Goodbye John Peel

As a tribute to John Peel, I'd like to dedicate this post to the late, great DJ.

John Peel was on a working holiday in Peru with his wife when he passed away on Monday 25 October from a heart attack. He was only 65 though you'd never have known it, his passion and taste for music rivaled and surpassed that of any teenager.

John Peel was a real champion of alternative music and although he did a lot for the likes of Rod Stewart and David Bowie, I shall always remember him for promoting Joy Division and New Order. His playlist was extensive and he always played stuff like The Undertones, The Buzzcocks, The Ramones, The Damned, The Smiths, and more recently The White Stripes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, not to mention his love of a diverse range of hip-hop, metal, dub, reggae and world music.

The John Peel Show was the best place for music on Radio 1 although it was limited to an evening session whilst all the cheap commercial pop crap was churned out during the daytime.

One of the funniest things I recall about him was when he played an early LP by "Aphex Twin" - He got the vinyl out, stuck it on the turntable and, in his usual dry and ironically witty way said something like "This next track is by the Aphex Twin, and it's called, well actually it isn't called anything. But there is a picture on the sleeve next to the track and I can only describe it as what looks like an electron microscope view of a piece of burnt toast". Funny Guy.

I'm genuinely saddened by his demise and can only say that he will be greatly missed. My thoughts go out to his wife and his 4 kids, who all have middle names related to Liverpool FC; Dalglish, Anfield etc... Like I said, Funny Guy.