# John Peel died. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223 "2004-10-26T13:01:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/21 "2004-10-26T14:26:38Z")
I grew up with him too, and have him to thank (together with Andy Kershaw) for a broad and eclectic taste in music. Before I moved to the UK in 1982 we colonials used to get his show through British Forces Radio. In more recent years he started doing Home Truths on Radio Four which was a little more staid and middle aged, but by that stage so was I. I felt as if I knew the man and his family. It’s a bit like when Brian Redhead died. ☹ I expected him to be around for a good few more years. It’s like losing your cool role model young uncle. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/22 "2004-10-26T14:34:04Z")
> [@Kymodoce](#): > > I dare say Boris will soon be telling us we are overdoing the grief. I think that grief and scousers are two subjects that Boris may be avoiding for a while yet. To give people who might not be familiar with him an idea of his scope and influence this is his all time fewstive fifty (from 2000). The festive fifity was songs voted for by his listeners at Christmas, and this is a compilation 1976-2000. by my counting he was responsible for starting or nurturing the UK careers of all but three of this lot: 01 Joy Division - ’ Atmosphere’ (Factory) 02 Undertones - ’ Teenage Kicks’ (Good Vibrations) 03 Joy Division - ’ Love Will Tear Us Apart’ (Factory) 04 Sex Pistols - ’ Anarchy In The UK’ (EMI) 05 Clash - ‘(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais’ (CBS) 06 New Order - ’ Blue Monday’ (Factory) 07 Smiths - ’ How Soon Is Now?’ (Rough Trade) 08 Nirvana - ’ Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (Geffen) 09 Smiths - ’ There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ (Rough Trade) 10 This Mortal Coil - ’ Song To The Siren’ (4AD) 11 Robert Wyatt - ’ Shipbuilding’ (Rough Trade) 12 Pulp - ’ Common People’ (Island) 13 Capt Beefheart & His Magic Band - ’ Big Eyed Beans From Venus’ (Reprise) 14 Dead Kennedy’ s - ’ Holiday In Cambodia’ (Cherry Red) 15 Joy Division - ’ New Dawn Fades’ (Factory) 16 My Bloody Valentine - ’ Soon’ (Creation) 17 New Order - ’ Ceremony’ (Factory) 18 Only Ones - ’ Another Girl, Another Planet’ (CBS) 19 New Order - ’ Temptation’ (Factory) 20 Joy Division - ’ She’s Lost Control’ (Factory) 21 Wedding Present - ’ Brassneck’ (RCA) 22 Smiths - ’ This Charming Man’ (WEA) 23 Sugarcubes - ’ Birthday’ (One Little Indian) 24 Fall - ’ How I Wrote ‘Elastic Man’’ (Rough Trade) 25 Wedding Present - ’ My Favourite Dress’ (Reception) 26 Delgados - ’ Pull The Wires From the Wall’ (Chemikal Underground) 27 My Bloody Valentine - ’ You Made Me Realise’ (Creation) 28 Joy Division - ’ Transmission’ (Factory) 29 Sex Pistols - ’ Pretty Vacant’ (Virgin) 30 Pixies - ’ Debaser’ (4AD) 31 Belle & Sebastian - ’ Lazy Line Painter Jane’ (Jeepster) 32 New Order - ’ True Faith’ (Factory) 33 Clash - ’ Complete Control’ (CBS) 34 Fall - ’ Totally Wired’ (Rough Trade) 35 Jam - ’ Going Underground’ (Polydor) 36 Stereolab - ’ French Disko’ (Duophonic) 37 Jimi Hendrix Experience - ’ All Along The Watchtower’ (Polydor) 38 Fall - ’ The Classical’ (Situation Two) 39 Damned - ’ New Rose’ (Stiff) 40 Tim Buckley - ’ Song To The Siren’ (Straight) 41 Beach Boys - ’ God Only Knows’ (Capitol) 42 Velvet Underground - ’ Heroin’ (MGM) 43 Nick Drake - ’ Northern Sky’ (Island) 44 Bob Dylan - ’ Visions Of Johanna’ (CBS) 45 Beatles - ’ I Am The Walrus’ (Parlophone) 46 Beach Boys - ’ Good Vibrations’ (Capitol) 47 Sundays - ’ Can’ t Be Sure’ (Rough Trade) 48 Culture - ’ Lion Rock’ (Strange Fruit) 49 P J Harvey - ’ Sheela-na-gig’ (Too Pure) 50 Pavement - ’ Here’ (Big Cat) ---
**Author:** ![Ithaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Ithaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ithaka)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/23 "2004-10-26T15:07:28Z")
Really, really bad news. This has almost got me crying at work. I just like to add that as well as all the music stuff he was well known for Radio 4’s Home Truths. This summed him up for me - an ordinary bloke telling ordinary stories, but somehow creating something extraordinary. Through that show I almost feel I know his family. I wish them well. ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/24 "2004-10-26T15:25:12Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Oh NO. ☹ When I saw the headline on Yahoo news, those were my exact words too. Probably with the same amount of feeling. I met him about 5 or 6 years ago at Reading Festival. I cannot for the life of me remember what we talked about, (except for a little bit about Fun Lovin’ Criminals after Huey Morgan walked past us), but I do know that he was in no rush to move on; he was just happy to talk music with anyone that wanted to. Definitely one of the nicest people I’ve met. What a sad day this is. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/25 "2004-10-26T15:26:22Z")
