RIP John Peel

John Peel

Broadcaster John Peel was the champion of British music for nearly 40 years on his late-night Radio 1 show. He led the way in promoting new acts, from David Bowie, through Joy Division to the White Stripes

Yet Peel\'s uncompromising encouragement of new talent transformed the face of music all the way from hippy to house.

His Radio 1 show ran three nights a week and in 1998 he became the presenter of Radio 4\'s Home Truths, which won four Sony Radio awards in 1999.

He also presented a programme on the BBC World Service, taking his passion for new music to the wider world.

He was born John Robert Parker Ravenscroft in Heswall, near Liverpool, in 1939. The son of the owner of a cotton mill, his childhood was blighted by his distant parents and he was brought up mostly by a nanny.

He attended Shrewsbury public school, which he hated, an ordeal which was offset by the moment he first heard Elvis Presley singing Heartbreak Hotel.

"Everything changed when I heard Elvis," he later reflected. "Where there had been nothing there was suddenly something."

After National Service between 1957 and 1959 he went to America. With Beatlemania in full swing, John Peel and his Liverpudlian connections proved irresistible and he soon became a DJ for WRR radio in Dallas.

He once said: "They\'d got this idea that if you lived in the UK there were probably only a couple of hundred people and they were all bound to know each other."

Returning to England in 1967, he joined the pirate station, Radio London, before transferring to the BBC\'s new national pop channel, Radio 1. He was to remain there for the rest of his life, the only survivor of Radio 1\'s first line-up.

Changing styles

Right from the outset, Peel changed the rules. He played every track without interruption, to the delight of those wishing to tape his show, while providing a witty and knowledgeable running commentary, seemingly a million miles away from the transatlantic platitudes of many of his colleagues.

In the early days Peel championed acts like Marc Bolan, David Bowie and Captain Beefheart, as he did throughout his career, by giving them studio-time to record legendary "Peel sessions".

But, in the mid-1970s, John Peel moved away from the mainstream rock of Jimi Hendrix and The Who to a new and radical sound, punk.

Bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash paved the way for new Peel discoveries like Joy Division and the Undertones, whose Teenage Kicks was his all-time favourite single.

The 1980s brought further joy, most notably in the form of The Fall and The Smiths, both refreshing counterblasts to the increasingly bland fare of the charts.

More recently, Peel had branched-out, presenting Home Truths, an eclectic programme about family life, and provided typically droll interjections for BBC TV\'s Grumpy Old Men.

He received an OBE in 1998 and earned a place in the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.

Three years ago he was diagnosed with diabetes.

He continued to remain at the cutting-edge of popular taste, featuring \'world\' music and rap alongside good old-fashioned rock \'n\' roll.

A lifelong fan of the Archers and a dedicated follower of Liverpool football club, he lived in Suffolk with his wife Sheila, affectionately known as The Pig.

Yesterday was a truely sad day for music.

If it wasn\'t for John Peel...many bands we all know and love would just passed us by.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Donno who he is, so its not a sad day for me.  But he does share the last name as my gf.. So that\'s gotta count for something.

If your from the UK

or/and

If you like listening to music thats isn\'t usual crap like Ashly Simpson or any piss poor produce form pop and American Idol. Then you have a lot to thank John Peel.

If it wasn\'t for him Many of the great British (& Foreign)Bands would of had their break through as  NO ONE else would play them.

The list of bands that have made it thanks to Johns\'s work are Quite alarming (I say alarming because if it wasn’t for John the world would be filled with Ashley Simpson’s )

From the Sex pistols to Pulp.... From the Buzzcocks to the White Strips

Has to be the first time iv\'e heard chris moyles on radio 1 in the morning actaully be serios about something, dont get me wrong the guys funny but ive never heard him act serious.

[Titan]

RIP John Peel and thanks for not giving us pop crap

[Kurt Angle]

Sad news indeed

[nO-One]

Originally posted by §ôµÏG®ïñD
Donno who he is, so its not a sad day for me.  But he does share the name of my gf.. So that\'s gotta count for something.

your girlfriends name is John?

I want to thank him for the Sex postols ... if it wasn\'t for his work the would of never of been played anywhere in the UK... and as a result we could cut out vastsections of the music we know and love today.

There is something to be said about a man that stuck by his opinions no matter what.

Also i would like to tank him for finding Supergrass... my FAV band.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

no-one..  I said last name.. As you may have noticed while you were editing it out.

Originally posted by §ôµÏG®ïñD
But he does share the first name as my gf John, my manwhore.. So that\'s gotta cunt for something.

too much info dood!

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Originally posted by THX
i wanna join your man meat fun, why won\'t you let me join, ii want it now, give it to me... wahhhh

dood. Get a grip on yourself and bend over.   Hey sammy, over here...

[nO-One]

Originally posted by §ôµÏG®ïñD
no-one..  I said last name.. As you may have noticed while you were editing it out.

tee hee I am too funny.......:shy:

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

Originally posted by nO-One
tee hee I am too horny for thx.......:shy:

:eek: