John Peel Postscript

After John Peel, my other favourite Englishman is Julian Cope. So who better to provide a final eulogy?

"I always believed John would continue Methuselah-like into his 90s and die peacefully in his sleep. The tragedy of John Peel’s going is that his was a take-me-for-granted role, that of someone we could count on always; a healing continuing force for the greater cultural good. Like Robert Graves, Colin Wilson and Frank Zappa, Peel was a cultural constant whose work we could not always appreciate because it was so damned ongoing that its value could never be judged until he was no longer around. The tragedy of Peel’s death is that one of culture’s greatest Facilitators has just stopped facilitating, and the music world will suffer (and in some places wither) accordingly. My Album of the Month pays homage to John Peel and his enduring influence over generations of British rock’n’rollers. But right now it’s important to send love to his family as well."

Read the entire Address Druidon here.

Posted by monoman at 10:11 AM on November 24, 2004