My second thumbs up for Auntie Beeb is for the recent ‘Keeping it Peel’ show, hosted by Elijah Wood, which formed part of Radio 1’s 40th birthday celebrations.
I wondered just what kind of a job Mr Frodo-sir would make of this, but he did a pretty good job by saying his piece and then keeping the hell out of it.
I also suspected that the show would be made up of the usual collection of fawning megastars and insincere DJs all falling over each other to say how often they listened to his show, and how they actually really like death metal, with music from the Smiths, the Sex Pistols, a token Fall song yawn yawn yaaaaaawn.
There was a bit of the above to keep a wider range of punters happy (and I’m always happy to hear a Fall song) but there was also something of the spirit of John about the show, which made me wonder whether one or two of his old producers, or even some of his family, had been involved in it.
I think that this show must’ve been an incredibly difficult thing to put together since you’ve got to try and achieve the balance of musical integrity and limited commercial success that was the hallmark of most of the stuff that he played. Of course, the producers of the show were helped by having access to what is probably a huge archive of John’s ramblings in audio. And it certainly was great to hear him ramble once again.
When I first started to listen to Peel, I found it hard work, and I only did it because I somehow felt that it would be good for me – somewhat like reading Dickens. I wanted to hear the bands that I liked, and I didn’t have much time for the other stuff – and there was so much other stuff.
I don’t know at what point that changed, but I do know that his show became a real joy to listen too, and that he changed my attitude to music completely, over the years. In fact, I hold him partly responsible for the fact that when my friends come round to dinner they complain like hell about the music that I play and ask me what planet I am on (a fair question).
Internet radio such as Pandora and Last FM are pretty good for finding new music, but I can’t see them ever changing the way I think or making me laugh quite as much as John did. I find it sad to think that if he were here today, the fact that his show had been pushed to an unfeasibly late slot in the schedules wouldn’t have mattered to his listeners, who could ‘listen again’ whenever they wanted to. (I’m sure the old boy himself would have continued to be very disgruntled at being kept up late, though).
Anyway, with John Peel day having passed last Thursday, I thought it high time to put it on the record: I miss John Peel so damn much.
