John Peel "This is your life" 1996

[rebelVHS]

Thanks for posting this. MES's contribution is priceless.

Have a look at this - Peely knew about this and approved-

In YouTube, search fro 'CHEAP SPACE CHANT'

Enjoy.

[canturgan]

Alan freeman is in the audience, he was a proper head banger from aus.

[transonicbuoy1]

Fav was Undertones, but missed Smiths live, like me.

[gregorylloyd62]

John Peel; possibly the biggest influence on my life. Thank you.

[MrPabz9]

Only thee eagle eyed'll notice , but someone's given Peely a Scotty One Eye on the add for this vid. You probably have to be a Scouser like myself to get that joke!.

[bvivers]

He said a "cabaret" band not a cover band. Of course he's joking.

[lifepod2036]

The fall was a cover band at first? who did they cover. I'de like to hear Mark sing "When the man comes around" by johnny cash (not sure if that's the title)

[lifepod2036]

I remember hearing the name John Peel a lot but I never knew who he was until recently. I feel kind of stupid not knowing he was apart of the Pirate radio off the coast of britian. But I always heard bits and pieces of things as a young teen. We didn't have the interwebbers to look stuff up in the early 80s.

[sharonwithtracey]

ahh peelie was so thrilled with mark's message. He loved The Fall .Long live JP!

[boardy777777]

rest in peace john,top man even though you liked liverpool fc !!! forgive you for that man !!!

[M245475SH]

I remember walking past him in Oxford Street and not having the courage to tell him how much he'd changed my life ! A great man. RIP.

[johnmontague1964]

So miss listening to him every night at 10pm,John thank you for introducing me to New Order and Cocteau Twins in their infancy,my favourite bands.

[Steve7508]

is that Marianne Faithfull sat next to his wife? looks like her.

[jonnywotsit]

It's good to see MES showing genuine affection here.

No bullshit - just shared admiration. Quality!

[yojimbo869]

Yes very rare. Makes it all the better.

[mattisprettycool]

@jonnywotsit Exactly what I was going to post. Great stuff.

[monkey5000]

god i miss him

[bigstefan]

none of these cunts can step up to Peel...jo fucking whiley, zane lowe, steve lamacq, huw stephens...ALL OF THEM either play 99% white indie music or are told what to play by the labels, no matter how 'alternative' they'd like to seem. No-one will ever play such a wide variety of music to such a large audience of people ever again. It's fucked! RIP John Peel

[lanehistory]

dead right,miss john so badly,everything is fucked since john left us,these anodyne cunts on radio 1,fuck it,its all over,dont know what more to say,i have no interest in radio or contemporary music,cheers for everything john

[mojochessclassics]

HERE FUCKING HERE!

[ady10001]

@bigstefan Yep, dig up John Peel and put him on Radio 1.

[Strawberry7Lynn]

@bigstefan I wish they would play "99% white indie music"

[gummyfart]

@bigstefan apart from he's son on 6 music!!!!

[codelocator]

@bigstefan

A million fucking youtube thumbs up to that

[mjd775]

...John Peel, Legend!! I hate how that miserable, dull, pretentious cow Jo Whilley thinks she can take over the mantle of the great Mr Peel. May she rot in pretentious smug purgatory!!

[rsiegenbe]

I still cant get over john peel-things just anrnt quite the same. Miss u John...

[curringtonmatthew]

John Peel was an absolute legend and there will NEVER be another like him, FACT!. Without any doubt what soever the biggest musical influence for me and many many others. John is sadly missed. RIP sir.

[visiocomb]

the bloke was a freakin legend, makes me feel sad just watching this - (for me) the man and his music had a much bigger impact on my youth than any of the the shyte pumped out by "revolutionary" bands such as the beatles & stones..

sadly missed.

[GNeuman]

John, you are sadly,sadly missed, champion of alternative/indie music. Wherever you are, I hope you are enjoying your music..

God Bless.

