When people say they like a genre of music, but don’t know the roots of their so called favoured choice, it disturbs me. Classical music however, is an exception because not only is it rather dull, it’s history is just far too complex and the genre itself has it’s own subgenres built in, spinning off at millions of different tangents. In the words in which Douglas Adams describes space…"it's very big".



Not knowing the roots of something you claim to be passionate about is in the same league as not knowing your own family history; for example if you meet someone who is say…half Italian, they are passionate about it and tend to know a lot about the part of Italy they are from. Why is this not the same for music fans?



Avenge Sevenfold fans who have no idea who Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin are, and Bloc Party fans who haven’t listened to ‘Love Cats’ by the Cure don't make any sense to me. The main source of this rant is a conversation I had about a year ago with a sixteen year old about music, he told me he was a punk rock listener so I assumed he knew who John Peel was and started discussing his influence on this genre of music. The boy dared to respond in disturbingly uncaring ignorance proclaiming rather arrogantly; “Who?” This is like some sort of confronting but puzzling state of confusion. I tried to find a way around this by trying to relate to the lad, so I asked what bands he liked and this is when I discovered he was devoid of any social competencies! My Chemical Romance, Aiden and Green Day.



I immediately regretted my own ignorance having neglected to notice his absurdly lame Camden Town style Green Day American Idiot album T shirt. This was during the time when Green Day were popular and everyone wanted to be Billie Joe Armstrong; girls styled their hair like him with a red skinny tie and boys suddenly felt it was acceptable to wear eye liner. It was staring into the vacant eyes of this confused 16 year old boy that I realised nearly ninety-nine percent of people have no clue how much of an influence John Peel had on the different cultures that shape today\'s music scene, and given the recent anniversary of his death, such a contribution should be celebrated.



As part of every society there is a music culture and John Peel had an extremely huge influence on the British music scene, kick starting the careers of many known bands; Blur, Oasis, Nirvana, White Stripes, Pink Floyd, the Smiths, the Cure, Sex Pistols, the Clash and that’s just listing a few. He was one of the first disc jockeys to play punk on British radio, and so by some token is personally responsible for Anarchy in the UK during this period. This was a brief but important political movement. How is this an influence on youth culture you ask? Anarchy is attractive to teenagers, such a rebellious means of existence suddenly had a label. Punk made teenage angst because it was suddenly a tangible concept that could be understood, and excused.



The number of bands he played on his radio show went onto inspire many other musicians and bands to form; Bloc Party, Radiohead, Artic Monkeys etc - in essence the music that shapes today\'s alternative music scene. This is a small chunk of what makes up British society. It could be debated that Peel is the reason we have a ‘ladish’ culture; males who grow ‘Beatles style’ haircuts, go football and get drunk singing Oasis songs. This is otherwise known as the Britpop genre, groups such as Blur and Oasis were made famous due to this social behaviour where young lads wanted to be Liam Gallagher. John Peel, as you can see, is possibly the source of some strong social movements.



The rather detestable genre \"emo\" is basically punk rock with a bit of the Smiths thrown in. At the moment we are at a sort of strange place in the world where instead of coming in from a hard day\'s work and putting the kettle on for a cup of tea, we go straight to our computers and check our Facebook. John is guilty for this crime too, and I will explain how he set even this standard. Well, it’s simple…Myspace! Myspace is a massive part of emo culture, to the point where ’emo kids’ will take a sort of birds eye view picture of themselves and go “That ones for Myspace!” John Peel’s contribution to music gave birth to the emo genre and without it Myspace would not have been so successful. It is precisely this genre that gave birth to the internet phenomenon of sharing music and promoting unsigned bands, and all as a long winded result from a type of fresh sound brought to light in the British shores by the legendary radio host.



Fashion varies between continents, and has it’s own individual scenes, but most importantly, and indisputably; music can inspire it. The bands and styles of music John Peel introduced to listeners have contributed to a number of varying dress styles.Topman is a fine example, this shop is labelled ‘indie’ with it’s skinny jeans and tight polo shirts quite commonly worn by musicians in the alternative music industry today. If these musicians find influence from John Peel, then is it so outrageous to suggest that these dress senses were borne out of this visionary presenter too?



Perhaps I have put him on quite the pedestal, but there is no harm in respecting the dead, and finding disgrace in ignorance. He was a great man who gave so much to many a genre, many a scene, and since his introduction to the music scene, his influence can be found in whatever epoch you go searching roots in. He was a visionary, an individual, and a talent - in essence everything that modern musicians try and project or emulate about themselves, and for this token alone deserves to be commemorated amongst the great collection of inspired British musical talents.

Posted In Features, Nov 25 2008. Words - Anthony