attempting to marginalise him for the last 10 years or so should take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror before they start eulogising him for the press.
 
Posadageordie said:
Last night in Liverpool, Neil & Tim Finn played at the Liverpool Empire.
For the first encore, Johnny Marr came on and they played 'There is a light that never goes out'.

Then, Neil was saying how sorry he was to hear of John Peel's untimely death - especially as they were playing in his hometown.
Someone in the crowd shouted 'Play Teenage Kicks' (refering to the seminal Undertones classic song).

Johnny Marr picked up his guitar and not only played, but sang the song too. The trio then finished with a version of 'Ferry across the Mersey'.
Click to expand...

People like John Peel have the rare ability to unite people. Two brothers from New Zealand + a manc playing to a hall full of scousers and probably not a dry eye in the house.
 
Nicky Campbell wrote such a lovely tribute to Peelie that I might, just might, be forced to reassess my opinion of him as a first class winker (Campbell, obviously - not Peelie):

The master communicator
By Nicky Campbell
BBC Five Live presenter

John Peel was a broadcasting god. The Peelie you heard on the air was in every way the Peelie you met in the pub, chatted to in the record library and swapped gossip with in the corridor at Broadcasting House.

For any broadcaster that is the ultimate achievement. The man had a great brain.

He was erudite, knowledgeable and one of the most genuine people I've met in this or any other business.

He could also be achingly funny. When he was on the 8-10pm slot on Radio 1 I followed him from 10-12, and we got to know each other well.

Sometimes he'd make me laugh so much and always the ascorbic observation was delivered with the pointed and yet disappointed John Peel wryness.

When once I mentioned that one of our weird and wonderful colleagues had told me he patronised several charities, Peelie painfully sighed, "And can't you just hear him."

The then-controller, Johnny Beerling, had a command posted up on the studio wall in bright colours to remind us all not to get too carried away. It read: "One thought - one link."

John found that hilarious and for Peelie to receive such a bumptious and presumptuous instruction was plainly ludicrous. He was a deeply thoughtful man with a fascinating intelligence.

His command of the mother tongue - forged by a post-war upbringing and then the radicalism of the 1960s, and throughout a manifest love of language - was inspiring to listen to.

He was a master craftsman. He was a master communicator. That, married to his perpetual adolescent love for the musically marginal and utterly outre was a wonderful combination.

He was a great guy to have a good gossip with whether about politics or the current state of Radio 1.

I remember him once telling me playfully but with utter sincerity that another of our colleagues was "the most dangerous man he had ever met". Incidentally, he wasn't wrong.

And his strong sense of right and wrong, his hatred for bullies and charlatans and his humanity shone through all his work and came through the radio with every word and every record he played.

The Monday evening show the weekend after the Hillsborough tragedy was a piece of broadcasting I'll never forget.

He said nothing at the start of his show. He just played a record. A long slow record. It was Aretha Franklin's heart breaking gospel version of You'll Never Walk Alone.

I looked through the glass from my adjacent studio and John was just weeping. Silently. So were all of us - his listeners. Nothing more needed to be said.

I am pleased and proud to have known him, albeit a little. For my money, we have lost one of our greatest broadcasters.
Click to expand...

Mark Radcliffe's view is also worth a read: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3956251.stm
as is Andy Kershaw's: http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=576430.....

Andy Kershaw said:
The last time I saw him he looked absolutely worn out. He said: "They've moved me from 11pm to one at night and the combination of that and Home Truths (his Radio 4 show) is killing me." He felt he had been marginalised.
Click to expand...
:( :( :(
 
I find myself welling up everytime I see or hear anything about it now. I kind of took him for granted, his voice and influence on music were part of a generation. To be honest when I heard I was shocked but I didn't really think about it, now I have had time to reminisce it's really one of the saddest losses I can remember for a while. Cloughy's death was very sad but this feels different.

Weird I know sorry but I'm sure somebody understands what I mean?
 
I think what comes through here is that everyone who has loved music has loved what he did at some stage.

As a 46 year old, I remember the early 70's when radio was Chickory Tip and The New Seekers. Yet here was this bloke that would have Peter Hammill, Van der Graaf Generator, Kevin Ayers, Gong, and let them play live.

I also loved the way he introduced punk when others wanted it banned and I am sure that there were others before me and after me who felt he played music that others would not dare.

RIP John, and thanks
 
his legacy is living on in the past few days ive heard so many great songs which has really opened up my ears to music across a whole range of genres and styles and start to appreciate it abit more, john was a sort of teacher in that he brought this music to everyone and made you listen and get the full joy out of any song. great man, r.i.p
 
The Great Gig in the Sky will have someone in the audience who truly appreciates it; and has a copy of the demo version and will have hosted at least 2 sessions where it was played live in his house.

there are moments you remember where you were when a person with greatness died - John Peel is one of them :cry:
 
I've just been reading some of the tributes on the BBC web site and could feel tears welling up.

