 |
| the life and times of David Serjeant |
| I remember a TV programme where he travelled the UK watching local music etc. He met up with Aphex Twin, Robert Wyatt etc on his journey. Two things stick in my mind � his enthusiasm for a bloke who played free-form noise on the guitar (power drills on the strings etc.) �But can you actually play the guitar?� asks Peel. The man launches into a few bars of Day Tripper before getting bored and hacking away at the guitar again, much to Peel�s delight. Secondly the band comprising teenage girls from somewhere in the North East (Middlesbrough?). Peel approached them after their gig and offered them a session on his show. The girls don�t know who he is. Peel thinks that this is fantastic.
Peel was an ordinary bloke who was fascinated by the extraordinary in other ordinary people, whether it was through their ability to pick up a guitar and make an interesting noise or whether it was through the sometimes moving, sometimes amusing, but always remarkable stories on Home Truths. A large proportion of my teenage years were spent sitting in the dark of my room listening to Peel. Sometimes taping the sessions, finger poised over the pause button. Waiting to hear tracks from the new New Order album. Analysing the Festive 50 as I kept a note of each track. Editing the tapes I�d recorded so that Peels voice would be cut from the fade-out of each track. Most of the bands I love NOW come from listening to Peel almost obsessively. Without him I would never have been introduced to Flying Saucer Attack or Datblygu. Peel was a massive part of my teenage years � when he died, part of me died with him. He is the only public figure I have shed tears for when I learnt of his death. Listening to the Peel shows since, where stand-ins have played the music he championed brings that oh-too-large lump to the back of my throat. I had been promising myself for a while that I would listen to him again at some point, probably in an attempt to recapture some of my youth, energy and enthusiasm for things. I chanced across his World Service programme whilst staying in the spare bed (while my wife was heavily pregnant) and resolved there and then that I was to make more of an effort to catch his show. Sadly, I�ll never get the chance. I managed to tape the show and will keep it for posterity as a record of my last hearing of Peel. There are too many �Celebrity� DJs � why �alternative� stations have to employ �alternative comedians� to play records is BEYOND ME. Why Ricky Gervais on XFM? Why Phil Jupitus on Radio 6? I switched on the radio this morning, to listen to Radio 6 and maybe catch some good music while having a rare lengthy breakfast. I caught a bit of a Prince track and nothing else as it was just Phil Jupitus taking the piss out of the woman who�s home they were broadcasting from. An exception to the rule is Craig Charles� Funk Show. Whatever you think of him or the music he plays � at least he is seriously into what he plays and gets down to playing it. John Peel R.I.P. |
| random thoughts following the death of John Peel >> |