Budgie were a hard rock band from Cardiff, Wales formed in 1967. Originally called Hills Contemporary Grass, their original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals, and Ray Phillips on drums. After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo. The band had initially considered going under the name "Six Ton Budgie", but decided the shorter single word variant was preferable. Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he, "loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that". In the final years of his life, Shelley suffered from Stickler syndrome, and on two occasions had an aortic aneurysm. Shelley died in his sleep at the Heath Hospitalon 10 January 2022, at the age of 71
Links to Peel[]
Burke Shelly, singer of Budgie, admitted in Classic Rocks magazine , published in January 2021 that he discovered Led Zeppelin when listening to John Peel:
"I heard Led Zeppelin for the first time on John Peel’s Saturday afternoon radio show, and was so shaken up that I had to buy their debut album. I loved the way they riffed along, propelled by John Bonham’s incredibly tight drumming. But what struck me most about the Led Zeppelin album was Robert Plant’s voice. They used it as more of an extra instrument than just somebody singing. There are a lot of gaps in the band’s music, but they whack on the delay and use them perfectly." [1]
Budgie had significant airplay on Peel's show in the early 70's and they would do two sessions for his programmes, one of them in 1976, where they only performed two songs. In later years, Peel revisited one of Budgie's songs, when Federation X covered their song, Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman, which was played by the DJ, who then played one of Budgie's songs on his BBC Radio One and FSK shows.
Sessions[]
BUDGIE John Peel 15th June 1976
1. Recorded: 1972-02-01. First Broadcast: 25 February 1972. Repeated: 14 April 1972
- Hot As A Docker's Armpit / The Author / Whisky River / Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman
2. Recorded: 1976-06-15. First Broadcast: 01 July 1976. Repeated: 03 August 1976
- Sky High Percentage / In The Grip Of A Tyre Fitter's Hand
Other Shows Played[]
- 25 August 1972: Rocking Man (LP - Squawk) MCA
- 15 September 1972: Hot As A Docker’s Armpit (LP - Squawk) MCA
- 1978
- 17 February 1978: I'm A Faker Too (LP - Impeckable) A&M
- 1980
- 02 July 1980: Wild Fire (7") Active
- 2003
- 09 December 2003: Crash Course In Brain Surgery (7") MCA
- December 2003 (FSK): Crash Course In Brain Surgery (7" - Crash Course In Brain Surgery / Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman) MCA