The day we found out John Peel died was the first time I saw my husband cry. We had only been together for a year. Peel dying was like the Queen dying - someone that had always been in your life and it was kinda wierd when they weren't. But given Jamie's not a royalist and would abolish the monarchy if he could, Peels unexpected and sudden death hit him a lot harder.
I'd heard of Peel from various BBC Peel Session vinyl we would get over in Australia - I think I had a New Order one in my collection. But for Jamie, listening to this beloved DJ on the radio under the blankets with a torch was like being cocooned with the voice of a father or friend, and like us all at that age, the music over the radio enthralled, inspired, comforted and energized.
Needless to say he broke out the whiskey and the three of us pogoed around the lounge room to mark his passing. This one in particular I remembered, as Jamie had it on vinyl and knew it was a fave of Peels.
In fact, it appears on this list for his 40th, though he was - I don't know, mid 50s? - when he died of a heart attack in Peru, from memory. Correct me if I'm wrong - I can't be bothered googling as it's the music and our memories I'm focussing on.
Reading this list reminded me of Magazine - I had it on cassette back in the day. Seriously you have no idea how hard it was to get music back then, especially in Australia. You'd have to know someone with good taste that imported records or knew someone who knew someone, and we would all be lining up begging for them to record it, which meant them having time to play the whole record to do that.
Hardly anyone I know has heard of them.
Horace Andy, of course. Sublime.
We woke up in the morning with records all over the floor. A fitting tribute to a man who brought all kinds of music to the masses. 
In fact, our tribute got a bit arty. It always tugs at my heart strings a little to see these - my boy so young, and ending up a music lover himself, writing album reviews, producing records, playing in small bands. We brainwashed him well.
I don't really know how I talked them into this. Whiskey, as I said. There's another one somewhere too - the print said LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION.
He did that. He did that indeed. Vale John Peel.
With Love,
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