Here is a quiz about bands beloved of the late DJ John Peel. The late night slot that Peel occupied gave him license to pick and choose the music he played without the restrictions of a playlist. Peel would constantly push the boundaries, playing punk when the BBC controllers didn’t approve and foisting eclectic and unsigned material on his appreciative audience.
Two sections. The first is a list of tracks from various Peel Sessions. I’ve put 30 of them in chronological order and then given you a (longer) list of possible answers. The second section is straight questions on Peel himself, in particular his annual Festive Fifty of tracks of the year.
Answers: here
Which artisis recorded these sessions for Peel?
1 ‘Sure ‘Nuff ‘n Yes I Do’, ‘Yellow Brick Road’, ‘Abba Zabba’, ‘Electricity’ (1968)
2 ‘Canyons of Your Mind’, ‘I’m the Urban Spaceman’, ‘Monster Mash’ (1968)
3 ‘Watcher of the Skies’, ‘Twilight Alehouse’, ‘Get ‘em Out by Friday’ (1972)
4 ‘Keep Yourself Alive’, ‘Son and Daughter’, ‘Ogre Battle’, ‘Great King Rat’ (1973)
5 ‘Slave Driver’, ‘Rasta Man’, ‘Concrete Jungle’ (1973)
6 ‘Commune’, ‘Forever’, ‘Highway Blues’, ‘I’ll See You Again’, ‘North Country’ (1974)’
7 ‘Love and Romance’, ‘Vindictive’, ‘New Town’, ‘Shoplifting’ (1977)
8 ‘Rebellious Jukebox’, ‘Mother Sister’, ‘Industrial Estate,’ ‘Futures and Pasts’ (1978)
9 ‘Get Over You’, ‘Top Twenty’, ‘She Can Only Say No’, ‘Male Model’ (1978)
10 ‘Gangsters’, ‘Too Much Too Young’, ‘Concrete Jungle’ (1979)
11 ‘Cars’, ‘Airplane’, ‘Films’, ‘Conversation’ (1979)
12 ‘A New England’, ‘This Guitar Says Sorry’, ‘Love Gets Dangerous’, ‘Fear is a Man’s Best Friend’ (1983)
13 ‘What Difference Does It Make?’, Handsome Devil’, ‘Reel Around the Fountain’ (1983)
14 ‘Manhenga’, ‘Writing on the Wall’, ‘Chemedza Vana’, ‘Let’s Work Together’, ‘Kuroja Chete’ (1986)
15 ‘Prison Without Walls’, ‘Deceiver’, ‘Lucid Fairytale’, ‘Common Enemy’ (1987)
16 ‘Far Out and Gone’, ‘Silverblade’, ‘Here Comes Alice’ (1989)
17 ‘They Spelled My Name Wrong Again’, ‘Jesse Don’t Like It’, ‘Sunday Time’, ‘Sometimes I Forget’ (1989)
18 ‘God Knows It’s True’, ‘So Far Gone’, ‘Alcoholiday’, ‘Long Hair’ (1990)
19 ‘Circa 1762’, ‘Kentucky Cocktail’, ‘Secret Knowledge of Back Roads’, ‘Here’ (1992)
20 ‘Semi-Detached’, ‘Attached’, Lush (Eurotunnel Disaster 1994)’, ‘Walk About’ (1993)
21 ‘Tabla Attack’, ‘Hooba Hooba’, ‘Non Stop to the Border’ (1995)
22 ‘Wondering Boy Poet’, ‘Atom Eyes’, ‘Cut Out Witch’, ‘Man Called Aerodynamics’ (1996)
23 ‘Bingo England’, ‘Ultra Paj’, ‘Safe Cracker’, ‘Latino’ (1996)
24 ‘Paper Route’, ‘Wash’, ‘Sanchez’, ‘Spokes’, ‘Drape’ (1997)
25 ‘Autumn Sweater’, ‘Shadows’, ‘I Heard You Looking’ (1997)
26 ‘Procedure 4’, ‘Ex Cowboy’, ‘Don’t Cry’, ‘New Paths to Helicon (Part II)’ (1998)
27 ‘Raisans’, ‘Does It Float’, ‘The Leper’, ‘Bulbs of Passion’ (1988)
28 ‘Number One Son’, ‘Sun On His Back’, ‘Antiwestern’, ‘Before You Cry’ (2001)
29 ‘Suzi Lee’, ‘Stop Breaking Down’, ‘Don’t Know’, ‘Lafayette Blues’ (2001)
30 ‘Last Snowstorm of the Year’, ‘Canada’, ‘Li’l Argument with Myself’, ‘In the Drugs’ (2001)
