Mon, 19 March 2007  The Inaugural OPPI decided I wanted, in addition to the weeklies and monthlies, something more communal to the general world: an homage show for fellow podcasters while it is unlikely that anyone who visits this backward little page would not know the vastly more popular sites, I'm still rather ignorant of the world so my naivete allows me be ignorant of better sense - even if I know better. This one goes out to John Peel. I want to nominate John Peel as the patron saint of indie music, podcasters, and the overlooked. While Peel never (to my knowledge) had a podcast his singular taste in music, self effacing humor, and influence has left on indelible mark on the music of today. Beginning in the late sixties as a pirate radio broadcaster with his Perfumed Garden show to his death in 2003 he played music that never would have made air time otherwise. Odd and particular tracks, his vast selections always straining for that rare thing of uniqueness. His passion itself often clouded the choices he made since he valued uniqueness over quality. More personally he lit the fire for music under my ass. I came across the 1986 Festive Fifty selection by more accident than anything and immediately knew that at least 40 of the tracks I had never heard and never would have heard without the benefit of his show. And so it goes - music is shared and we all learn a little bit more about the world. Not too long after that I launched into finding out what I was missing in the music of today and quickly abandoned the comfort songs of familiarity for the jagged edge of the unknown. For all the horrible noise I've heard since then I can only blame the musicians and for ever jaw dropping and heart pounding track buried in the mess of it - I can only thank John Peel. 1. Canned Heat - Rollin' and Tumblin' aired on Perfumed Garden, 1967 2. Electric Prunes - Wind Up ToysA nice nice tune and the sign of a quality DJ is when he plays his friends music on the air. aired on Perfumed Garden, 1967 3. Marc Bolan - Hippy GumboWhat an awesome psychedelic pop song - a bit derivative but exceedingly good. Peels two cents perfect zeitgeist. aired on Perfumed Garden, 1967 4. Top Gear Signature TuneHow come I've never heard this? They should distribute this to the high schools with disproportionate drop out rates. After the Perfumed Garden got closed down by the government (it was pirate after all) Peel landed a job doing the Top Gear show for the BBC. I couldn't find much about this period except for his shows signature tune. 5. The Jam - Down in a Tube Station at Midnightaired on Festive 50 (F50) 1979 6. Pigbag - Papa's Got a Brand New PigBagThe Jam, almost exclusively reserved for retro hipsters in Williamsburg nowadays is still a solid band well worth the 30 year hype. aired on F50 1981 7. The Woodentops - Well Well WellRoiling post punk funk with ska elements and the big band sound. Ah lord we need more of this. Favorite - the Fwee whistle. More Fwee Whistle! aired on F50 1985 8. Ironmasters - The Men They Couldn't HangA good driving drum line, elemental vocals, and a Casio keyboard. aired on F50 1985 9. Weather Prophets - Almost PrayedI've got a soft spot for seditious folk songs. Remind me to bust out the Guthrie someday. aired on F50 1986 10. Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads BowlingAw brit pop - so good so gold. A melancholy song about near religious experience. aired on F50 1986 11. House of Love - Destroy the HeartIt was this song that blew my mind and drove me to worship Peels musical tastes. Such a raucous chorus, what sheer absurdity. Classic: "I had a dream - it was about nothing" aired on F50 1988 12. Stump - Charlton HestonThe sentiment of this song (if not it's execution) is well worth the time to listen to it at least three times. aired on F50 1988 13. Gorkys Zygotic Mynci - If Fingers were XylophonesAnother wonderfully absurd piece - the fact that these folks only ever put out one album and then disbanded due to a lack of commercial interests is a clear sign of the failure of the capitalists system. Now I just have to find a re-issue and build a shrine. aired on F50 1995 A band destined for nothing more than cult obscurity. But why? Their name could never be made into a commodity. 14. Cornershop - 6am Jullander Shereaired on F50 1995 15. White Town - Your WomanMind blowing Indian Pop fusion from Leicester. If demographic change always sounded so good our world would be a lot less hateful. aired on F50 1996 16. Hefner - Alan BeanOh you've heard this one before? Yeah I think it dominated the airwaves for one summer. Wonderful thing. Worth the replay value. aired on F50 2001 17. Detroit Cobras - AlabamallamaFive stars on this - shivers and shakes down spines, feet tapping and head bopping while the refrain reminds and steels us against the troubles of it all. aired on F50 2001 18. The Fall - Theme from Sparta FCRock and Roll baby. aired on F50 2003 19. CLSM - John Peel is Not EnoughThe Fall are insane, 60 some frickin albums each track unhinged in some beautiful way. The shouting of fruits by the background singers on Dr. Faustus is a good example. This song coming near the end of Peel and The Falls decade long friendship is a capstone to the efforts of DJs to play what they love and bands to play what they love. Not harmonious no - but distinct. aired on F50 2003 20. John Peel - TalkingFrom the psychedelic sixties to the hard dance of the 00's - Peel played it all. And what props he was given. aired on Perfumed Garden, 1967 Thanks John. For the miracle. Listen up folks, like CLSM said - John Peel is not enough. It is the duty of each of us to love and cultivate music. Throw it down and seek it out with passion. Play it loud and it fills the yawning emptiness we all have inside our alienated hearts. Play it for a friend and feel the connection of shared experience bridge the gap of our lonely islands of consciousness. Music to share is music to live by. Let's take off the headphones folks - we've all got that one golden track. Get it out there and make Peel proud. Comments[0] |
