08:01, 13/10/2005

John Peel day

John Peel dayToday is the very first John Peel day. John Peel, the DJ who died one year ago, was without a shadow of a doubt one of the most important figures in my adolescence (it's probably true for most Brits of a certain age who are into music).

John was a DJ on BBC Radio 1 who was absolutely passionate about new music. His night-time show, which always used to run from 10pm to midnight every weekday except Friday was essential listening for anyone into new and alternative music. John had a passion for the new and unheard that was the equal of any spoddy teenage music fan.

That he kept his infectious and child-like enthusiasm for unearthing new stuff, was all the more remarkanble considering he was one of Radio 1's founding DJs. Sadly, towards the end he was becoming more and more marginalised within Radio 1, his playlist-unfriendly broadcasts reduced to late night slots which he confessed were not doing his health any good. When he died it was a seismic event for me and many others. I felt like I'd lost a member of the family.

John introduced me to so much new music. You'd read about bands in papers and fanzines, but the only chance to hear them was to tune into Peelie that night. He had an almost prescient sense of what was going on. I remember that he started playing electro and hip hop years before it became acceptable for "white" DJs on mainstream stations to do so. It was probably the same for punk before that. I first heard Nirvana, Franz Ferdinand, Pulp, The White Stripes, The Fall, billions of other great bands, on Peelie's show, months before anyone else would pick them up. I'm pretty much 100% sure that my love of the Fall is due to Peel's undying admiration of that band ("ahh, The Fall, always the same, always different", he would twinkle after playing their latest single).

It would be any upcoming band's dream to get booked for a Peel Session. You're selected by him and his producers to go into a studio at BBC Maida Vale and record rough and ready live versions of three or four of your tracks. I remember the excitement when a band you liked would have a Peel Session broadcast in the show. Later, friends' and acquaintances' bands would receive the honour and I'd feel intense jealousy mixed with happiness for them. It was also where you could tell who his favourites were. There would be a definite excitement about Peelie when he'd announce an upcoming session from one of his favoured bands. The Fall did 32 sessions in all, which attests to their exalted position in Peel's eyes.

My band didn't make it to a Peel Session. It is utter hubris to suggest that we might have, but I think John had just discovered us towards the end. He played our last single, Trouble Gun, a couple of times on the very last shows before he died. For me that was the ultimate affirmation of what we were doing and it made it even more devastating to lose him so soon after.

John Peel was like having a mate to listen to records with. He's the one of the reasons why I make music now - without the understanding that people like him were out there to support new bands, fewer people would put the work in.

John, we loved you as much as you loved music. Wherever you are I hope they're playing Teenage Kicks for you and that the record shops are plentiful and well stocked.

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