Sad news. John Peel has passed away

I got back from lunch just now to check the bbc news website to sadly discover the announcement about John Peel's death. I feel very hollow now.

Legendary radio DJ John Peel dies

I've listened to his shows on Radio1 for the best part of the last 20 years of my life, and his genuine passion and enthusiasm for music in all its various forms was fantastic especially when compared to his fellow DJ's and all the other playlisted music that pollutes the airwaves today. Forever pushing the boundaries and never afraid to play bands and the non-mainstream music that noone else would touch, the airwaves will be sadly diminished by his absence. My CD collection has been greatly influenced by the music I have heard on his show and I will personally miss that variety and exposure to new bands/music immensely.

There is a huge hole now in radio that I think very few people could fill, and its likely that I'll never find another radio show that will have such a big impact on what I listen to. (Andy Kershaw or Steve Lamaq come the closest and they are miles short). I now don't think there is any reason for me to tune into radio1 again, as it feels thats Tom Petty's song the last DJ pretty much describes what John Peel stood for and fought against.

Well you can’t turn him into a company man
You can’t turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs just don’t understand anymore
Well the top brass don’t like him talking so much,
And he won’t play what they say to play
And he don’t want to change what don’t need to change

There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey…

And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
There goes the last DJ

Well some folks say they’re gonna hang him so high
‘Cause you just can’t do what he did
There’re some things you just can’t put in the minds of those kids

As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free

There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey…

And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

Well he got him a station down in Mexico
And sometimes it’ll kind of come in
And I’ll bust a move and remember how it was back then

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey…

And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice.
And there goes the last DJ


We miss you John, and the music you championed for so long will miss you even more.



His favorite song seems the fitting way to finish this longish blog entry

The Undertones - Teenage kicks

Teenage dreams so hard to beat,
Every time she walks down the street,
Another girl in the neighbourhood,
Wish she was mine, she looks so good.

[Chorus]
I wanna hold you,
Wanna hold you tight,
Yeah teenage kicks right through the night
(Come On!)

Im gonna call her on the telephone,
And have her over cos im all alone,
I need excitement and i need it bad,
Cos its the best ive ever had.

[Chorus]

Teenage dreams so hard to beat,
Every time she walks down the street,
Another girl in the neighbourhood,
Wish she was mine, she looks so good.

[Chorus]

Im gonna call her on the telephone,
And have her over cos im all alone,
I need excitement and i need it bad,
Cos its the best ive ever had.

I wanna hold you,
Wanna hold you tight,
Yeah teenage kicks right through the night
(Alright!)

I wanna hold you wanna hold you tight,

Get those teenage kicks right through the night yeah!
Alright.