Artists: Arab Strap, Ash, Bhundu Boys, Black Keys, Black Star Liner, Blur, Bong Ra, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, David Bowie, Billy Bragg, Calexico, Camera Obscura, Can, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Cornershop, The Datsuns, Delgados, Dinosaur Jr, The Faces, The Fall, Genesis, Guided By Voices, Roy Harper, P.J. Harvey, Jimi Hendrix, Hole, Jesus and Mary Chain, Low, Mogwai, Bob Marley and the Wailers, My Bloody Valentine, Napalm Death, Gary Numan, Orbital, Pavement, Pop Will Eat Itself, Cat Power, Queen, Scarfo, Scratch Perverts, Slits, The Smiths, Soft Machine, The Specials, Teenage Fanclub, T.Rex, The Undertones, Loudon Wainwright III, White Stripes, Yo La Tengo.
31 When John Peel played his all-time Festive Fifty for the millennium, which band had four songs in the Top 20? Which very connected band was the only other artist with more than two?
32 Whose debut single, ‘Can’t Be Sure’, topped the Festive Fifty in 1989? What was the album from whence it came, with a title punning on education and also the town where the band formed?
33 ‘Don’t Touch That Dial’ was the last Festive Fifty number one before Peel died in 2004: who was the band behind the song? Of which other cult indie band were they a side project?
34 After Peel died, which Radio 1 DJ was chosen to continue his evening slot? Which band was at number one in his first Festive Fifty, in homage to his predecessor?
35 After Radio 1 dropped the Festive Fifty in 2006, which independent online radio station was invited to keep the chart running by Peel’s old production team? Which independent release by Cheltenham duo Tall Pony was their first Festive Fifty chart topper?
36 In Peel’s millennial Festive Fifty there were two versions of the same song, ‘Song to a Siren’. Which two acts – one the co-writer and original singer in 1970, the other an indie collective in 1984 – were they by?
37 Which two Smiths songs, one a 1985 single, the other a track on the 1986 album The QueeniIs Dead, were in the Top 20 of John Peel’s millennial Festive Fifty?
38 For which pirate radio station was John Peel working before he joined Radio 1 in 1967? What was the name – one now more readily associated with car enthusiasts – of the show he presented until 1975?
39 What was the name of the producer who worked with Peel from 1969 until his sudden death in 2001? He was best man at Peel’s second wedding in 1974 to Sheila Gilhooly: what was Peel’s affectionate nickname for her?
40 Of which football team, reflecting his roots, was Peel an avid follower? What song did he have played at his second wedding?
41 Who earned his breakthrough by driving to Radio 1 with a curry for John Peel (along with his demo tape) after the DJ announced he was hungry on air? What was this artist’s seven-track less-than-twenty-minutes debut album later that year?
42 The Only Ones were one of the many late-seventies new wave bands championed by Peel. What 1978 single is their most famous song? Who was the guitarist alongside singer and songwriter Peter Perrett?
43 ‘Teenage dreams, so hard to beat’ is a line from ‘Teenage Kicks’ by which punk/power pop band who owed Peel a huge amount? How will this lyric be forever associated with Peel?
44 What is the name of Peel’s DJ son? And what was the title of Peel’s posthumous autobiography, completed by his wife?
45 The Festive Fifty wasn’t all punk and indie. Which two Beach Boys’ songs featured on the millennial list, one from Pet Sounds and one from Smiley Smile?