John Peel | Teenage Dreams So Hard To Beat

Hello Friends,

Yesterday was the 6 year anniversary of John Peel's passing. John was simply the greatest radio DJ to ever walk this earth and rock the airwaves. John Peel was an English DJ that spun records from 1967 - 2004 on the BBC.

I was introduced to his shows via a mate of mine named Bobbi. While at work he would listen to it on live streams from radio1. The music was all over the map and the excitement from this DJ was infectious.

John's legacy will always be things like 'Peel Sessions' , breaking artists and playing what ever the hell he wanted to on his radio shows. His contribution to the music business was so big and important that there's already so many other DJs taking over from where he left off.

I think the biggest tribute to John is that Glastonbury Music Festival re-named 'The New Music Stage' to now be 'The John Peel Stage' only one year after his death in 2005.

The Undertones tune 'Teenage Kicks' was a song that John was quoted as saying "There's nothing you could add to it or subtract from it that would improve it". It was, in John's eyes, the single best pop song ever recorded. What a compliment coming from someone with access to that much music.

Here are 5 Songs that John Peel introduced me to in the short time I had the pleasure of listening to him.

• Athea and Donna - 'Uptown Top Ranking' *this blew my mind first time I heard it on his show
• The Bees - 'Listening Man'*he introduced me to this band although this song didn't come out until 2007...I think that he would have adored this. Still one of my fav videos of all time:)
• Joy Division - 'Transmission'
• PJ Harvey - 'Good Fortune'
• The White Stripes - 'Hotel Yorba'

I did a google image search of John and this one came up. I had to include it to show the bottom lyric on his tombstone. What a man indeed...he believed what he preached. Thank you for the great music John.

Thanks for reading/listening,

Gregg Stewart