was what he wanted inscribed on his stone.
A true original.
He was the best...
Goodbye.

Gutted (and I don't think using Caps Lock is like yelling in this case.)

John Peel is a legend, a true champion of real music.

Just hope those who him alot, including our dear ol' Mozzer, pay him the fitting tributes and respect he deserves.

BLUEBIRDS

65 is young to die, and a horrible way to go.
Respect to Peel and family.

Wow- that's horrible news. He helped so many bands to be heard on airwaves they otherwise would not have stood a chance on. A lot of musicians I like, I heard on his show or thru his "Peel Sessions" first. A true original.

Some people grow old with dignity and start listening to classical music and wearing checkered slippers.

Others start listening to Gangster Rap and make twats of themselves.

Peel did neither, he stuck to what he actually liked and believed in.

In a world filled with DJs that deserve hanging, we have just lost one of those who deserved praise and gratitude.

-D

...for my friend stopped running today.

"Watership Down", Richard Adams

my teenage years in the 80's were spent listening to this great man it was on his show that I was introduced to many of my now favourite bands, I dont think anybody else helped launch the careers of so many musicians. He had the most instantly recognisable voice on radio/tv and I shall miss it so

I believe he was going out to dinner with friends last night when this happened. :(

with a Morrissey picture

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3955511.stm

Sad sad news..

It's a bad thread in which to be pedantic but it was in fact an A1 service station where Peel met Morrissey.. not M1..

john peel has done more for exposing good music than any other person. the peel sessions roster is a who's-who of incredible artists.
r.i.p. john peel

A true original, no one played such an ecletic playlist, and probably no one else will again.

I'm off to play the Peel sessions.

He'll be well missed.

The Last Of The Famous International D.J's.
The B.B.C has lost it's Greatest Son... it's the end of an Era.

First of all I think it is right to leave our thoughts with John Peel's family, as they losing a family member is the real tragedy.

It has been said a great deal already, but if it wasn't for John we would not have discovered some of the brightest talents in alternative music.

Personally, I like many others will be permanently indebted to Mr Peel for giving ‘The Smiths’ their first real chance of exposure, with the sessions they recorded for him. Without those fantastic recordings then maybe that band like many others would not have gained the momentum they needed to achieve what they ultimately did.

And that is down to John Peel.

His impact on Music was quite remarkable, and he was a fantastically knowledgeable and skilful DJ, and for me the 'Pele' of the Radio Business.

We will never see his like again, and I thank him for his vital contributions.

he had the best 'ears' of any DJ ever.

He really knew good music.

we all owe him an awful lot.

we won't see his like again

They should put him in there on his own and kick out the rest.

One of my fondest memories was when he inexplicably started championing Sheena Easton and would play "9-5" nearly every night alongside his regular bands. I don't know whether he really liked her or whether it was a good joke to wind up all the po faced musos.

By the way, The Smiths have just been played on daytime Radio One. Wonders will never cease. Shame it took Peel to die though.

I went off him recently but used to listen loads and felt I got to know him (and all about his family) really well.

He was on Room 101 recently (in the last year) and nominated 'death' as one of his choices. Looks like the grim reaper's taken his revenge...
Big sympathy to all his family and friends.
John

This on Uncut website. Tribute from Joyce and Siouxsie

http://www.uncut.co.uk/features/140

I shall be playing John's favourite Smiths song 'Reel Around The Fountain' as a tribute.

Thank you John.
RIP

doesn't anyone else find it disturbing that most of the rock n roll types don't really live a very long life span?

i brought up this point to someone and they made the argument of "well, keith richards should have been dead a long time ago", but you know, you can't kill what's already dead.

Once said hello to John Peel when I passed him in the street in Leeds. His show got me into loads of good music in my teens. Top bloke who'll be sadly missed. BTW the services in question are at Washington on the A1(M).

Such a shame and such a great man.

Johnny Marr comments on John Peel from the BBC website below:

Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr told BBC News Online: "The Smiths' early success was largely due to the John Peel show.

We would try out new songs on the sessions and these often were the definitive version.

John Peel was always the best around."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3955547.stm

So very sad to hear this news.

Radio 1 just played How Soon is Now as part of a tribute to the great John Peel and it made me cry.

