dj john peel - photos

Surrealist · Post by **Surrealist** » 02 May 2004, 23:15

I saw John Peel at the Triptych festival last night. He showed us kids how to rock the house well.

DJ John Peel. Playing records live that he thought we might like to listen to. We are not worthy.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 04 May 2004, 18:02

Strange thing about Peel: I always thought I should like him more than I actually did. But for every great song he played that you would never hear anywhere else - Misty in Roots, Napalm Death, Pere Ubu - you had to wade through 10 examples of indie-awfulness. Life is too short.

Of course, these days they play Napalm Death on Radio 2 (true!) so I'm not sure what John Peel is for actually.

Other than Home Truths on Radio 4.

And A House in France on UK Style.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 04 May 2004, 21:55

I was an avid listener of the John Peel Show in the late 70's. At the time he was probably the only person in the world who understood me. He seems to have been around forever. Incredible when you think he was a friend of Marc Bolan and Faces-era Rod Stewart, introduced a generation to punk rock and has remained terminally hip ever since. I saw him once, years ago, at Teviot Row. The sprung wooden floor caused all his records to jump but it was a buzz just being in the same room. Great gigs in those days - Sham 69, XTC and the Adverts in Potterrow, the Human League (circa Being Boiled) and Another Pretty Face at George Square.

And what have we got now? Oh yes, Busted and mummy's little Goths.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 05 May 2004, 06:55

Bob wrote: Great gigs in those days - Sham 69, XTC and the Adverts in Potterrow, the Human League (circa Being Boiled) and Another Pretty Face at George Square.

And what have we got now? Oh yes, Busted and mummy's little Goths.

There are still great gigs Bob! It's just that, as boring old f*rts, we don't go to them as often.

I saw Orbital at the Rose Theatre two festivals ago and they were fabulous... far better than, say, that Sonic Youth gig in 1985.

(On the other hand, I also saw some very good dixieland jazz in NY last month, so perhaps you have a point.)

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 07 May 2004, 17:41

XTC???? Good grief! I thought I was the only person EVER (apart from Gavin that I used to work with) who went to an XTC concert. Ah yes, Towers of London......did that get in the charts?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 08 May 2004, 10:02

Their first album, 'White Music' was a classic. I saw them in late 77 or early 78. I managed to blag my way backstage afterwards, on the pretext of writing a fanzine, and I think it was also the night I first met Spike, who turned blagging into a fine art. A quote that stays with me from that night was Andy Partridge complaining 'Bloody liggers - they've drank all the beer!'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 13-6674800

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 08 May 2004, 18:21

That was when I saw them live too - was that the Playhouse? I'm going to have to dig that album out now.......

Surrealist · Post by **Surrealist** » 09 May 2004, 00:37

Well excuuuse me.

I can't say I give a monkey about listening to cool music - the fact of the matter is that I have always hated non-instrumental music and have always loved electronica. So when I mention Tangerine Dream it's in the context of the roots of today's Aphex Twin, Orb and Boards Of Canada - nothing whatsoever to do with "cool" but more of an attempt to understand the roots of the music I love - ie anything to do with synthesisers.

I could just have easily mentioned Kraftwerk or Jean Michel Jarre. So what if they are "names"? All I have ever done is listen to music I like the sound of - and pretty much 100% of the pop charts my whole life has sounded like vomit.

There have always been people with broad tastes and people who are into one genre or another - but to put Busted in the same bag as real music is to mistake a commercial entertainment product with an art form. Would you compare Dr Zhivago with "Deuce Biglalow, Male Gigalo?"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 09 May 2004, 11:45

Marya wrote:Don't start me on films!
... some postings are starting to feel like "Groundhog Day".

Ahhh... the sort of movie that, just when you're about to say they don't make them like that any more, proves that they do.

Occasionally.

Surrealist · Post by **Surrealist** » 09 May 2004, 12:06

I don't know much about art, but I know what I like.

Seeing as you ask, Marya, I actually loathe singing - there's been many a good instrumental ruined by some idiot whining about their problems on top of it.

I hate guitars as well - how rebellious is it to decide to pick up the exact same instrument that everyone else plays, and configure your band in exactly the same way (bass, guitars, drums, whiner) as everyone else?

Sure, my personal taste is highly elitist, but the difference is that I don't dare dictate what someone else should listen to, or compare my taste to someone elses - which is what you did.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 09 May 2004, 13:07

Surrealist wrote: there's been many a good instrumental ruined by some idiot whining about their problems on top of it.

