COME
HEAR UNCLE JOHN'S BAND: JOHN PEEL, 1939-2004
by
Andrew Williams
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Personal
Note: Yours truly is in a bad financial state. I have to close my father's
estate and head for California in about two weeks. Due to mistakes all around,
I'm broke. If anyone can help with a buck or five--or a letter of
encouragement--please send it to:
Andrew
Williams
11912
Renwood Lane
Rockville,
MD 20852-4343
I
have two weeks to get all this done. Please send money and/or prayers if you
can.Thanks.
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Any
kid looking at the December cover of MOJO magazine might have wondered,
"Who's that old geezer on the cover?" That old geezer--who died at 65
years on October 25, 2004--was as important to rock'n'roll as Elvis, Jerry Lee,
the Fab Four, Iggy and any other rock icons you celebrate. His name was John
Peel, and every broadcast he made--from his tyrolean efforts in 1960's USA to
his last show on the BBC in 2004--had the essence of rock'n'roll, the
excitement, the raw passion, the adrenalin thrill.
What
was most special about John Peel and all too uncommon today, as every British
rocker from Pete Townshend to Jarvis Cocker has acknowledged, is that he gave
every band a fair shake. If you sent him a demo, he'd listen to it. If he'd
listen to it, he'd air it--even if he didn't particularly favor it. He left
that decision up to his audience.
Peely's
radio service began shortly after his stint in Britian's National Service. (He
was one of the last to get called up before the program closed its doors in the
early 1960's.) He started on American radio just before the Fab Four and the
Stones crashed onto America's airwaves to shake and rattle rock'n'roll again.
It was a necessary and literal sea change, what with Elvis making movies, Jerry
Lee and Chuck in and out of jail, and Little Richard on and off the Bible Belt.
Having
seen the trend in full flush, he returned to England in time for the advent of
psychedelia and pirate radio--Radio London, to be specific, which, like Radio
Caroline, was home to a motley horse of electronic swashbucklers, playing the
records that the very establishment BBC wouldn't touch with a 10-meter pole.
While there, and afterwards on the Beeb, he championed new music from his
eclectic library, particularly Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd and
The Soft Machine.
When
punk came barging in through the studio door of BBC 1, Peel embraced it as
fervently as he had rockabilly and acid rock. "It was a welcome breath of
foul air, because you hadn't realized how bored you'd been," he confessed
to MOJO shortly before his death. And the punk bands that Peel encouraged were
to flourish as much as the psychedelic and avant-garde groups he championed in
the 1960's.
In
addition to his DJ stints on the Beeb, Peel produced 'live' recording sessions
of his favorite groups. Two hours to record four songs, no time for overdubs or
multiple retakes. Many of these sessions, now available on disc, show just how
strong and energetic punk was. I can't recommend highly enough all the Peel Sessions
on Strange Fruit, especially those by the Soft Machine, Roxy Music, Joy
Division, The Damned, The Buzzcocks and The Fall. Even more primal than their
studio recordings, these sessions captured punk's raw energy with crystal
clarity.
No
thing new under the sun shocked or repulsed John Peel. He was probably the only
middle-aged man--or one of a damn few--in Britian who played Extreme Noise
Terror and Napalm Death for fun and profit. Barney Greenway of the latter group
said, in tribute: "One of the great things about being in Napalm Death is
that we have such a crossover of people who support us--from jazz professors to
punks and metalheads. And this is omething we have John Peel to thank
for."
As
his radio demeanor showed, John Peel was a quiet, considerate and generous
family man. To everyone he met in person or over the airwaves, he was John,
Uncle John or Peely. No Mr Peel, and if he'd been knighted--a great oversight,
that--he certainly would not have insisted on Sir John. There are hundreds of bands
who will attest to his kindness and generosity, his willingness to drive band
gear and demo tapes all across England to help the bands he enjoyed.
Even
Yanks like me, who never met him or tuned him in on shortwave or BBC World
Service, thought of him as a friend, a friend of music, its best and most
humble champion. In particular, I honor him because he was one of a handful of
DJ's worldwide who played music by Butch Willis and the Rocks, one of D.C.'s
most unsung and underrated bands.
Rock'n'roll
has lost a powerful friend in John Peel. We can only hope that whoever picks up
his needle will have the same spirit of adventure and excitement about music,
of looking forward to each day's mail call as if it was Christmas Day. For my
part, it is in part because of John Peel's enthusiasm that I'm still excited by
music--from all periods and styles--and plan to retain that excitement, which
is life's great gift to itself.
"He
called himself boring. He bored into our hearts."--Pete Townshend
"He
was proud he once met John Kennedy. We were proud we once met John
Peel."--Jack White (The White Stripes)
"He
was there for me, on the radio, when my father was smashing up my records, and
latterly as my most treasured and beloved friend. John Peel will always have a
throne in my heart."--Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC Radio 1 DJ