In bringing The Smiths to the fore, this man changed my life.

R.I.P.

This is a heartbreaking day.

John Peel's voice, playlist and show have been the soundtrack of my life since my pre-teen years. Through my adolesence and late teens, his show was as important to me as food, water or air. Through him I discovered so much that I now hold very dear.

I'm sure it's a familiar story with a lot of people here, but John made my troubled high-school years seem a lot brighter with his passion for music. I remember those nights of listening to The Fall, New Order, Misty In Roots, The Chameleons, Felt, Young Marble Giants, Eek-A-Mouse, The Pastels, Primal Scream, The Jesus & Mary Chain etc etc etc; and of course all those occasions when I'd sit enraptured as he'd debut the new Smiths single or session.

If I have a 100th of his love of alternative music(and music in general) when I'm 65, I'll be exceptionally happy.

Peace John, you were a true king.

R.I.P. and thanks for EVERYTHING.

can't believe how sad i felt when i heard this, a great bloke and a lot to thank him for. Just wanted to know if he smoked, i think i remember him smoking, that would explain the relative young age, RIP mate!

It is for all the music and his love and obssession for music. I was stunned by this news. This so sad for everyone. It is ofcause sad and deverstating to his family and those close to him. I always wanted to meet him. Now it's too late.RIP.
  With lots of love from, Andrea(Andy) Isonxxxxx
  (I will have to waite and see him in heaven, did he smoke?)

This is like losing a friend or a relative. Even though I never met him. It's through Radio, and also through TV a bit. You came to know and love him. RIP.
With lots of love from, Andrea(Andy)Isonxxxxxx

And though I lose a friend,
in the end
you will know.

One day you'll find
that I have gone.
For tomorrow may rain,
I'll follow the sun.

tough year for Morrissey; Arthur Kane, Sacha Distel and now John Peel, all dead. sad reminders of our mortality.

Just to echo everyone else's thoughts on this sad - and shocking, 65 is fairly young these days - news. John Peel was a beacon for those who are interested in alternative music. He championed artists from a huge variety of genres and his recommendations were always worth pursuing. A couple of years ago, Peel talked about an electronica act called Cursor Miner, whom I immediately investigated and loved - electro/techno pop sort of music, really great. Most people Peel's age wouldn't give it the time of day, let alone champion it. I thank him for that. He showed that one could have a passion for alternative music throughout life, and is an example to music lovers everywhere.

RIP.

He gave artists the airwaves where all around gave deaf ears.

RIP John Peel

What can I say, that hasn't already been said before?? A nation grieves.
I realise that a there a lot of people outseide the UK that have never heard John Peel, maybe only thru the Peel Sessions, but this was THE most influencial man in music FULL STOP !!!

A legend in his own lifetime, a man with a real passion for music (and good music at that) as well as not afraid to play some god awful stuff as well, (well it made us laugh anyway lol).

As it has been said before, without him, a lot of the great bands, including The Smiths, may never have been heard.

I for one will personally sign anything to add my name to a list of people that want the Pyramid satge at Glastonbury, renamed in his honour, in fact it should go without saying, and be a lasting memorial of this great man.
In fact, I would love to see, and I hope that something will happen, either a memorial concert, or an album be released, and I am sure that there are a hell of a lot or bands out there that would be queing up to pay their respects.

Teenage Kicks, by The Undertones, his favorite song of all time, that just about sums him up, a classic tune (just try and deny it !!!).

John Peel
Loved and Lost

Gramp

I stayed to catch the first two songs of the 'memorial' programme on VH2 which was after The Smiths Rockpalast Live Concert.

The first two songs were;

Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths

I think he would have been very happy indeed with those choices, I hope that he was watching from somewhere.

RIP John

He educated me and I thank him for that.

John was a legend. Will there ever be another person with his musical insight and if there is will they be able to wrestle the reigns from the corporate consolidators controlling our media to actually break future bands? I don't know. The future is bleak but the past shines brightly in places. Peel was one of the brightest points.

