John Peel RIP

[Theatre of Trees]

Hugely shocked and absolutely gutted. You could always rely on Peel to dig up something unusual and interesting on his programmes. I actually remember the opening of his show the day we knocked Liverpool out of the cup on the way to the 1983 Final, a minute of seagulls calling followed by the sound of heavy duty machine gun fire.

 

[Hungry Joe]

Radio 1 tribute on now and full tribute show on Steve Lamaq 11pm tonight.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Top bloke. When I was at University I wrote to him asking if I could interview for him for a project I was doing.

I received a phone call in my halls or residence from a "Mr Peel", and it was him indeed.

He invited a group of us round to his house for the day and we sat round his kitchen table whilst he made us tea.

Showed us his massive (and I mean massive) record collection - so big that many of his records had never been played.

Told us many, many stories about his radio one days all the gossip about the DJs, his love of Liverpool FC etc. and how we was still in awe of great rock stars like Kirk Curbain when he met them. He said that he was a very very lucky man because the very thing he loved more than anything was the thing he did as a living.

Was interested in any type of new music he hadn't heard before. A frustrated musician himself, he just loved listening to new bands of any genre. I seem to recall he was listening to death metal that week.

I asked him what his all time favourite song was, and without hestitation he said "Teenage Kicks"

Totally genuine bloke. Totally committed to his family as well.

He was always that accessible. A friend of mine had almost exactly the same experience of getting a kitchen table interview with him in 1967. The only difference was that John Peel turned up at my mate's flat in Hove.

RIP

 

[Scarface]

News special on now. Playing some absolute classics.

 

[Gully]

Truly saddened by the news, he was a legend of radio. John Peel was almost totally responsible for the development of my personal muscial tastes, without the influence of his show I would probably have stuck with the commercialised dross that passes as a poor excuse for entertainment. John Peel's evening show introduced me to the likes of Billy Bragg, the Pogues (Pogue Mahone, i believe he may have been personally responsible for their renaming in order that they could be played before the watershed), the Bundhu Boys, the Fall and many more, the list is almost endless.

His appeal crossed the generations, my mum who is in her sixties commented a while back about his show on radio 4, he had won yet another fan. He was able to create the impression on radio that you were his only listener, truly a mark of greatness, there are few modern DJ's who can come anywhere close.

John Peel, your dulcit tones and desert dry sense of humour will be forever missed, thank you for the contribution you made to enriching the lives of so many.

 

[St.George]

R.I.P John Peel, absoloute legend in my opinion. will be missed greatly.

 

[Kev the Ape]

R.I.P legend