John Peel Day

[The Large One]

Sorry TLO but these guys had to go to Luxembourg just to work. Pop music was looked down upon by the BBC (and that was all we had then)

The guys took great risks going out of the Thames estruary to pirate radio stations for what they believed in. Maybe they did sell out later but they were at the start.

Peel had to go to Texas for his work!

The Peel Sessions began when John realised he had to play by more rules than he was used to at pirate radio when he joined the BBC in 1967.

John's show had to air a large amount of non-recorded music. This meant that he was only allowed a certain amount of 'needle time' (referring to 'stylus-on-vinyl' time - the time allotted to playing records on air) due to Musicians' Union rules.

The choice was either to have idle banter or to get bands to play a live session... Guess what he chose to do?

Deciding which artist to book for The Peel Sessions was an organic process. Peel would have a brief chat with his producer, John Walters, usually about artists that took their fancy that week. A phone call was made and the band would turn up to the recording studio to lay down the session, usually at the BBC's Maida Vale studios.

 

[BUTTERBALL]

Radio One playing some nostalgic stuff this evening although I'm not too sure Peel would have enjoyed all the fuss!

 

[clapham_gull]

Sorry had to add to my post before. My memory of John Peel is quite a personal one and really reiterates what a very, very nice bloke he was.

When I was at University we were asked to make a short film about the production of a local compilation album of independent bands.

I had the crackpot idea of interviewing John Peel and sent a letter to him c/o The BBC.

A few weeks later, a fellow student knocked on my door in the halls of residence and said I had a phone call from a John from London. I didn't know anyone of that name, but took the call anyway.

It was John Peel asking me when would be convenient for us to interview him.

I offered to go down to London, but he said that he didn't like London much and would he happier if we came down to his house.

The morning I set off it snowed very, very heavily and it took me a good 6 or 7 hours to drive from Manchester to "Peel Acres" somewhere deep in Suffolk.

We were very late but John Peel met us at the door and and offered us hot soup. He showed me his massive (and I mean massive) record collection much of which he had never listened to because so much would arrive at the door from record companies. It went over two floors of his house.

What he did endeavour to listen to however was the piles and piles of cassette tapes that arrived from young hopeful bands. Scattered everywhere.

Very homely place, but everywhere you would see something just discarded on a shelf like a back stage Live Aid pass.

We did the interview very quickly, but the next couple of hours was just spent sitting round his kitchen table talking about Liverpool FC and stories about Radio One whilst he made us tea and toast. Also told us about how he witnessed John Harvey Oswald being shot in the underground car park.

He told us a great story about how a particular Radio One DJ really left his job. The bloke was so universally hated that a group of BBC employees block booked a pantomine up north where the DJ was performing. The DJ was completely bemused by the group of people sitting stoney faced and cross armed in the front few rows of the audience for the entire performance.

He never twigged they were from the BBC.

The DJ was eventually got rid of because of his habit of punching engineers behind the scenes. He hit a female employee and that was the last straw for his bosses. As far as everyone is concerned the DJ resigned and left gracefully.

Great, great bloke - and loved football particular his beloved Liverpool FC.

Genuinely bemused how he had become famous, put it down to his geniune love of music and all sorts of music at that.

I'm sure he wouldn't have enjoyed the fuss. But f*ck it - he deserves it.

I feel honoured to have met him.

Rip John