Oops, forgot to log **Grace** out before posting. Must be that I can’t see behind the tears or something :smack: ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/26 "2004-10-26T15:37:50Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Bill Nicholson on Saturday and John Peel today - my youth is being destroyed by the day. > > John Peel’s show was an english institution - 10.02pm (after the news) every weekday night (in my day) that 12 bar blues (by Grinderswitch dontcha know)would herald two hours of stuff that was worth hearing, not necessarily something you were going to like (lots of it was god awful and he did have a thing for Scitti Politti that completely baffled me) but you never knew if the next record would be something as exciting and different as Joy Division, The undertones; XTC; The Slits etc. > > The English punk and new wave scene would certainly not have existed outside the big cities oif it wasn’t for Peel. > > Those of us who grew up in little country towns owe him a great deal. You can play **Picking The Blues** [here](http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/john_peel_page.htm) and remember when. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/27 "2004-10-26T15:38:15Z")
Oh No! Peel Sessions live E.P.'s and articles in N.M.E. was the only way I knew of him, but damn, those Peel Sessions shaped my musical taste. Made me the man I am today… ---
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/28 "2004-10-26T16:41:25Z")
Shit. The Fall. Joy Division. The Smiths. They might have made it anyway, but without him there is a chance at least that none of us would have heard of them. Remember the Radio 1 cull of the aging DJs 10 years ago? John was the one they could not touch. He was perennially cool, because he never tried to be. A real legend. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/29 "2004-10-26T16:52:14Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > The English punk and new wave scene would certainly not have existed outside the big cities oif it wasn’t for Peel. Not to mention two-tone, ambient, and trip-hop to name but three - but even that’s selling his significance short. Peel was a major force in the pirate radio stations of the 1960s, the popularity of which eventually led to the then very hidebound and conservative BBC giving in and creating Radio 1 as a pop music station - with Peel in from the start as a DJ. When in the early 90s the Beeb decided to shake up Radio 1 in an attempt to appeal to younger listeners and moved the old guard DJs (themselves mostly ex-pirates) to other stations, Peel was so entrenched in the public mind as the heart and soul of what the station is about that they couldn’t think of moving him for fear of the backlash that would result. There isn’t a single British band of the last forty years that doesn’t owe its success at least in part to John Peel, and quite a number of foreign bands too (most notably in the hip-hop and reggae genres). He was certainly one of the two most important popular music broadcasters of all time, and he may even have been number one. I cannot imagine what radio would have been like without him, and I cannot imagine what Radio 1 will be like now. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/30 "2004-10-26T19:01:42Z")
Damn! Streaming audio from the BBC is (next to the Dope) the best thing the Interweb De-Vice has done for me. His show started at 4 PM Memphis time, so I always listened to him for the last hour of work (when I could). Peel saved my sanity at my old job. He once read an email of mine on the air concerning the origin of the phrase “and you don’t stop” (Sugar Hill Gang). I thought it was so cool that words written by a cube drone in Memphis were read to all of freakin’ England! so bummed… ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/31 "2004-10-26T19:06:32Z")
Oh, _no_. ☹ I owned many a band’s Peel Sessions growing up. He will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Waccoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Waccoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waccoe)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/32 "2004-10-26T19:07:49Z")
Even in his fifties, he was the one discovering new stuff like the Glasgow movement. Amazing . RIP. ---
