'THANK YOU FOR LA BUENA MUSICA'
Loss felt across the globe
I Outside Britain. John Peel‘s death was reported everywhere from the China Daily to South Africa‘s Cape
Times. Was Peel perhaps the only DJ
who was a household name all over
the world? Like nearly everyone else.
the well-respected French newspaper Liberation charted his route to career success. mentioning that ‘he was one of the rare DJs
venerated by the techno scene. He‘d
collaborated with Barcelona's Sonar festival in 2001 and had recently produced a CD for London club Fabric.’ Meanwhile the Frankfurter Al/gemeine Zeitung accurately described Peel as ‘one of Europe‘s most influential broadcast DJs' who ‘was considered to have discovered Rod Stewart, David Bowie and other pop stars'.
I But it was on the message boards that the most poignant comments emerged. Uncut received a message from a reader in Peru, who simply said ‘Thank you, John, por la buena musica, the best DJ, thanks for the sessions: Smiths & X-Mal- Deutschland, the best, for me.’
And in a letter to the Times Online,
Liverpudlian Juliet Shield told of a meeting with Peel in the early 808.
‘One night he was having dinner in
my restaurant. I told John that our newly arrived German au pair was finding it very difficult to settle in. “Tell her to listen in to Radio 1 at around 8 on Monday evening,” he said. Sure enough, right on schedule he said: “This is for Eva, staying in Liverpool just now. You are a very lucky girl to be in a great city with the best football team in the world.” It changed her whole outlook.’
THE FALLOUT
Questions raised about Peel’s workload and fraught relationship with BBC bosses
I Some publications went close to blaming the BBC's mistrust of his
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JOHN PEEL: 1939-2004
Britain goes into unofficial mourning over the death of a legend.
I Tony Blair was “genuinely saddened by the news' of the death of ‘a genuine one-off’. quoted The Herald. Indeed. the broadsheets brimmed with tributes to the Radios 1 and 4 veteran, mostly from people who didn’t need to say how genuine they were. ‘Falkirk was a conservative place,‘ explained Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat in The Scotsman. ‘and he provided music for all those wee places. For people who didn‘t have an alternative. John Peel was it.’
I Born John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, he attended Shrewsbury public school (‘which he hated’, said The Herald) before travelling to Dallas, Texas, where he wrangled his way into covering JFK’s shooting for The Liverpool Echo. ‘The next day, when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot live on television’ reports The Scotsman, ‘Peel once again gained access and in still photos of the shooting, there is a vague and blurred figure in the crowd.’
But, besides being ‘unreasonably enthusiastic about Liverpool FC’ (The Independent) and having an Archers addiction, Peel was music through and through, embracing prog rock, punk, indie, hip hop, drum & bass, folk and techno, often against some resistance. ‘Fellow DJ Peter Powell once told him that he shouldn’t play hip hop because it was the music of black criminals,’ reminisced The Scotsman. ‘Peter Powell was a dick, I’m afraid,’ Peel later concluded.
minded in their determination to be right, but Peel showed us not to be so closed minded,’ said Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll in The Guardian. ‘He is irreplacable, not least because Radio 1 wouldn’t give someone like Peel 3 job now.’ Certainly, it’s hard to think of any DJ, past or present, whose death would be greeted with such real and widespread sorrow. ‘A great man, a fabulous curmudgeon,’ concluded Elvis Costello. ‘He was as rare as the music that he loved.’
eclecticism for his death. The Sun wondered if Peel had been overworked. and quoted world music DJ Andy Kershaw for perhaps the only time in its existence. ‘He looked worn out.‘ he explained. 'I had to say to him. “John. you look terrible. What‘s the matter." He said. "Well. to be perfectly honest they have put my programme back further into the night. It's killing me.“
I Some commentators doubted we would see his like again. ‘Young people can be so narrow
‘You feel like a hooker who’s doing it for free.‘
‘Bring back the 705, bring back cigarettes, bring back typewriters in the office!’
‘I don’t like to talk politics. If you say you’re a Democrat, it’ll turn off Republicans, and that’s half of your fanbasefi
‘If you buy expensive clothes only to prove to other people how rich you are, then it’s pretty low. It’s more about how chic you
are.
‘When my wife and l have an argument she doesn’t shout at me, she just moves the furniture around.’
‘A giant leap for television, a small step in high heels.’ ("Ill w'I‘irw ,.r«',.: 'i'i ,'
‘The higher the heel, the better for me because I fall off flat shoes.’
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‘If I could swap places for a day I’d be Pingu the Penguin. He gets to do so many fun things. I’d need snow boots on though because I hate getting cold.’