What John Peel did for us

[shewhomust]

Before John Peel was a champion of punk, and long, long before he was the cosy presenter of Home Truths, he was a DJ on a pirate radio station. Now that there is pop radio at every point of the dial, and better still, a genuine choice of listening via the internet, it's incredible that once we relied on a few hours a week on the BBC (who had only limited "needle time" in which they could play records), and the wavering signal from Radio Luxemburg in the evenings, but that's how it was, until someone had the idea of avoiding the restrictions by broadcasting from ships moored offshore.

John Peel joined Radio London in the spring of 1967. The station broadcast almost entirely pop records - the top 40, in theory, but their own Top 40, which they made up to suit themselves. I think the DJs must have had some latitude, because they clearly had preferences, but Peel had the midnight to 2 am slot, and he seems to have decided that the boss was unlikely to be listening, and he could play what he liked. What he liked at that time was plenty of psychedelia: Country Joe, Captain Beefheart, the Mothers of Invention, Jefferson Airplane, Tyrannosaurus Rex... Plus some Scarlatti, some of what is now called world music, some blues: I remember the night he played three versions of Spoonful end to end. The show was called The Perfumed Garden, and we loved it.

It didn't last. The government legislated, and the pirate radio stations were closed down in the summer of 1967. "The gates of the Perfumed Garden are closing," Peel told us, "but remember, we're on the inside." It was, after all, the Summer of Love. A listener wrote in, suggesting that everyone who wanted to stay in touch should send their names and addresses to her - now, of course, someone would set up a web site, but what Soobaby did was duplicate a list of everyone who contacted her, and send a copy to everyone. And people did stay in touch, inviting people who lived nearby to "gatherings" - get-togethers rather than parties, though it could be difficult explaining the difference to your parents.

I must have managed it, though, because in April 1968 I was allowed to host a gathering at our house - and when I mentioned it recently to my brother, he said "April 28th" so fast and confidently that it must be true. Some of the people who came were people I'd met before, some weren't. John Peel didn't turn up, but he must have been expected, because Marc Bolan did turn up looking for him, and sat on the lawn under the horse-chestnut tree, playing his guitar and singing.

And that's the day I first met durham_rambler.

Comments

[samarcand.livejournal.com]

Absolutely positive. If I'd known you had met Marc Bolan, I'd have been even more in awe of you...

[durham-rambler.livejournal.com]

Just think, if shewhomust had come out of it with MB, then the whole course of history might have changed. Not only would she, and I, have missed all those wonderful years together, but also, because shewhomust is a non-driver, that mini would not have been wrapped around the tree.