"The fact is that when I first grew a beard, I had quite a bit of hair on my head, actually, and most of the way down my back as well, and I just grew it because when I shaved me neck, I used to look as though somebody'd tried to slit my throat: I just bled all over everywhere, and it as rather disagreeable. Nowadays, of course, it'd probably be seen as quite fashionable, but at the time, having blood coursing down the front of your shirt was rather frowned on in polite society, so I stopped shaving. I didn't shave for something like thirteen years. At the end of this, I thought, well, I'll shave me beard off and see what happens, and it was a genuinely disquieting experience, because the bloke who'd disappeared behind the hair, although not a great-looking feller by any means, was alright, you know. When I shaved it off, as you can imagine, there was a bloke behind there that I'd never seen in my life before. It was genuinely quite traumatic. 'Cos you don't know my mother, you can't really imagine, but it was like a fusion of my mother and the late Mussolini, and the effect was disquieting in the extreme, so I very quickly and with much approval from my family, grew it back again. My children were actually frightened when I turned up without a beard, so I grew it back.')[1]
The Half Japanese track is played for the taper, who complains that JP hasn't fulfilled any of his requests recently: he asks for a record by Claw Boys Claw. John replies: "I saw them at a free festival in Holland the summer before last and didn't like 'em at all."
(JP: 'Hi fans, it's another John Peel's Music From BFBS. I'm just back from another flying trip to Germany, delivering shipments of mittens to our brave lads in the trenches, and we're ready to shred. Remember the Damned?')
Flatmates: 'Life Of Crime (7"-The Flatmates)' (Subway Organization) 29 November 1987 (BFBS)
(JP: 'Incidentally AAT, amongst others, has asked what it is that I do when I do these gigs, as I call them. Not a great deal, actually, except to walk out at the end of the night, my pockets bulging with money: it's a great scheme. But I don't at least do what other DJs do, certainly in Britain, where they try and give you pictures of themselves and T-shirts and things, and if possible kiss you. You'll be relieved to hear that I do none of these things.')
(JP: 'I'm terrifically fond of the Frank Chickens, but I think they're getting a bit too clever really. I mean, what we need is more karaoke and less art, I think. The last session they recorded for my programmes here in Britain, they did four songs, as people traditionally do, but they were all sort of four and a half minutes, five and a half minutes long, and that's a bad sign, I think, somehow.')
(JP: 'Next time they come to Britain to do a session for my programme, they're going to do an all yodelling session, and I look forward to that. And here's a chance to hear some serious yodelling too in our weekly yodelling spot.')
Erich Edlinger: 'Wenn Ich Auf Mein Almen Geh' (LP-Der Jodelvagabund)' (BASF)