He contributed more to the world than most world "leaders". He left an indelible mark that won't wash off or fade in time. Rest in peace John and rest well.

although I never heard his show, because I heard a bunch of the sessions from his show. The first one I bought was the Cure, which has an incredible version of "Fire In Cairo." Then, of course, I got Joy Division, the Smiths, the Jesus & Mary Chain. I always thought it was cool that he liked "Teenage Kicks" so much, although I never really understood why (I prefer "Get Over You"). He never introduced me to a new band, but he made it possible for bands I love to become big enough for me to hear them.
R.I.P.

Even on the other side of the planet (Australia) John Peel was regarded as simply the world's best DJ. And by DJ I don't mean the guy who helps the industry money making machine foist the latest Justin Timberlake product upon us.

Far from being a cog in the PR wheel, JP seems to me to have been both a passionate, astute musical explorer and a practical nurturer of the commercially grounded young band. With his ear for talent and his bucking of trends, sow's ears everywhere were given the opportunity to become silk purses over time. Not championed and dropped in 5 minutes flat, but loved and held and helped and God knows whatever else he did behind the scenes.

JP did not wait to gauge the musical flavour of the week from others; he already knew what he liked and believed in what was good. Sometimes he must have sensed that greatness was just around the corner and altruistically helped it on its way. In this sense, the greatest compliment one can afford John is that he was a genuine individual and true non-conformist in an over-populated field of music industry sheep.

John Peel, the man - nay, make that THE MAN - greatly enriched peoples lives well beyond the reach of any localised radio frequency. Hey - on the other side of the globe I must confess I've never even heard his show - not once - and still the direct influence of his passions reached and resonated with this music-loving Melbournian. Via JP's CDs, appearances, articles, media commentary and most of all GREAT TASTE, the tidal waves JP created in my long gone teenage world are still gloriously washing over me at the age of 40. Amazing.

And John Peel did it all without a fucking el-cheapo, tacky endorsement or fiscal leg-up from Pepsi, Coke, Nike or Heinekin. Resistance is useful, John; you have departed this mortal coil with full and completely intact honours in the credibility department. How many can leave that behind?
   
And so, a valuable life has now left the scene, but has also left an indelible musical legacy bouncing around our heads. If I don't see every band that he ever championed from A to friggin' Z right now come out and thank the guy, it's a wholly unjust world.

For my part, as a music lover, a simple "Thank you John" for steering me in all the right directions will suffice. All this to a man I never met.

David Bricknell
Melbourne
Australia

Just like Moz said people come, people go.
I'm quite sure thier spirits never dies!
Thank you for being the great D.J.
Understanding Moz.
Everything shows in the face.
I have to live cool!
Quite sure you are going to the place,
full of music, no more suffer, peaceful place.

I'm grateful to this site for giving me access to news that I might not have gotten otherwise, living in California... I listened to Peel in the 80s of course, and always marvelled that a middle-aged man (as he was then) could be so hip!! Very sad news, but he left an incredible mark. For those readers who never were exposed to Peel, "Hatful of Hollow" wouldn't exist without him.

I've spent many a happy evening listening to Peel Sessions and also his classic Festive 50s. Like thousands of others I'm indebted to John Peel for introducing me to many many bands that would otherwise have not been championed or have made it into the public eye.

It's hard for me to feel sorry for anyone who's led such an influential life. The last place you'd ever look for art and decency is in the booth of a radio station, but John Peel was somehow there when he had no reason to be. He was a fantastically perceptual person, and I don't think any of us would have enjoyed music these past decades if it had been left up to anyone else to bring it to us.

He did what a lot of us dream of doing, bringing great new music to a mass audience. And for that, he was respected, loved and hopefully well-paid. I can't be sad for him, as Mr. Peel's life was one so thoroughly well lived. Sadness isn't what I feel for him - only a deep, profound debt of gratitude.

I'm so saddened by the news.Radio One played 'There Is A Light.....' before and it made me cry.I've been listening to John on Tuesday nights since I was 14, I'm 32 now. He shaped my record collection with so much wonderful music, but more importantly he gave me The Smiths and for that I will always be grateful.Cheers John,Goodnighht and God Bless.

We'll miss you very much

Legend.

