John Peel
John Peel (August 30, 1939 - October 25, 2004) was a British radio DJ, best-known as the host of the long-running radio show Top Gear (1967-2004). Peel promoted many alternative rock acts, giving them airplay, recording time in his studio and interviewing them. He was also a columnist for the magazine International Times and occasionally hosted the TV show Top of the Pops and narrated various rock documentaries.
A huge admirer of Captain Beefheart since his debut record, Safe As Milk (1967), Peel frequently promoted Beefheart's records on Top Gear and contributed and narrated the BBC documentary The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart (1993).
Frank Zappa
In the late 1960s, Peel gave Frank Zappa's music notable airplay and wrote favorably about them in his column for International Times, except Lumpy Gravy, about which he wrote in his column in International Times (14 June 1968): "Frank Zappa's 'Lumpy Gravy' is strange. I honestly don't know if it's good or not... I enjoyed listening tot it on a blue carpet, though." [1] He also interviewed Zappa on 17 August 1967, at the Speakeasy Club in London , for a July 3, 1970 TV interview. [2] and for the TV show Anatomy of Pop on the BBC, broadcast on 17 and 24 January 1971. [3] Gradually, Peel was taken back by Zappa's sometimes hostile attitude towards journalists and his lyrics evolving more to bawdy comedy. From the 1970s on, Peel gave Zappa less airplay as opposed to Captain Beefheart.
Interviewed by John Walters on 26 September 1987, Peel said the following about Zappa: "Well, his early stuff I used to enjoy quite a lot. I mean, until he got into his kind of lavatorial phase, which I found rather tedious, and that seemed to take up like a decade of his life. I mean, everything he did was fairly lavatorial, which is fine if you are like 12 years old or something – our William would probably find it all vastly entertaining – but I just found it rather tedious. But his early things I liked a lot. And of course I admired him as much as anything for his sponsorship not only of people like Wild Man Fischer but also Captain Beefheart, which is kind of crucial. Well, in the early part of his own life." [4] Interviewed on 16 March 2004, Peel added: "I used to rather admire Frank Zappa, I have to admit, when he first started with the Mothers Of Invention, but then I met him. And I have to say he was very odious, or he was to me anyway, because obviously DJs quite rightly are held in scant respect and he made this abundantly clear. So I thought, 'Well, I don't think I shall bother to play any more of your records.' So I'm not going to." [5]
After Zappa's death in 1993, Peel did play You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here, Love Of My Life, Peaches En Regalia and Dancin' Fool in Top Gear as a tribute. [6]
References
- ↑ https://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/index.php?year=1968&volume=IT-Volume-1&issue=33&item=IT_1968-06-14_B-IT-Volume-1_Iss-33_012
- ↑ https://www.donlope.net/fz/videography/1970-75.html
- ↑ https://www.donlope.net/fz/videography/1970-75.html
- ↑ https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/Peeling_Back_The_Years_6_(Transcript)
- ↑ https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/16_March_2004
- ↑ https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/10_December_1993
