John Peel Day

What the day is

John Peel Day is kept in mid-October, marking the BBC radio broadcaster who died in October 2004. The first was organized in 2005 on the anniversary of his earliest Radio 1 broadcast, with hundreds of live music events across Britain.

Origin and background

Peel presented on BBC Radio 1 from its launch in 1967 until his death, which made him the station's longest-serving broadcaster by an enormous margin. What distinguished him was not taste so much as appetite: he played records because they interested him, not because they were selling, and he moved through psychedelia, reggae, punk, post-punk, hip hop, techno, jungle, grime and whatever arrived next without ever settling into nostalgia.

The Peel Sessions are his most durable legacy. Bands were invited to record a handful of tracks at the BBC's studios, usually in a single day, often before they had a record deal. Hundreds of artists made their first broadcast recordings that way, and for many the session is better than the album that followed.

He was also happy to be unimpressive on air. He played records at the wrong speed, admitted when he had made a mistake, and gave airtime to things he was not sure about. That willingness to be uncertain in public is most of why musicians trusted him.

His annual Festive Fifty, voted by listeners, was a genuine alternative chart. His favorite record, played more than any other, was Teenage Kicks by the Undertones, and he said so often enough that the association is permanent.

How to take part

• Listen to a Peel Session by a band you like. Many are available and most sound nothing like the studio version.
• Play something you have never heard, chosen badly and at random. That was the method.
• Go to a small local gig. The day was built around live music in small venues.
• Read his memoir, finished by his family after his death.
• Recommend a record to someone without checking first whether it is fashionable.