John Peel Day 2011

A Minute's Noise For John




A MINUTE'S NOISE FOR JOHN
by Mitch Benn and the Distractions

Let's have a minute's noise from all the girls and boys
Who understand that they lost a friend the other day 'cos
To have a minute's silence somehow would be wrong,
Let's have a minute's noise for John.

Let's have a minute's row from everyone remembering how
He soundtracked all our misspent youths
From Teenage Kicks right to Home Truths.
To stand in wordless contemplation's just not on,
Let's have a minute's noise for John.

So DJs rip up your playlists, remember better stuff exists
Now that he has left us how'll we save the world from Simon bloody Cowell?
Let's have a minute's racket, though he isn't coming coming back it
Seems we understand the need to play something loud and at the wrong speed.
Cos a minute's silence wouldn't show him how we feel,
Let's have a minute's noise for Peel

It's hard to believe that today marks the 7th anniversary of the passing of one of the legends of radio, John Peel. I am hard pressed to think of another Disc Jockey that through his show was able to impact musical culture for a good number of decades. Whether it was Punk, Reggae, Ska, Indie, Electronic, House Music, Hip Hop, Speed Metal, African music, and a whole host of other Musical Genres, John Peel had his finger on the pulse. Without his commitment to play everything from the totally obscure to introducing the world to Wham (yep we have Uncle John to thank for that!)he left a great legacy behind.

This little blog today will have a few posts dedicated to some of the music that John introduced to the world.

To begin with though I thought I'd post the links to the This Is Your Life show in which Michael Aspel presented John Peel with the big red book.

This Is Your Life John Peel - Part 1

This Is Your Life John Peel Part 2

This Is Your Life John Peel Part 3