The SMITHS! I remember them well.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 09 May 2004, 14:30

Marya, I don't think you have to be embarrassed about Chuck Berry. Without him there would be no Keith Richards, and without Keef...

My musical tastes aren't confined to 70's music and I'm too old to worry about being cool, but I think there has always been a distinction between mainstream chart music and more interesting musical forms - including John Martyn.

It's true that when punk happened I was quick (like most punks) to disown a lot of the stuff I had listened to previously (yep, including Bad Company and much else) but in recent years, with the advent of file sharing, I have been able to rediscover a lot of music I used to enjoy.

And of course I listen to chart music as well. MTV-type channels offer entertaining aural wallpaper (and sexy girls!) and I was brought up on Gary Glitter, Sweet and T Rex.

IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m not sure that itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s about elitism. I just think that most people feel safe with MOR, mass-produced forms of media and others (for whatever reason) will always seek out alternatives. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m also sure that there is probably interesting and innovative music being made today, if I were inclined to look for it.

I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t think I was having a go at teenagers, just manufactured pop in general. I confess the new breed of goths amuses me because they seem to be so middle class and well mannered. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a nice safe form of rebellion and I suspect in most cases their mums buy their (expensive) clothes and eyeliner.

Today there seem to be innumerable musical genres and sub-genres, style-options, clubs etc. In our day it was much more polarised. You either danced round your handbag to Boney M at the mainstream chart-fodder discos or you joined the freak show at JJÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s, where normal-looking punters were turned away with Ã¢â‚¬Å“I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t think youÃ¢â‚¬â„¢d like it hereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢-type advice. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m still with the freaks.

Surrealist · Post by **Surrealist** » 09 May 2004, 16:20

Marya wrote: My gripe with your reply was that you label chart music vomit. Don't you think that's being dismissive of the tastes of a great many?

Chart music is vomit to my ear. But if this means that in order to point out that "Achy Breaky Heart" is garbage I have to risk appearing as dismissive of the taste of Billy Ray Cyrus fans, then this is a price I am willing to pay.

Marya wrote:Your earlier praise of John Peel also contains the implication that the music he played was the only acceptable type

Must I begin every sentence with "whilst other types of music are available, and whilst not wanting to be dismissive of fans of other kinds of music, I have a personal and subjective taste for the music of xxxxx" to avoid upsetting you?

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 09 May 2004, 18:37

[quote="Alex

The SMITHS! I remember them well.[/quote]

Ahhh...The Smiths... Takes me back to my sixth form days at college in Manchester, where I had a tutor from Northern Ireland who used to creep up on me in unexpected moments and whisper strange poetry in my ear... His favourite gripe was to tell those of us in his tutor group how much he hated students because we were all "a bunch of middle-class wasters, sitting around smoking dope and listening to f*****g awful bands who whined about being from Chorlton and being on the dole...". It didn't matter how many times we told him that was years before our time and that we all hated The Smiths too, most of us at that time preferring Happy Mondays, James and Northfield (oh god, Northfield were truly awful)...

Still, I miss the strangeness of a poetry-writing Northern Irishman with a middle name of Mary and a passion for banned language...

Paula

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 09 May 2004, 21:48

Bob wrote: I confess the new breed of goths amuses me because they seem to be so middle class and well mannered. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a nice safe form of rebellion and I suspect in most cases their mums buy their (expensive) clothes and eyeliner.

As the mother of one such teenage goth girl I totally agree with you! They are absolutely hysterical

Having just come back from the 'Mish' dressed from top to toe in the most amazing garb you can imagine, complete with claw (yep! a claw!) with a friend wearing a wedding dress and knee high Doc Martens, I was informed they were looking forward to the next week because "it's fancy dress".

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 10 May 2004, 18:06

Epykat wrote: I was informed they were looking forward to the next week because "it's fancy dress".

Cool.

I remember thinking I looked cool in the 80's because I had a baggy cardigan. Of course, I was living in Aberdeen at the time.

Epykat · Post by **Epykat** » 14 May 2004, 16:48

I remember thinking I looked cool [/quote]

Oh yes, but I remember KNOWING I was cool in my Starsky handknitted cardie in the 70s!

Dakota · Post by **Dakota** » 26 Oct 2004, 14:52

That makes me very sad. I grew up listening to his Radio 1 Show, and still love [loved?] his Home Truths on Radio 4.