[bunnee777]

what a shame, that many of today's emo, indie kids don't realise how cool m e smith & john peel are. they set the stage for much of the past 35 years of pop music, "alternative" & otherwise!

[dewexdewex]

It's a wig.

[podycheck]

mark e smith seeming sort of nice and pleasant? wow.

[hurley501]

john peel rules!!!!!!

[airdale1sorry]

oh ! Johnny peel! Nice to see him up and about again, as i had heard he hadn't been feeling well!

[Jay1787]

he's dead... i'm sure you knew that already...

[coyel]

Really?

[Jay1787]

Yeah. Look it up on Goggle, fella. Sorry to be the one telling you. Take care.

[cometothesabbat]

adamg709, why are you so stupid?

[xgatesbigeck]

gedge's hair - bizarre.

[adamg709]

Well, I like a couple of the bands mentioned - the Ramones, the Clash and the Fall would have and did make it wthout him. Most of what Peel played was dire, and he was a phoney. Drugs are bad for you although crap musicians like to promote their use as an excuse for being crap people. BTW I have very broad musical taste.

[avsp]

Julie Birchill has an extensive history as a troll & of cocaine & amphetamine use.

All the things she mentions were known in the 70's to BBC management & the public because Peel had mentioned them.

Few artists work is more openly influenced by drug use than that the work of MES, tho' he in no way promotes their use. I'd say his face serves an example of the damage alcohol & speed can do. His obvious tardive dyskineasia in Newsnight clip would also serve likewise

[bartlebybartleby]

all musicians are "phonies." what a ridiculous accusation. nobody with a brain takes musicians seriously and their drug use shouldn't impact ones' interpretation of their output. obviously all pop music is social but i think we can bracket out certain stances. i don't know why anyone should be interested in or forced to defend the personal life of peel in order to enjoy his influence on popular music. it's simply a fact that he hugely helped british alternative music.

[bartlebybartleby]

i'm admittedly a yank but burchill is hardly a figure to pose against peel in a moral war - a totalitarian cokehead bore? puh-leeze. although i am somewhat loathe to make this personal, from what you have provided (47 year old wedding band, faux-avant-garde leanings), i am detecting more than a hint of ressentiment.

[adamg709]

No resentment - I just don't understand how he is so revered. I reckon he couldn't have cared less about the music. As I said, he found a niche, realised what stance to take and took it. As one of pop culture's frauds, he is right up there with........another over-rated Scouser. (You know who I mean)

[adamg709]

Wrong, not all musicians are phonies. Peel was not a musician. I agree he 'helped' British alternative music, I just didn't like his pretend working class mentality and his contrived views.

[hurley501]

dude!!!!!! john peel was the greatest!!!!

[adamg709]

'Peely's influence'? You mean promoting no-hope druggies who hadn't a clue to let them think they were the future of rock n roll? Most of the music he championed is basically formula rock music played incompetently. As for dear Julie, I'm not her biggest fan either but the article on 'Peely' is quite telling. In todays climate he probably would have been sacked if that stuff had reached the mainstream media.

[danpeewee]

I think that much of the music that Peel championed is great (Damned, Ramones, Pistols, Cure, Smiths, Fall, Undertones, Wedding Present etc etc etc). As for your accusation of drug use by these musicians, I don't dispute. With the exception of Minor Threat (whom I love) and perhaps a few others, the history of pop music goes hand-in-hand with drug taking by the artists.

What kind of music do you like? And why do John Peel and his tastes rub you the wrong way?

[avsp]

"Most of the music he championed is basically formula rock music played incompetently." That is entirely not the point

"You mean promoting no-hope druggies who hadn't a clue to let them think they were the future of rock n roll?"

To characterise his carreer in that fashion is a reach & half. Except perhaps in the Falls case but MES didnt need much encouragement to believe in his 'destiny' as the "future of rock & roll" & besides which the Fall arent exactly 'huge'

[adamg709]

And your point is?

