Favourite John Peel quotations (from ILM - some Morrissey content)

A

Almodis

Guest
"I'm the one who comes on Radio 1 late at night and plays records made by sulky Belgian art students in basements dying of TB."

From http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=5178027

Favourite John Peel quotes

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There were millions like me poised over pause buttons each night. Dig out some of the old cassettes and let's hear some of his wisdom.
Peel on Big Black:
"Once a week I drive a nail through my foot to remind myself of the stupidity of not going to see them when I had the chance."

-- everything (everything196...), October 26th, 2004.

Answers
After playing Paska's ranting a capella rendition of "Ace of Spades by Motorhead....
"There's one in every community, isn't there. That was 'Ace of Spades' by Paska, and that's from a double e.p. called If it's Not the Heat, It's the Mosquitoes. Paska comes from Finland where it turns out the word 'paska' is an exceptionally rude word. Perhaps it's just as well that none of us speaks Finish.

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), October 26th, 2004.

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After Morrissey's falsetto wailing at the end of 'What Difference Does It Make?':
"Ah, the sound of distant seagulls"

-- Alba (albab...), October 26th, 2004.

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"great band"... [sound of fuzzy guitars scorching the amps] ... "great session"
-- gygax! (gygax0...), October 26th, 2004.

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"...Fades in"
-- Alba (albab...), October 26th, 2004.

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On the digital audio revolution:
Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because they don't have any surface noise. I said, "Listen, mate, *life* has surface noise."

-- Palomino (fergal...), October 26th, 2004.

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At his 50th birthday party:
"Think my chances of making the Liverpool side are gone now. Might still be able to get a game at one of those London clubs though"

-- Alba (albab...), October 26th, 2004.

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Thanks for "Fades in.." a.k.a. "..Starts off quietly.."
"This is for the Pig"
"These cookies are hot"
"Where do they get their names from?"

And of course how could we forget...
"Always the same, always different"
"This is The Fall"

-- Damian 90000 (damondamia...), October 26th, 2004.

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(after a This Mortal Coil track)
"...The first Roy Harper track to make the Festive 50 since 'When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease' many years ago. Walters always says that if I die before him and they do some sort of 'tribute to John Peel' on Radio 1, he will play 'When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease'..."

*sniffles*

-- zebedee (zebede...), October 26th, 2004.

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Not so much a quote as a favorite moment was the time he called Trumans Water after playing pretty much all of 'Ov Thick Tum' on one show. They'd put out about 400 copies of the initial pressing themselves and one had found its way into Peel's hands. There was some kind of a crossed line when he called, and we got to hear a little of a very stoned sounding conversation between two other people before Peel said anything...
[Kevin]: I'd like to speak with Tawney Ann Smith please?
[Girl]: Hey, this is (??)
[Kevin]: Heeeyyy, this is Kevinnnn! Whatcha doooin? (several seconds of rambling conversation ensues) So I was just listening to the Leaving Trains? And uh...we're playing with the Leaving Trains tomorrow night!
[Peel]: Is there somebody there called Glen?
[Kevin]: Hello?
[Peel]: Is there somebody there called Glen?
[Girl]: Uh, Glen's not here right now...can I take a message?
[Peel]: (sounding very official) My name is John Peel. I'm calling from the BBC and I wanted to talk to somebody about Trumans Water.
[Kevin]: (sounding like he's not sure this is real) Uh, I'm in Trumans Water...

Also, the specially recorded intro by DLT which Peel played again and again and again during his Guitar Storm night: "Guitar Storm! Alright?"

-- Graeme (prole...), October 26th, 2004.

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On the Dwarves:
"If hero worship were sex, they'd all be carrying my babies".

-- everything (everything196...), October 26th, 2004.

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"If Elvis were alive today, I think he'd really understand happy hardcore."
-- Gravel Puzzleworth (mostlyconnec...), October 26th, 2004.

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Not from the radio, but from an interview:
People like Mike Read and DLT would often complain that they couldn't go anywhere without being recognized, but of course would go everywhere in a tartan suit carrying a guitar, so they would have attracted attention in a lunatic asylum. In the streets of London, people would go, "Who the f*** is that? Isn't that that Mike Read bloke?"

-- Acme (acm...), October 26th, 2004.

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From when he was presenting Top of the Pops. After a video of the dismal Aretha Franklin/George Michael duet (i forget it's name), it cuts back to Peel who says something along the lines of:
"You know, Aretha Franklin can make any old rubbish sound good, and i think she just has."

Classic.

-- Neil FC (machina...), October 26th, 2004.

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Hahahahahahaha.
-- Rickey Wright (rrricke...), October 26th, 2004.

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ooh burn...that's a great quip.
-- M@tt He1geson (mat...), October 26th, 2004.

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As Sonic Youth's "Silver Rocket" fades out..
"I love the way they come romping in with all that feedback in the middle - just like The Pink Floyd."
-- everything (everything196...), October 26th, 2004.

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"You know, Aretha Franklin can make any old rubbish sound good, and i think she just has."
ah how soon he forgot his alleigances (if it's true about 'Wham Rap') eh...

-- Freelance Hiveminder (stevem7...), October 26th, 2004.

