teenage dreams, so hard to beat

i'm not usually a huge fan of the national outpouring of emotion (or the personal kind if we're being honest). i was largely unimpressed with the diana thing. the overiding emotion when the queen mumsy snuffed it was most likely mild amusement at the absurdity of it all. so imagine my surprise when i realise i was actually genuinely a little sad that that nice old john peel chap had died. it's not as if i was a devoted listener to either of his radio shows - in fact i think i probably caught a bit of his radio 1 show maybe once or twice a good few years ago. tho i'd not really been that into what he was doing, the results of it have had a pretty profound effect on me. music's always my great love and the list of acts that peel helped to break reads like a long list of many of my all time favourites, from joy division twenty odd years ago to bloc party who were meant to be recording their peel session next week, and with plenty of stops in between. if he was the only dj out there working against the grain in giving people like that a break, where does that leave us now? at the peril of simon cowell, clearchannel and time warner i suppose. and that's not a good place to be for anyone. looks like i might have to seriously considering making the trek to glastonbury next year cos, let's face it, without peely there's going to be fuck-all joy to be had from watching it on the beeb.