The legendary John Peel tonight – one of his Top Gear proograms for the BBC, broadcast on June 7, 1969 – a complete show, all two hours worth.
A lot of disc jockeys on both sides of the Atlantic lay claim to being the driving force behind what became Freeform Rock radio – the eclectic mix of music that signified underground FM in the mid-late 1960s. If John Peel wasn’t the first he was certainly one of the first to take listeners on an audio adventure through a vast range of music, in addition to being the one who routinely brought bands and artists on to his program to record live – and even though the notion of getting a band to play on the radio wasn’t a new idea – John Peel took it and expanded on it, turning it into a showcase for some of the most iconic artists of the late 1960s all the way up to the time of his untimely death in 2004 to get their first exposure or to introduce an upcoming album or single to a very wide audience.
Something of a cottage industry has sprung up in recent years among dedicated collectors whose home recorded taped airchecks of shows have often been cited as the only known source for some of John Peels most memorable contributions. Tapes that are, admittedly not great sounding for the most part, but give a stellar idea of just how eclectic John Peel’s taste in music was as well as his knowledge of each artist. He was an avid listener of all genres of music and turning an audience on to a band or a style of music has done a considerable amount to broaden musical taste.
You may not be familiar with John Peel or who he was and what he had done. Let’s just say there is no better time than the present to enjoy and be amazed by music you may never have heard.
If you can swing it, try and get all the way through this two hour program in one sitting – it will give you some idea of what people were listening to at the time and how much influence John Peel made to the audience. Twenty-one years after his death, the example John Peel laid down became essential and Popular music was never quite the same.
Buckle up and remember, the tape sounds a little crappy in places. Couldn’t be helped, but grateful it happened in the first place.