A true original.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 26 Oct 2004, 15:37

John Peel was the only person who understood me around 76-77. I loved his show, loved his sense of humour. End of an era really. A huge miss to a lot of people.

mr magnolia · Post by **mr magnolia** » 26 Oct 2004, 16:31

A huge huge man throughout my life. Can't really believe he's gone. I'll miss him greatly.

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 26 Oct 2004, 19:00

Bob wrote:John Peel was the only person who understood me ...

Tidied that up for you Bob.

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 26 Oct 2004, 19:02

The story was the lead on the BBC news tonight along with an interview with Andy Kershaw who looked very shaken.
A music forum I'm on has posts from people all over Europe, the States, Australia etc. registering their disbelief and shock. The news of his death has been broadcast on many of the main stations and TV channels where these people live. His influence seems to have been very widespread indeed.

Did anyone watch the ITV evening news? According to one poster they had Simon Bates and Jimmy Saville

???!!! giving forth with their memories and thoughts.
* Cringe *

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 26 Oct 2004, 19:04

Very, very sad indeed the guy was an icon.

However, as they say, every cloud...I guess it saves Boris Johnson a red face the next time he visits the BBC.

Boris

dccairns · Post by **dccairns** » 26 Oct 2004, 19:57

Porty, what's happened to your avatar? This new one doesn't suit you at all.

Porty · Post by **Porty** » 26 Oct 2004, 20:01

Its my fancy dress for Halloween. True to form no-one else is joining in.

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 26 Oct 2004, 20:24

peely

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 25 Oct 2005, 17:48

Apparently, John Peel was known to carry around all his favorite 7" in an old wooden box.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 64,00.html

Also,

14 NOVEMBER Channel 4 broadcasts John Peel's Record Box, an examination of the box of his 140 favourite records. The show was researched by one of his sons, Tom.

foxy · Post by **foxy** » 25 Oct 2005, 20:00

ecm wrote:Apparently, John Peel was known to carry around all his favorite 7" in an old wooden box.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 64,00.html

Also,

14 NOVEMBER Channel 4 broadcasts John Peel's Record Box, an examination of the box of his 140 favourite records. The show was researched by one of his sons, Tom.

What a very diverse record collection it is too...Sheena Easton

Jackson Priest · Post by **Jackson Priest** » 26 Oct 2005, 09:21

Tonight is 'John Peel Night' on BBC4, apparently, from 9 o'clock. Looks good (and the Mark E Smith documentary-ah is fantastic - do not miss it):

9.00pm John Peel Night: John Peel Tribute: Musicians, friends and fellow broadcasters recall the legendary DJ, whose death shocked the music world. Featuring reminiscences from celebrities as diverse as Nick Cave and Delia Smith (888) (Stereo)

9.30pm John Peel Night: The Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E Smith Documentary exploring the history of the Fall, one of the most enigmatic British bands ever, who emerged from the Manchester punk scene during the late 1970s and have released 45 singles in the past three decades. Featuring footage of the group's last Peel Session, and contributions by Paul Morley, Tony Wilson, Stewart Lee and the members of Franz Ferdinand (888) (Stereo)

10.30pm John Peel Night: John Peel: In Session Tonight Musical memories of artists championed by the DJ on his long-running Radio 1 show, including Pink Floyd, Joy Division, Orbital, the Smiths and the White Stripes

12.00am John Peel Night: BBC Four Sessions Concert showcasing the talent of British rock star PJ Harvey, fresh from a performance at Glastonbury and a three-week tour, and hot on the heels of the release of her latest solo album Uh Huh Her. The singer brings an energetic set to the intimate venue of LSO St Luke's in London, with hits such as Big Exit, Dress, The Letter and new single Shame

1.00am John Peel Night: Teenage Kicks: The Undertones Another chance to see John Peel's visit to Derry to meet the band, taking the opportunity to explore their childhoods and meteoric rise to fame. Including an exclusive interview with Feargal Sharkey and previously unseen footage of the group in performance

1.40am John Peel Night: Chambre Hardman and the Lost City of Liverpool The late John Peel narrates a profile of the photographer, whose pictures immortalised the people and places of Merseyside during its pre-war heyday, when Liverpool was one of Britain's busiest seaports (Stereo)

Talk Porty ~ Portobello

dj john peel - photos

dj john peel - photos

do the achy breaky