13/05/16: David Cavanagh – Good Night and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped to Shape Modern Life (2015)

A wonderful book. It's such a brilliant idea that you wonder why no one else thought of it. Cavanagh listens to John Peel radio shows across the decades and writes about them. It works as a history of Peel, a history of music and a history of British life in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

Two minor criticisms:

1. I would have much preferred complete tracklistings rather than the incomplete lists of artists played, but perhaps the full data of every artist and song name wasn't available. Or perhaps it would have taken up too much space.

2. It's a shame that the 1989 Hillsborough show wasn't discussed. Peel's heartbroken broadcast just after the disaster was a distressing, hugely emotional show and one I will never forget. You don't expect to hear your lifelong hero so consumed by grief that he can barely speak. Maybe Cavanagh regarded it as voyeuristic or exploitative to discuss Peel at such an emotionally vulnerable moment, and he'd probably be right, but the book reads a little as though this key event never happened (even though it's later mentioned in the news snapshots that opens each mini-section).

Those points aside, this is pretty much the perfect book and one I will read again (and again). Cavanagh writes so well about the artists Peel played, the evolving musical scenes they were part of (particularly punk and its aftermath), and about Peel himself, totally capturing the spirit and wit of the man.

It's also worth pointing out that the opening chapter is the best single piece of writing anywhere about the importance and legacy of John Peel. If you have any doubts about the influence of this legendary DJ, just read these 28 pages.