Melody Maker: 1969

This page lists articles on, and references to, John Peel In Melody Maker during 1969.

Peel had been mentioned frequently in MM during 1968, and this continued in 1969. He was still the "uncrowned king of the underground", as an ad for his column in Disc & Music Echo (see below) put it. The music he played was becoming more popular, especially in the USA where many bands who did Peel sessions were spending more of their time, yet this wasn't reflected in Britain. Peel was still the only DJ on Radio 1 playing "underground" or "progressive" music, as it was called, with the exception of Pete Drummond who began a weekly hour-long show at the start of the year.

Because of this, there continued to be many references to Peel in Melody Maker. The paper covered the music Peel played in much greater depth than the other British pop weeklies. The DJ himseflf was also in the news when the BBC changed the time of his programmes and, with the ending of his Wednesday evening programmes, reduced his broadcasting hours. MM writers criticised this and the paper printed readers' letters in support of him. In addition, he was mentioned in inteviews with musicians who sometimes expressed gratitude that he (and no-one else in Britain) played their records on the radio.