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a recent one:
Home Truths - after an hilarious T-in-C contribution from one listener:

"thankyou for that Peter, though something in your manner suggests to me that your opinions are best viewed through the sights of a police marksman's rifle."

-- john clarkson (jcclarkso...), October 26th, 2004.

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Mid-80s, after playing some miserable sounding, droning indie-rock track . (and in classic, flat northern accent)
"Oh well, you can't be mad with glee all the time"

I am definitely not mad with glee today :-(

-- phil jones (intersta...), October 26th, 2004.

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alba has alrady mentioned it but 'fades in gently...' became a catchphrase for me and my pals when we were teenagers. we were even going to start a band with that name. his cueing of records was so bad that in almost every show something would 'fade in gently'. hysterical!
-- stirmonster (jd_twitc...), October 26th, 2004.

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Less commonly but in the same area "they move very quickly these people" when he failed to stop the record before the subsequent track started.
-- everything (everything196...), October 26th, 2004.

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Or, conversely, when a track finished and was followed by seconds of dead air, "Sorry - that was supposed to go on another 20 seconds, according to the timings I have here".
-- Alba (albab...), October 26th, 2004.

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ages ago I found in a used bin a couple of promo CD's of "Peel Out In The States", which I guess was some kind of American syndication of his show. I'm glad I kept them around all these years to listen to now and then, especially today. a good quote on there, in the same vein as the first response in this thread:
“well, there are probably rude words in that, but they’re in Tai”

-- Al (hoteloper...), October 26th, 2004.

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"And err.. waht was I going to say now. Ah yes... If you've been waiting to hear those Smiths tracks that I didn't have time for; maybe this time next year, eh? Ha ha ha. I don't suppose anyone fell for it did they? Still, you've got to try haven't you?"
-- Alba (albab...), October 26th, 2004.

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after a song by an Australian band:
“I play it despite the fact that the Australians are currently stamping all over us at cricket, I mean I know you don’t know anything about cricket, perhaps I should play a bit of the Coventry to enliven this program”

-- Al (hoteloper...), October 26th, 2004.

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after a song that ended with a sudden incongruous noise:
"it's all part of the record, it's not me making mistakes, c'mon, stop messing me about, lads"

-- Al (hoteloper...), October 26th, 2004.

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Show starts.
A motorcycle revving noise.

Someguitarsbeingveryloudandheavy.

Then some guitars beingveryloudandheavy with a man shouting. all last about five seconds.

"Three tracks from Napalm Death, there, in session tonight..."

-- William Bloody Swygart (thingummy9...), October 27th, 2004.

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In 1993 Peel took over the lunchtime slot for a week after then-controller Johnny Beerling was challenged by someone at a conference. He'd obviously been told "Look man, we don't want to compromise your show, but remember there will be a different audience listening, and we do have a daytime playlist to follow... just bear that in mind, OK?" First record - "Why Are People Grudgeful?" by The Fall, followed with the obscure reggae original version of the same song. He then continued in the same vein, playing a lot of hard-trance, the odd Beefheart classic and making snide comments about most of the playlist. For instance, the Chris Issak which included the line '...and you can't do a thing to stop me' to which Peel retorted, "Yes I can, mate, I can take your awful CD out of the machine and throw it as far away from this studio as possible." For a brief moment, we thought we'd won. Next week, he was back on the night-shift. Bet off.

from TV Cream website. Thought this one was very funny!

-- herbalizer12 (sherbert1...), October 27th, 2004.

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After talking to someone who was somehow covered in fur on Home Truths...
'I wish I was covered in fur...or feathers...or something more interesting than just fat'
I was laughing for hours.
-- Helen T (Helen...), October 27th, 2004.

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Peel's compering debut on TOTP: "In case you're wondering who this funny old bloke is, I'm the one who comes on Radio 1 late at night and plays records made by sulky Belgian art students in basements dying of TB."
-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...), October 27th, 2004.

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After playing 'Higher State Of Consciousness' by Josh Wink for the second time - "I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that sounded better when I played it the other night, at the wrong speed."
Towards the end of the 1984 Festiev Fifty - "Right, the brighter amongst you will have noticed there are something like 17 minutes of the show left, and only three records. I wonder if you can guess what they are? Answers on a postcard to me, John Peel, at Radio 1."

-- aldo_cowpat (aldo.cowpa...), October 27th, 2004.

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After an expansive, brain-frying track by someone like Spacemen 3 or Flying Saucer Attack: "I'm beginning to suspect their spirit of adventure has driven them to experiment with states of mind well beyond those traditionally associated with the consumption of three pints of Old Peculiar."
-- Jim Holmes (Ji...), October 27th, 2004.

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After playing a Siouxie 7 the banshees 45 at 33 and a third "Well a killer track either way"
-- John Davis (j...), October 27th, 2004.

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After a 1984 Cocteau Twins session which he played in full: "Missed me over the last quarter of an hour? Suppression of the ego; always a good thing in DJs, a pity there's not more of it about."
-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...), October 27th, 2004.

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In 1983, just after they'd cut his show back from four to three nights a week: "In this slot tomorrow will be Tommy Vance with his Sounds of the Seventies. The featured artist will be Robert Plant."
*ten second silence*

(with quiet rage): "This is the Mighty Wah!"

-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...), October 27th, 2004.




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