HERO'S OF D.I.Y. - no.3 - "John Peel "

The sole portal for self-released records in the late seventies/early eighties was ex-hippie, ex-public schoolboy, ex-pirate radio DJ, John Ravenscroft, AKA , John Peel; champion of independant music.
The transition from flowery hippy, whose hushed delivery frequently spewed forth reams of sickeningly pretentious poetry on Radio Londons 'Perfumed Garden', to champion of Punk Rock, and subsequently of D.I.Y. culture, was astonishing, although not unsurprising. He had always had an taste for the less palatable parts of the pop pie, often becoming the sole voice in supporting lost causes, like the godlike Captain Beefheart and Kevin Coyne, among a few others..
Never afraid of upsetting his 'audience', he was often caught straddling two worlds, as an interested outsider, never really accepted by either. The face most associated with the dull complacent music of the early seventies, it was a laughably 'shocking' moment when he gave The Ramones debut LP massive airplay in early '76, between the Roy Harper and Loudon Wainwright III tracks.
This lead to sackfulls of complaints from upset Hippies, but it never saved him from being booed off stage when introducing the Damned at a pub gig six months later. An inexorable outsider,often shunned by the sixties underground hierachy, I suppose he identified with music that most reflected his own existence.He was psychologically damaged and hurt emotionally, by various incidents, like being blanked by the Byrds, (which in my book is a good thing?) ,sent packing from a Mothers of Invention dope smoking 'Pow-Wow'; but the worst was being dropped as a 'close' friend by Marc Bolan as soon as he 'made it'! This greatly shaped his attitudes to Rock Stars, and the 'Rock' system in general, in it's egocenticity and arrogance.
The outsiders of the Rock'n'Roll phenominon would benefit greatly from this sense of insecurity and lack of confidence.
The music scene Post punk rock, would mirror his own attitude to the ugly rock dinosaur pre-'76, and he found the almost total lack of ambition inherant within most DIY bands, admirable in the extreme. He would support almost any DIY release that was sent to his office in BBC broadcasting house.
This is why John Peel is one of the key Hero's of DIY, so I dedicate the remainder of this year as a tribute to the most influential Disc Jockey of all time.Starting with the 'infamous' Punk Rock Special from the 10th December 1976, when the directors of the BBC inquired stuffily to producer John Walters(great bloke,RIP), "I hope you're not playing any of that Punk stuff?"
Every other DJ was running scared, and it took a brave man to risk his career to promote what was basically the future.

John Peel Show, 10th December 1976:

The legendary "Punk Special" show featuring the first session from the Damned.

Peel's introduction: "Well, I think you’ll find this programme is in rather marked contrast to the programme that has preceded it, because tonight we are going to have a look at punk rock. Mind you, no two people seem to be able to agree exactly what punk rock is, as is evidenced by the fact that someone has been phoning us off and on during the day and trying to convince us that our guests tonight, The Damned, are not a punk rock band. And punk rock fairly clearly means something entirely different to Americans. Anyway, we’ll hear a lot of music that may be punk rock, and a lot that certainly is. "

Sessions:

Damned, session#1. Recorded 1976-11-30.

Tracklisting:

Damned: So Messed Up (session)
Seeds: Pushin' Too Hard (LP - Nuggets) Elektra
Iggy & The Stooges: Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (LP - Raw Power) Embassy
Eddie & The Hotrods: Horseplay (Weary Of The Schmaltz) (single) Island
Damned: Neat Neat Neat (session)
Richard Hell & The Voidoids: Blank Generation (EP) Stiff
Television: Little Johnny Jewel Part 1 (single) Ork
Tuff Darts: Slash (LP - Live At CBGB’s) Atlantic
Pere Ubu: Final Solution (LP - Max’s Kansas City 1976) Ram Stereo
Damned: New Rose (session)
Sex Pistols: Anarchy In The UK (single) EMI
Fast: Boys Will Be Boys (LP - Max’s Kansas City 1976) Ram Stereo
New York Dolls: Personality Crisis (LP - New York Dolls) Mercury
Saints: (I’m) Stranded (single) Power Exchange
Damned: Stab Your Back (session)
Shadows Of Knight: 'Light Bulb Blues (7 inch)' (Dunwich)
Ramones: 'California Sun/I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You (7 inch-B side of I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend)' (Sire)

DOWNLOAD the Punk Rock Special,10/12/1976,HERE!