I was just thinking about the late great John Peel and decided to write a few words about him. It will be ten years this October since he tragically died while on holiday and no DJ will ever come close to achieving what he did. No radio show has ever had such diversity that you could follow The Electro Hippies with The Bundhu Boys. From the early 70s until his death in 2004 he remained the most important DJ on Radio One.
I remember the first time I listened to his show back in May 1982, I was terrified as I didn't know what to expect and thought he would be a terrifying and rude DJ. Quite the contrary and as many listeners will agree, he was like a friend and we shared his tears when he talked about the Hillsborough disaster or the death of his great friend and former producer John Walters.
No DJ has ever been so sincere and passionate about new music. Without him we probably wouldn't have heard of Bowie, Siouxsie, The Smiths, Aphex Twin, Blur, Pulp, Stone Roses, Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, Roxy Music, Pixies, Throwing Muses, The Cure, Grandmaster Flash, Joy Division, Autechre, Boards of Canada, Sex Pistols, Mogwai, PJ Harvey, and the list goes on and on and on.
And let's not forget his favourites The Fall who epitomised everything that Peely stood for with their diverse musical output. Peely was the first DJ in the UK to play punk, dub reggae, New York rap and the hip hop, acid house, house, techno, drum and bass, etc, etc. Oh you may want to correct me and say others played a genre first, but no DJ was playing such a diverse range of music and it's thanks to him my tastes are so wide.
Lest we forget the great man.