John Peel tribute (?)
I’ve just read this in the newsletter from Norman Records and I totally agree:
There’s a John Peel ‘tribute’ CD coming out through Warner Brothers. It has loads of Peel faves on there - The Fall, Weddoes etc. It costs £16 or so for a double CD and according to the Warner Brothers spiel, a ‘portion’ of the profits will be given to charities close to Peel’s heart. A portion????????? Where will the rest of the profits be going? As as a result of this unsavoury profiteering we will not be stocking this CD so you’ll have to buy it from Tesco’s or somewhere if you want it. There seems to be quite a bit of this kind of thing surrounding the first anniversary of his death. It’s great that there’s a day of gigs going on across the country but I fear there’s also a bit of bandwagon jumping. I would advise though that to really commemorate a man that hated the cynical side of the music industry and believed in true independent/underground music you consider spending the equivalent value on records by bands on independent labels and/or give money direct to the charities - The Salvation Army, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices and the Kariandusi School Trust.
A true tribute to the most important man in the history of radio is Shellac’s awesome song “The End of Radio”.
More about the “John Peel Day”.