1987

1987 – Final year

I can’t really remember summer of ’87. I didn’t work. I didn’t go out on any dates. I didn’t go surfing or sailing. I must have gone cycling though, because I always did. I also had a trip to London with colin and stayed with Mark in my old accommodation. Mark was up there working through on his sandwhich course. But back in September and I was in the same accommodation. We used to hang out by shooters hill. We went on trips to Europe, and I got drunk on the one that coincided with my 21^st birthday. Was throwing up on the Dutch mainland. I was in a posh jacket with jeans phase, probably care of Morrissey. I was attempting to grow my hair that way too.


peel

The Peel Sessions traces the beginning of John's fascination with extreme music (which attracted a variety of labels, including speedcore, death metal and so on over the years) to the debut session of the Stupids. The common factor that united them was a desire to reignite the spirit of punk, fuelled by the increased speed of US hardcore bands that Peel had continued to play throughout the 80s. Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death, Carcass and others would record their debut sessions during this time.

However, this was only one facet of the show's playlist in a turbulent period. African musicians were not only getting aired, but arriving on a regular basis for studio sessions, a golden period that did not last, including Amayenge (who were taped twice while on tour in the UK), the Four Brothers, Shalawambe and Stella Chiweshe were the shining examples.

The demise of the Smiths dominated the summer of 1987, and their fans publicly displayed their woe (and created an unbeaten record) by voting no less than 11 of the band's songs into the 1987 Festive Fifty, including all but three from the final LP, Strangeways Here We Come. (Just as predictably, a slew of Morrissey songs entered the following year's list.) Although understandable, this made for an unbalanced chart that nevertheless contained a key record pointing to the path that the programme was to take in the future. M/A/R/R/S' Pump Up The Volume, despite reaching a lowly 46 in the poll, contained a vast number of samples and a driving beat cribbed from the undercurrent of house tracks by now regularly getting airplay. Dance in one form or another would share airtime with the indie material until the very end of the show's existence.

Having previously shared FM transmitters with Radio 2, 1988 saw Radio 1 remake itself as Radio 1FM with its own transmitters. However, this was only gradually rolled out: initially only London, Central Scotland, the Midlands and Yorkshire were covered, meaning that a large percentage of the country could now no longer receive FM, thereby causing a howl of dismay from Peel's listeners who complained that they would no longer be able to hear him as they were not in the served areas. Additionally, the shows were moved forward to an 8.30-10.30 slot, since there was no longer seen to be a need to keep them at 10-12 to take advantage of the simulcast. Since JP seemed to be using the Festive 50 as a kind of barometer of how he influenced his listener's tastes, then the effect on his audience, if the 1988 Festive Fifty was anything to go by, would be negligible. Very few recordings of the black music he had relentlessly championed and a top 10 that could have been predicted by not even listening to his shows....thus the infamous "young boys strumming guitars" soundbite was born, and would reappear until the very last chart he presented.

https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/John_Peel_Show