John Peel's Flying Cream Shots - John's Birthday Song Medley
The Flying Cream Shots was the name of a fictitious band frequently trailed by Peel from the late 70s to the early 90s. The name was invented by Peel, who took it from a photo caption in a Dutch pornographic magazine, written by a friend he knew when living in Dallas. The source of this story was first mentioned in an article in the Independent written by Peel's one-time producer Trevor Dann shortly after John's death. This information has recently been confirmed by Ken Garner. Billy Bragg was aware that this was a practical joke, and would send Peel postcards from around the world detailing rumours of their fictitious activities: The Peel Sessions mentions, for example, that he had "just missed them in San Francisco". The band name was one of the projected titles for what eventually became Margrave Of The Marshes.
In 1989, a colleague from Radio Bremen sent Peel a record under the name of Flying Cream Shots, where the track was called John's Birthday Song (Medley), which was a present to celebrate Peel's 50th birthday. The record featured members of Radio Bremen singing Happy Birthday to Peel in a hardcore punk / reggae sound with samples of Peel from his radio shows and You'll Never Walk Alone.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None
Sessions[]
- None
Shows Played[]
- 21 September 1989 (Radio Bremen): John's Birthday Song (Medley)
Trailed In Shows[]
- 22 September 1982
- 20 February 1984
- 01 April 1985
- 17 December 1986
- 25 February 1987
- 23 March 1987
- 06 April 1987
- 06 July 1987
- 30 November 1987
- 27 January 1988
- 31 May 1988
- 29 June 1988
- 07 September 1988
- 15 November 1988
- 06 December 1989
- 06 January 1991
- 18 August 1991
- 16 January 1993
- 20 February 1997
See Also[]
External Links[]
- Trevor Dann's article
- Teenage Kicks: Pie Hits Maude. Although this article claims an unaired session by the band is due for release, it was specifically engineered as an April Fool's Day joke: the title is an anagram of 'I made this up', and the 'band members' Rick Starkey and Annie Mae Bullock are the real names of Ringo Starr and Tina Turner respectively.