[JIMBURNE98]

adam the point is that you are probably a failed musician for a reason ,to call John Peel a phoney is stupid.If you knew anything,you would regret your statement,and go learn a thing or two.

[adamg709]

I am a pro musician, matey. I get paid to play (not rock music) Peel was so obviously a phoney - the only reason he kept a job at the BBC is because even though he fooled people like you into thinking he was alternative, he was careful not to rock the corporate boat.

[JIMBURNE98]

Obviously he wanted to make some money from his work,like most of us have to Adam,but if you knew more then you would'nt generalise about a person who is so beyond that.Yeah I'm passionate about my hero's and to read such bull is difficult not to reply to,so keep knocking out the pro formula music you say you play. If you play any other type of music than corporate shite then you would'nt be making such daft comments on John Peel.Mind your corporate boat it's got one hell of a leak.

[adamg709]

I didn't say what type of music I played only that it wasn't rock - it certainly isn't formula either. Peel found a little niche at the BBC, cynically played stuff he pretended to be interested in, and threw in a careful amount of (phoney) working class hero.

[JIMBURNE98]

Ok,fair enough.What is your particular niche then?Maybe we can put this in perspective with some music recommendations from you,and how you make your cash being a 'pro' musician these days.

[adamg709]

My musical tastes are not relevant, but I do listen to everything. The band I play in plays two areas of ethnic or traditional music. With that we get corporate work, weddings, festivals, theatre foyers, folk clubs and some very unusual gig settings.

[JIMBURNE98]

You still know fuck all.

[adamg709]

.....but I didn't fall for your covert hostility in your previous question about musical tastes did I? Anyway Jim, I'm sorry if you're getting bullied at work at work or whatever the problem is. All the best mate.

[JIMBURNE98]

Canada?You're having a laugh.The fact is you know nothing about the subject and will never know anything about the subject...Wrong move I would've thought.Thanks for letting me get into your head so much.

[adamg709]

.....? Are you on drugs?

[JIMBURNE98]

yep plenty.You?

[adamg709]

Coffee and nicotine.

[JIMBURNE98]

very mind expanding.

[morelly]

covert hostility? wow you really read big into that one. he was simply seeing if you could back up your bite

[morelly]

yeap a professional musical nobody

[morelly]

you are professional nobody whose opinions will count for nothing at the end of the day (even here in youtube). john's opinions on the other hand whether his musical tastes were dire or not has influenced generations. its just a fact. no worship there

[jjj7477]

his influence was wide and unseen too....those world service broacasts, mind boggling....and German services radio too,

he kept me going when I was at a low ebb many

times....the antithesis to all the other goons

there and of course The Fall love affair...!!

[morelly]

no-hope druggies? the music he promoted that we remember was great. that simple. his influence on popular music is undeniable. if you dont like what the music he promoted then youre opinion is irrelevant (meaning it wont change the stamp his musical choices have made on modern popular music). yes i say his taste meaning it is biased and not universal

[adamg709]

Surely I was not the only person to notice what a phoney Peel was?

[hmhb1]

Yes, you must be, you twat !

[adamg709]

That was rhetorical, I actually wasn't the only person to notice.

[adamg709]

There is an interesting piece on him from 1999, which I cannot post the URL for as youtube won't let me, but do a Google on John Peel Guardian Julie Birchill.

[danpeewee]

The factual stuff she brings up in the article is not THAT bad. And at any rate, it has nothing to do with Peely's influence on music, which, I believe is MASSIVE.

Julie Birchill's opinion does not impress me. She hates EVERYTHING and always has. Check out "The Boy Looked at Johnny" She's quitting journalism to become a Bible thumper. Maybe she and Palmolive from the Slits can go convert the heathen together.

[spurtfather]

old mark eh? soft as shite.

[DMOWC]

I dont think i've ever seen Mark E Smith so coherant and nice, John almost seems taken back it. lol at The Gedge's hair as well.

[jjj7477]

another top post from you kogler,ace stuff....

thanx a mill!