Peel's Picks: Love & Hate

[Dr Mango]

I think I've touched on this subject before...

Gene. I thought they were a blatant Smiths tribute band when they emerged. I gather that Peel wasn't interested at the start, then saw them live and thought there was something worth investigating there. I have one Gene LP, 1999's "Revelations", which I bought a few years after it came out. It's rather good.

Bearsuit. I thought Peel was taking the p*ss with this lot. Awful. Amateurish. But I grew to love them too. Funnily enough, around the same time he started playing Ballboy, who I dismissed. What on earth was I thinking? They're great.

Mind you, I still don't rate those late 80s / early 90s American bands that he was so keen on. The likes of Trumans Water and Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. Just unlistenable, tuneless noise.

When I started listening to the Peel show regularly from 1989 onwards, I used to groan when he played his African records, the deep soul, the old blues records. "Come on Peelie," I'd say to myself, "stop playing this tripe. I want to hear another session track by Ride / House of Love / Lush etc". Now, when I listen back to these shows, it's the songs that I dismissed at the time that sound the freshest and really stand out. The indie rock stuff I loved at the time sounds positively anaemic in comparison. Even the electronic / techno / D&B stuff that I used to dislike sounds pretty good. So there you go.

Dr M.