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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZPEEL, John(b John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, 30 Aug. '39, Merseyside; d 25 October 2004) The most influential disc jockey in the UK by a long way; Dave Cousins of the Strawbs said that with the Beatles and Lonnie Donegan, Peel was the most formative influence on UK pop music. His childhood ambition was to be a disc jockey; he began broadcasting in the USA early '60s; by '65 with Beatlemania at its height his Liverpool accent was an advantage, though he'd been a public schoolboy. He worked in San Francisco '67, heard first hand the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish; moved to Radio London (best of the UK pirate radio stations) and turned the British on to Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. To BBC Radio 1, where he cultivated home-grown talents Marc Bolan, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Jethro Tull, etc. He formed his own Dandelion label early '70s, did his best for Bridget St John, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Medicine Head, etc but the list of artists who made their debut on Peel's show is a history of UK rock: the Faces, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, the Nice, Ten Years After; championing underdogs, he was discouraged by the mid-'70s, seeing the bands he'd promoted become rich and distant. He embraced the punk explosion of '76, converted to the primal power of the Ramones and the Damned; in a year Led Zep's 'Stairway To Heaven' had been replaced by the Sex Pistols' 'Anarchy In The UK' as his listeners' favourite record. His eclecticism was his only enemy: he sometimes gave airtime to bands so obviously derivative they didn't deserve it. The Peel Sessions EPs began '86 with items by the Damned, New Order, Stiff Little Fingers. Whether he grew up or the music got even worse depends on the age of the observer, but he said c'90 'I think a lot of the stuff I'm playing now is crap'. In 1996 he was presenting TV films about people moving house. |