Now aside from the fact that Peel was irreplaceable, it would have been impossible to listen to more music than he did. Other guests at his Peel Acres retreat report that Peelie would vanish on a Saturday into his room where he’d spend all day trawling through sacks of post.
During the week,…you’d find him at his desk at Radio 1, headphones on, ripping open mailers with the appetite of a young boy on Christmas day. If he wasn’t there, you’d probably bump into him in a record shop acquiring even more music. His appetite was as voracious as ever.
And that’s what came through on his radio shows. In an industry which more than ever, is overrun with record promotions men and labels desperate for airtime, one of Peels biggest accolades was that he was ‘unpluggable’. It’s not as if he liked unknown or obscure bands just because they were unknown or obscure (although djs are a little elitist at times) John wanted to give everyone a chance, whether your record turned up by courier or wrapped in bog paper. In fact. He’d undoubtedly open the one in bog paper first. One of the many thousands of e-mails that arrived at Radio 1 in the wake of his death, described him as ‘the people’s A&R man’ I think that’s why we trusted him. He was incredibly conscientious, but had an instinctive feel for music that money couldn’t buy. We genuinely will never see the like of him again.
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