His influence on so many generations has been remarkable. John Peel was the soundtrack for so many people's lives. RIP John.
 
Michael Eavis from Glastonbury's announced they'll be renaming one of the stages The John Peel Stage in his honour. Nice touch.
 
a definate legend of music.

Like some on here, a relative young'un, i started listening to John in the early 1990's. Born in 1980, I wasnt able to listen to bands like Television, SLF, Undertones, Clash, Smiths, etc in their heyday. He introduced me to all of those. I can always remember listening to his show, on my shitty little Hi-Fi trying to keep the music so low that my mam wouldnt hear, but loud enough

As I say, Im part of the crowd that grew up listening to Oasis, Suede and the like so the avenues for listening to the afroementioned bands in the last paragraph wasnt open to me through any other medium than John Peels show. I feel that i apperciate life and music a lot more through this. If this was one of John Peel's objectives with his listeners, he certainly was successful.

It always felt as if he was speaking to you, and you only, on his show. I'm listening to Real Radio (Yorkshire) at the moment, as background music to working and posting :wink: . There is no feeling there, there is no connection between me and this anonymus geezer on the radio right now. With John (using his first name even though I have never met him), that was never the case. The geezer I'm listening to right now has that DJ vioce that is so interchangable, that was never the case with Peel. That was part of his allure, I'm sure of that...

I'm off to the pub tonight, with some guys I used to be in a band with. I'm sure I will raise a glass to John Peel.

RIP....
 
MACKEM ANGELS said:
Nicky Campbell wrote such a lovely tribute to Peelie that I might, just might, be forced to reassess my opinion of him as a first class winker (Campbell, obviously - not Peelie):

The master communicator
By Nicky Campbell
BBC Five Live presenter

John Peel was a broadcasting god. The Peelie you heard on the air was in every way the Peelie you met in the pub, chatted to in the record library and swapped gossip with in the corridor at Broadcasting House.

For any broadcaster that is the ultimate achievement. The man had a great brain.

He was erudite, knowledgeable and one of the most genuine people I've met in this or any other business.

He could also be achingly funny. When he was on the 8-10pm slot on Radio 1 I followed him from 10-12, and we got to know each other well.

Sometimes he'd make me laugh so much and always the ascorbic observation was delivered with the pointed and yet disappointed John Peel wryness.

When once I mentioned that one of our weird and wonderful colleagues had told me he patronised several charities, Peelie painfully sighed, "And can't you just hear him."

The then-controller, Johnny Beerling, had a command posted up on the studio wall in bright colours to remind us all not to get too carried away. It read: "One thought - one link."

John found that hilarious and for Peelie to receive such a bumptious and presumptuous instruction was plainly ludicrous. He was a deeply thoughtful man with a fascinating intelligence.

His command of the mother tongue - forged by a post-war upbringing and then the radicalism of the 1960s, and throughout a manifest love of language - was inspiring to listen to.

He was a master craftsman. He was a master communicator. That, married to his perpetual adolescent love for the musically marginal and utterly outre was a wonderful combination.

He was a great guy to have a good gossip with whether about politics or the current state of Radio 1.

I remember him once telling me playfully but with utter sincerity that another of our colleagues was "the most dangerous man he had ever met". Incidentally, he wasn't wrong.

And his strong sense of right and wrong, his hatred for bullies and charlatans and his humanity shone through all his work and came through the radio with every word and every record he played.

The Monday evening show the weekend after the Hillsborough tragedy was a piece of broadcasting I'll never forget.

He said nothing at the start of his show. He just played a record. A long slow record. It was Aretha Franklin's heart breaking gospel version of You'll Never Walk Alone.

I looked through the glass from my adjacent studio and John was just weeping. Silently. So were all of us - his listeners. Nothing more needed to be said.

I am pleased and proud to have known him, albeit a little. For my money, we have lost one of our greatest broadcasters.
Click to expand...

Mark Radcliffe's view is also worth a read: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3956251.stm
as is Andy Kershaw's: http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=576430.....

Andy Kershaw said:
The last time I saw him he looked absolutely worn out. He said: "They've moved me from 11pm to one at night and the combination of that and Home Truths (his Radio 4 show) is killing me." He felt he had been marginalised.
Click to expand...
:( :( :(
Click to expand...

I liked Radcliffe's quote along the lines of "I never got over the thrill of calling John Peel a friend"

I just hope Peel knew what the entire population of the UK thought of him before he died. I think he did
 
Travis said:
I find myself welling up everytime I see or hear anything about it now. I kind of took him for granted, his voice and influence on music were part of a generation. To be honest when I heard I was shocked but I didn't really think about it, now I have had time to reminisce it's really one of the saddest losses I can remember for a while. Cloughy's death was very sad but this feels different.

Weird I know sorry but I'm sure somebody understands what I mean?
Click to expand...

Feel exactly the same marra
 
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