"...he was more like a favourite uncle than a rock fan": The stalwart BBC DJ of my mid-to-late teens, John Peel died suddenly today. Actually, to describe him as a DJ kind of misses the point: he helped form the musical tastes of successive generations like no other figure I've come across in the English-speaking world. God knows he influenced mine. I must have purchased more music because it was introduced to me by John Peel than for any other reason.
OK. He championed punk, gave UK breaks to Nirvana and The White Stripes and gave the first radio plays to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. That last one, I feel, was a seal of approval...
I can't believe this. I don't want to have to. I've just got home from work and I'm crying. Time to put Teenage Kicks on.
John Peel's influence in brief.
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