John Peel R.I.P.

loendmaestro · Post by **loendmaestro** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:47 am

A sad day, as he was truly a music guy in every sense of the word...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=769&e=1&u=/nm/20041026/music_nm/peru_britain_peel_dc

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 10:49 am

also a lot of background on www.bbc.com
to the very end, furthering the cause of getting the new, deserving and overlooked played.

squid · Post by **squid** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:58 pm

That's tragic. Very sorry to hear that he's gone. Last I heard, he was curating a music festival in the U.K. So much of my musical taste developed through Peel Session exposure. It got to the point that I would buy Peel Session disks regardless of who the artist was. A terrific force for new music around the world. He'll be missed.

thx1955 · Post by **thx1955** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 2:22 pm

Damn and blast, what a loss, I grew up (literally) listening to John's shows on weeknights at 10pm. He championed music and bands that other dj's in the UK wouldn't have given the time of day to back then.

On top of that he also was the driving force behind the "BBC Sessions" where a lot of bands got a chance to reach a national audience. As was said earlier, buy a "BBC Sessions" CD and it's going to be a gem.

He was a walking encycolpedia of music and was a treat to listen to.

eatswodo · Post by **eatswodo** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 5:19 pm

I, too, owe a lot of my musical education to Mr. Peel - his disdain of the party pop line, and insistence on opening the doors to musical genres that otherwise wouldn't have seen the light of day was unparalleled. We also have to give enormous credit to the BBC for having the courage of their convictions and just letting him get on with it.

Out of his pioneering efforts grew such things as Whispering Bob Harris and "The Old Grey Whistle Test", and some of the mind-boggling music I saw in the late '70s and early '80s on BBC's "In Concert" series - two Mahavishnu Orchestra shows stick in my mind which I'd give my eye teeth to have in some kind of video form.

No conspicuous Rick content - I'm sorry - but Peel was special, and the music world is much the lesser for his early death.

thx1955 · Post by **thx1955** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 5:28 pm

I also recall many a Sunday spent listening to Radio One, first to Annie Nightingale, then, Robbie Harris, and finally at midnight Mr Peel, the depth and range of music heard in that time slot over with those three was tremendous, utterly enjoyable and to date unrepeated.