John Peel worked for BBC Radio. He is responsible for the careers of many artists. For example, he got his hands on a copy of Laurie Anderson’s ‘O Superman’ and played it a lot. Because of this unexpected popularity in UK, Anderson found herself being offered a major label deal. This is just one example of the Peel effect! He tirelessly championed The Fall (gotta throw that in there). His “Peel Sessions” was a regular thing for years. Sooo many bands recorded Peel Sessions. I had a CD anthology of all the Wedding Present Peel Sessions. Loved that CD.

Getting played on Peel’s show was a big deal for alternative artists. A lot of bands’ and artists’ music was influenced by John Peel because they listened so much to his show and were inspired by the music they heard.

There have been radio and TV docs made about him. You can find some on YouTube.

Rory Gallagher showed me you could be cool whilst also being just an ordinary guy.

All the answers saying “yes he was talented”: irrelevant. All the answers saying “no he wasn’t talented”: irrelevant. All the answers saying: “He was the first to do x, y & z”: irrelevant.

Well, not irrelevant… but these things need to be discussed objectively.

There are so many “what’s the big deal with x, I don’t get it” questions on Reddit, and the only useful answers should be objective ones which begin with a) an admission that x was a big deal [or a refutation of the claim that it was a big deal], followed by b) a theory as to why it was a big deal.

These are sociological questions about why certain things tapped the zeitgeist.

Whether Dylan was a good or bad musician is only relevant with regard to the cultural context [consider for example that maybe some people enjoyed the wobbly musicianship; much like people did with punk a couple of decades later].

Whether Dylan’s lyrics are nonsensical trolling or earnest artistic explorations is irrelevant — the question is why did people respond to these lyrics.

There are so many factors involved. And keep in mind that not every Dylan fan in the ‘60s was a Dylan fan for the same reasons. Fans’ reasons for liking anything should be considered to exist on a Venn diagram [some fans maybe liked the audacity of Dylan’s cryptic lyrics but didn’t care if they were nonsense or not; other fans maybe liked Dylan’s lyrics because they felt they were able to decipher the true meanings of them]

Also, from the same album: Her Majesty

I am a Bob Dylan super fan, but my go-to version of Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright is by John Martyn.

I love In the Morning by David Kitt. The song was originally by the Bee Gees.

I’ve been listening to Green River by Eilen Jewell a lot recently. I prefer it to the Creedence original.

Tainted Love by Soft Cell is a cover. The original was sung by Gloria Jones and is pretty forgettable.

P.S. How can a cover not be of an original song? Are you just trying to exclude versions of folk songs?

That was one of the good things about having only TV back in the day (unless your parents splashed out on satellite channels). I remember seeing lots of old movies before I was even old enough to think about when they had been made or when they were set.

I even remember as a little kid watching Safety Last on a Saturday morning and thinking “okay, I guess there’s no talking in this one.” I couldn’t even read the title cards but I watched it anyway.

I advise you not to get into the habit of avoiding music.

The only thing I can’t listen to is Modest Mouse because of an ex. But lots of other music is tied up strongly with that relationship and I still listen to it.

I feel like a lot of other music would have gone the way of Modest Mouse if I had allowed it to. And that would have been a shame.

Push through and keep listening to things you love. It’s your music. No one or nothing should take your things away from you. However, when you’re listening to this music, be mindful of the present. Allow your brain to create new associations.

‘A Pair of Brown Eyes’ by The Pogues