**Author:** ![ChristmasEve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@ChristmasEve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChristmasEve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/33 "2004-10-26T22:26:37Z")
So sad to hear this news. Unusually, I find myself a little damp about the eyes reading the tributes on the BBC website. I interviewed him for student radio in the mid 80s, and he was a genuinely nice bloke. There must have been so many people asking him the same questions, but he never seemed to show any boredom or irritation - definitely everyone’s favourite eccentric uncle, and an absolute mine of great stories. Wonder how many of us are playing _Teenage Kicks_ tonight? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/34 "2004-10-26T23:59:01Z")
I was in the barbers when the radio news announced his death. Since the barber was shaving my neck at the time, between our independently shocked reactions, it’s a wonder I didn’t lose an ear. Never really regularly listened to his Radio 1 show and _Home Truths_ was horrible, but I’ve got the brilliant _Manchester - So Much To Answer For: The Peel Sessions_ on in tribute as I type. ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/35 "2004-10-27T00:15:53Z")
It’s a particular shame because you feel he still had work to do. It’s all so unexpected. He probably had stacks of new bands lined up to play on future shows. Heaven must be rocking tonight. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/36 "2004-10-27T01:52:30Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > He was certainly one of the two most important popular music broadcasters of all time. Don’t tease. Who’s the other? Tony Blackburn? Jimmy Saville? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/37 "2004-10-27T02:03:26Z")
> [@Jojo](#): > > Heaven must be rocking tonight. Good point. From today, there’s far more reason to avoid sin…there’s the demo tape to beat all demos awaiting us beyond the pearly gates 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![griffen2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce7236/32.png) [@griffen2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffen2)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/38 "2004-10-27T02:14:48Z")
Oh no ☹ John Peel was a great man. He’ll be very missed. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/39 "2004-10-27T02:32:31Z")
Just saw a BBC report on it. Dammit, we need a Dimbleby in a black tie. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223/40 "2004-10-27T04:22:19Z")
Interestingly enough, his death made the [news](http://www.snakenet.com/news/full.asp?ID=5687) on Snakenet, one of the biggest metal sites out there. Here’s what they had to say: > [@](#): > > Veteran BBC broadcaster John Peel has died at the age of 65, while on holiday in Peru, according to BBC News. > > Peel, whose radio career spanned 40 years, was on a working holiday in the city of Cuzco with his wife Sheila when he suffered a heart attack. > > He was BBC Radio 1’s longest-serving DJ and in recent years had also presented “Home Truths” on Radio 4. > > Peel’s show featured the famous “John Peel sessions”, in which bands —including such extreme acts as NAPALM DEATH and CARCASS — were invited to record exclusive tracks for the program in a BBC studio. > > More recently, Peel wrote the introduction to “Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore”, written by longtime extreme metal journalist Albert Mudrian, which revisits critical moments in the history of the grindcore and death metal genres. > > In an interview with [B92.net](http://B92.net), Peel spoke about his love of extreme music. “I quite like death metal because it’s just so extreme and so grotesquely tasteless,” he said. "I think bad taste is quite important. You get these people who will occasionally write to the BBC and complain when I’ve played death metal and there was this case in America where some woman was murdered by this couple that were into black magic and Satanism but then you say, ‘Well, how many people have been killed in the names of the authorised and established religions?’ — a great many more. So the idea that you object to these things because they’ve got these silly Satanist lyrics is just nonsense I think. There was a track that even I drew the line at playing. It was quite a good track too but it was called ‘Kick the Pregnant’, and I thought, that’s a step too far, I’m not going down that road. I quite like, you know, bad taste and so death metal is a good area for me. Fascinating. I’d never heard of him before this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-peel-died/271223.md?page=3)