songs/bands that John Peel turned you onto

ballboy, bearsuit

i can probably thank him for the continued existence of the wonderful static caravan records, at the very least

Probably the most memorable moment of all, for me, was the Orb. First 'A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain..' (a session version, I think) and then, what really got me, 'Little Fluffy Clouds'. You can't imagine, or maybe you can, what hearing that for the first time, under the covers in the dark with my headphones on, sounded like.

That Orb session was what got me into the band (I first heard it on Toronto radio in early 1991) and that was my gateway into ambient music.

Also, the first Joy Division record I ever bought was the second Peel Session, which led to my adoration of that band.

Since we had no way of hearing his show in Canada, we tracked down whatever Peel Sessions we could :)

either directly or indirectly, almost everything.

peter hook, for instance, says that without peel there wouldn't have been joy division or new order. so: in their own words, peel is responsible for my favourite band.

without peel, i personally wouldn't have heard pulp. there are others, but they're the first to spring to mind.

and without peel, friends wouldn't have introduced me to bands *they'd* heard there, such as - another obvious example, but why not? - the wedding present. or mogwai. or the pixies. or MBV. or ... you get the idea.

Obvious ones I can think of - Gorkys, Ballboy, Helen Love, but there are countless others.

No one has yet mentioned Hefner on any of these Peel-related threads, so I will now do so. I'd love to hear what Darren Hayman has to say, considering Peel's support for his bands.

Grimly OTM

It was kind of hard to hear new music when I was younger - I don't know why, I guess if I knew then...But Peel was a source of excitement, of the new. It would always be cool to be told 'oh, [some band] are on John Peel tonight', and I would set up a tape if I was going out, or I would listen if I was in. Man, it's more upsetting the more I think about it all.

Haha - x-post, I considered mentioning Hefner, as that was the last time I remember being told to listen (I loved them already, I just didn't know they were on).

Half Man Half Biscuit (circa "four lads who shook the wirral")
Hefner
The Fall (while i'd read about them in music reference books etc., I only really got to like them through his patronage)
The Hitchers (i've only got the one record, but it brings me right back to early/mid 1998... the 1997 Festive 50 entry of "Strachan" moved me so much)
A song called "The Dance", which I don't at all remember the band's name who recorded it, also from that early '98 time.
Delgados
Ivor Cutler
dub reggae in general (and 20s/30s music too... I liked that anyway - largely due to Dennis Potter - by the time of the 'Pig's big 78', but it reinforced my taste for it)
Robert Wyatt (playing of "Shleep" tracks before that was out; I quickly rushed out and got a v. good compilation, "going back a bit" - oh, that "Moon in June" Peel Session...)

so much more; these are ones off the top of my head.

david gedge owes him a shitload

"Flop We" - DJ/Rupture... like, just two weeks ago...

Diblo Dibala - 'Extra Ball'

plus more than I could ever list. I'm really going to miss that man.

He didn't turn me on to anything specifically, it was all the musicans who often quoted him in print as "finding them first" that got intrigued as to who this guy was.

Only years later, did I fully understand what a God he was. From the limited exposure I've had of Peel on BBCWS, I would say he certainly pricked my musical conscience to African jive, 'Ardcore and Shellac!!!

Ballboy and Cinerama, the latter of which I still absolutely adore.

I'm pretty certain I first heard The Fall, My Bloody Valentine, The Happy Mondays, The Wedding Present, Half Man Half Biscuit, Pavement, Trumans Water, Diblo Dibala, Kanda Bongo Man, Nouvelle Generation and Prince Far-I on Peel. More influential on the music I listened to in my teenage years than the NME, Chemical Imbalance Magazine, Maximum Rocknroll and all of my friends' older brothers combined.

marc smith vs safe 'n' sound 'identify the beat'
irration steppers

Many of the above.
Kanda Bongo Man for sure.
Captain Beefheart - heard about him, but didn't hear him until seeing Peel's wonderful BBC2 documentary about him.
Er..William Shatner! (after a short and very droll film on the musical careers of Star Trek presented by Peel)

The Fall
The Shamen (before they went all Techno Techno Techno Techno)

There are so many I don't really know where to start; but I do very specifically remember pestering my local record shop for the first singles released by the then (and some cases, sadly, still) largely unknown Aztec Camera, Bauhaus, Cure, Cocteau Twins, Linton Kwesi Johnson (thereby igniting my love of reggae), Joy Division, Kleenex, Orange Juice, Prefab Sprout, Pseudo Existors, Raincoats, Ruts, Shrink, Stiff Little Fingers, Swell Maps, Theatre Of Hate.... oh and of course The Undertones.

Also of course he introduced me to Captain Beefheart (although not quite in time for me to buy Diddy Wah Diddy the day it came out!).

first and foremost .. age of chance.

the fact that he played their Kisspower cut-n-paste remix in 1986 a few days prior to me spotting the bands guitarist Neil in Jumbo records institgated action by me that has had repurcussions to this day ... to the degree that i recieved the tragic news from the bands bassplayer,Geoff, via text.

other stuff : Jesus and Mary Chain - Never Understand .. swicthed on the headphones loud one evening when feeling full of self pity in the middle of this track. the next day saw me rush to pre-order the record - re-energised and raring to go ..

ON-U Sound .. 20 years later and i'm still spinning Adrian Sherwood records ..

The Bachelor Pad, Fuzzbox still get spun @ ireallylovemusic all down to the Main Man

and countless others ..

Bearsuit, Burning Love Jumpsuit, Laura Cantrell, The Fall, Miss Black America, the Dawn Parade, Herman Dune, so so so so so many

It's mostly the weird stuff I remember from John Peel. Like a song by some guy called "Take Things From Work", extolling the virtues of stealing things from where you work. Or a tune called "Church of Satan" in which some angelic child sang about how she wanted to join the Church of Satan and use her body as an altar. Or a song by some loser indie band called Snog 6 that I liked so much I sent away to buy their single by mail order.

"Take Stuff From Work" is by King Missile. I heard it first on Peel's show too.

Faust "Why Don't You Eat Carrots"

Summer '77, 16 yrs old, thought punk was the acme. Fuck me.

Some years later, "De Profundis" by Dead Can Dance. Dropped a glass.

i also have that snog 6 single (came with a fanzine?) but they didn't quite reach the heights of the other band who i was prompted to buy mailorder singles from after hearing them on peel - stereolab.

too many to mention really, probably 90% of my record collection is peel inspired.

time to go home and detune Radio 1...

oh, heard Sarah 18 on peel one summer. looked for it the day after in birmingham but picked up sarah 12 instead. noticed a few others on the same label, bought a couple on spec. the start of a very long and slippery slope.