Although this blog has been running for 5 years in real world terms, it has only covered 6 months worth of John Peel’s programmes in that time (November 1991 up to May 1992). All of which is a slightly tortuous way of saying that we’re still some way off being able to report on Matthew Bannister’s arrival as controller of Radio 1 and the changes he brought to the station. I found myself thinking ahead to Bannister’s revolution while simultaneously cutting Johnny Beerling some slack due to two trailers Peel played in the 90 minutes of this show that I heard. If you wanted some evidence of Radio 1 finding itself trying to cover too many bases circa 1992 then compare and contrast Simon Bates promoting a series of live music shows over the upcoming Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend including highlights from the Montreux Jazz Festival, a joint headline concert featuring The Four Tops and The Temptations as well as “big live shows from the last year” by Roxette and Michael Bolton. Set against that, and doubtless to a smaller pool of listeners, the station had dispatched Evening Session host, Mark Goodier, to the North-East where he would be introducing a series of live performances by the likes of Utah Saints, A House, Altern-8 and “the best new band in Britain” according to the Melody Maker, Suede, who had just released their debut single.
Past and present etched all over the Radio 1 schedule, but it would take a little while yet before the present would dominate. By the way, whatever happened to Montreuex’s cultural hegemony? When I was a kid, television companies never went near Glastonbury, but couldn’t get enough of the festivals in this Swiss town. Between the jazz festival, the rock festival - which used to be a staple of daytime school holiday TV viewing, despite boring me shitless - and the Golden Rose International Television Award, it was a serious destination. It seemed to vanish from the consciousness in the early 1990s though, although all the aforementioned activity still continues there apart from the Golden Rose.
A weekend by Lake Geneva might have helped Peel out given that, in the part of the show which I heard, he made several mistakes and errors - the misplaying of jingles etc. He put this down to being “psychologically unbalanced” by having a spot on his chin. “I was led to believe that one of the compensations of old age was that you don’t get spots anymore”. This physical deformity may have contributed to the loneliness he felt moved to complain about given that plans he had made to meet up with friends in London on the following day had fallen through. He had grown used to these arrangements not being kept but still lamented the loss of opportunities “...to sit in poncey bars drinking overpriced beers with bits of fruit stuck in them, talking codswallop. And I’m such a nice old feller too, I can’t understand it.”
One of the records he played which I passed on was Song for John by Donovan which he dedicated to Sheila in remembrance of a 1970 driving holiday they had taken in Scotland with her sister and in which the accompanying album, Open Road had never been off the 8-track player.
I made my selections from the final 90 minutes of this show. Tracks I would have liked to share, but couldn’t, included:
The Oblivion Seekers - There’s No Depression in Heaven - Peel had been playing this souped up cover of The Carter Family original in the hope that it would pique Andy Kershaw’s interest. He had played the track on the previous week and it had worked. Kershaw was keen to get his hands on a copy. This happened quite often through the years. If Peel was seeking to impress anyone with his playlists, it was invariably Kershaw. I feel that this is because out of all the other Radio 1 DJs, he felt that Kershaw was the only one who might out-scoop him in terms of finding records of rarity or historical importance. Or perhaps it was just admiration for Kershaw’s boundless self-belief and certainty in his judgement compared to his own inferiority complex.
The Mono Men - Jack the Ripper - as with The Oblivion Seekers, this was a turbo charged cover of an old tune, in this case as recorded by Link Wray and the Wraymen.
Falling from favour was:
Accidental Suicide - Unknown - Peel enjoyed this track from their Deceased album, as initially did I (in fact listening to it again now while posting this, I’m actually warming to it again) but prolonged exposure to it convinced me that if I was listening to this on a mixtape, I would want to speed past it and berate myself for including it. Have a listen yourself and you’ll likely realise that my judgement is not to be trusted on anything. Peel read the press notes for the album, which said that Accidental Suicide specialised in “ ...’graphic gore having played with Disfigured, Psychorexus, Lycanthropy and Experiment Fear’ I regret to say I’ve heard none of those, but I bet they’re a lively bunch, especially if encountered after dark.”
On a personal level, this show marked a small milestone in my life. My school would have broken up for half term on this day and although I wasn’t to know it then, it would be my last day at Falmouth Community School. From then on, I would only be going down to the school for rehearsals of The Comedy of Errors and GCSE exams. Ooh ‘eck....
School’s out forever!
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