"I may be sixty and fat. But the music will be good"

BBC Radio One DJ John Peel died yesterday of a heart attack at the age of 65. I don't mean to turn this blog into Lee's Book of The Dead but I couldn't let this sad news go by without putting in my own two cents. For those who don't know who he is and are wondering why the death of a mere DJ should be headline news (and even elicit comment from the Prime Minister) you can read all about him here. He was a champion of new music starting at Radio One way back in 1967 playing underground psychedelic music and esoteric weirdos like Captain Beefheart, then he embraced the punk revolution which alienated a lot of his old audience (many of whom still voted for "Stairway To Heaven" in his end of year Festive 50 listeners poll which sounded like it was from a distant century next to "Anarchy in The UK." Click on that link and check out the lists for 1976 and 1978 to get a sense of the earthquake that occured) Long before any other DJ in England he promoted reggae, world music, and this new-fangled thing called rap. Though he may have been an old geezer he never turned into an old fart.

I started listening to his show in 1978 when British music was going through one of the most fertile and creative periods in its history with all sorts of amazing bands coming out of the wreckage of punk. Those were very important years in my life and the music that formed the soundtrack to that time was mostly bands I first heard on his program. I spent (probably far too) many nights in my bedroom listening to his 10pm show with a blank tape in the stereo ready to record whatever great band was playing live in the studio or get some amazing new track I'd never heard before - something you were guaranteed every night back then.

In celebration of his life here's a tune he played a lot back in my day that's a good example of the eclectic mish-mash of cultures that was going on back then, and is a hell of a great dance tune to boot. "Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag" was one of the first "indie dance" records, it's a rollocking instrumental influenced by African music, old-timey funk and free jazz that taught a whole generation of skinny white English boys how to dance (I, of course, knew how to already.) This spent 70 weeks on the indie charts back in 1981-82, eventually breaking out and becoming a big pop smash. It's brilliant, off-the-wall, and a bit shaggy around the edges - just like Peelie.

[Download]
Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag - Pigbag