The Smiths have been mentioned in near enough all the reports of John Peel’s death as one of the bands who wouldn’t have ‘made it’ without his help. Certainly the air-play he gave them was just the exposure the band needed. The fact that listening to Peel’s programmes between 10 pm and midnight in the eighties was more or less essentially a solitary pursuit, I think, is key to the listeners’ identification with Morrissey’s lyrics. Being alone, perhaps lonely, in the dark listening to Peel was a big part of my teenage years and I have no doubt that it was of many others too. The Smiths songs shone like jewels through the darkness and poor reception and naff equipment. I listened to the radio through one of the ‘hearing aid’ type earpieces that you stick in your ear and collect ear-wax.

It’s funny to think that in those days I had no idea what John Peel looked like. In these days of radio DJs being on TV all over the place and the internet it’s hard to think that a listeners wouldn’t know what the DJ looks like, how much hair they have, what labels they wear, what piercings they have.

John Peel’s style made listening to the radio intimate in a way that other DJ’s didn’t. He made it exciting because you knew that you would hear tracks that you’d not heard before and could be wonderful. When you heard one of those you then were excited and listened in anticipation of hearing it in another Peel show because you would probably not hear it anywhere else. Helpfully John gave out details of what record labels and catalogue numbers certain records were when he wanted you to be sure of being able to order them.

It has been established that it was John Peel’s producer, the late John Walters, who picked up on The Smiths and he who offered them the now infamous sessions. I’m sure John Peel wouldn’t have allowed The Smiths to be played on his show if he didn’t like the tunes, but I don’t recall ever hearing him enthusing much about Smiths tracks. Maybe I’ve just got a bad memory, but I don’t remember him saying much about them. I do recall that he knew the listeners doted on The Smiths and were waiting with their fingers on the record buttons of their radio cassettes at home whenever there was a new Smiths Session or even a repeat of a session.

Of course it was Peel’s listeners who voted ‘How Soon is Now’ record of the year in 1984 though it was known then only as the relatively exotic extra track on ‘William it was really nothing’. Peel seemed completely unenthusiastic about it when he played it as the number one. It was a case of ‘Well, that’s it’. Did the listeners vote The Smiths as the number one in Peel’s Festive Fifty in 1983 too? It’s been said that he didn’t appreciate The Smiths being top of the pie two years running, because Peel was always looking for the ‘new thing’. Another of my cassette tapes has Peel saying that his favourite Smiths track up to that point was ‘HSIN’ in 1984 just as he played the session version of it.

The first recording of The Smiths that I ever owned is ‘This Charming Man’ recorded onto a cassette from Peel’s ‘brightest hopes for 1984’ as played by Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell in December 1983. [Other choices were the Cocteau Twins’ ‘Sugar Hiccup and The Naturalites’ ‘Picture on the wall’.] I played it again today.

In 1985 I wrote to Peel admonishing him for being critical of Joan Armatrading. I think he’d said something about her music being very Radio 2 or something like that. He very kindly replied that Joan had recorded sessions for him before she had reords out and that bizzarely when her record company launched her record they’d done it at London’s Playboy club. This obviously amused him! He also asked me if I’d got my hands on the Naturalites’ record.

One of Peel’s all time favourites was ‘Pasi Pano Pane Zviedzo’ by Zimbabwe’s Four Brothers. I had a phone conversation with him about it in 1989 while he was playing their session on his radio show. I was taken aback that he answered the phone himself but he was patient while I blur

John Peel, to me represents that golden age in the early to mid-eighties when indie pop really was indie pop, before we had to endure the 90's and Britpop. Bands like the Pastels, My Bloody Valentine and the New Fast Automatic Daffodils. I wish I could find a compilation with all those bands on. I haven't listened to John much lately because his taste in music is slightly too off the wall for me. But still a great man. FIRSTODIE

I have listened to John Peel almost every show since the BBC started broadcasting over the internet. John, you will be sadly missed.

For millions of people. I really can't describe how sad I feel, Peel was one of those that you thought would just go on living for ever. The world was a better place for guys like him

Jocky xxx

His body is gone, but his memory will live on, and the respect that is universally felt for him will also. This world is not easy to live in, but he made it more so - not only for The Smiths, but for the countless people who share his appreciation for what can sit legitimately under both 'music' and 'art'. His empire was not one born of hate, deceit or greed as so many are, but genuine human feeling and taste. He will be missed enormously, but he has a legacy that will never die, and one that he can smile down upon for years to come. Thank you, John.

No, because John Peel was a good, decent man. It's a completely different thing.