Newsnight report on John Peel's death including Mark E Smith interview (better quality)

[@valxavier7498]

You have to say Mark's retained his good looks and generosity of spirit.

[@stub2001]

+Val Xavier I haven't laughed this much at a youtube comment ever

[@greatleapforwards]

mike and mark are roughly the same age...but mark looks about 20 years older!

[@neilwilson5785]

It's an inspiration to us all. If I look that good when I'm 106 I'll be well chuffed.

[@pinkitypink6246]

An exquisite corpse bless him

[@monkeymance]

Given how much Mark E Smith hates interviews he must have really loved John Peel

[@babidaboopy]

I read Mark E Smith's book and he said this was just a cock up apparently his ear piece had loads of people from behind the scenes talking into and he couldn't hear most of what the presenter said.

[@NewRootsHairUK]

Mark is an interviewer's nightmare.

[@gromitpesley]

Chester Fields Yeah they hate the truth.

[@terrypussypower]

Chester Fields Well, Mark was an *ignorant* interviewers nightmare! And I mean "ignorant" in the "lack of knowledge" sense. Anyone who respected The Fall and knew what they were about got great interviews out of Mark. He had a sharp bullshit detector.

[@PeterSokol-bl5vz]

@@gromitpesleygrow up.

[@bigbadbotnik8125]

One of the finest moments in televisual history by Mark E Smith here

[@flowerpower7564]

john peel would have laughed at the soppy tributes, and mark knew that.

[@simonpeach1294]

+Flower Power thank you

[@davidrobinson2776]

John would have love Mark’s “tribute” to him. He would expected nothing less.

[@TheIkaraCult]

"This is what i admired about him, he was always objective, people forget that" And thats why John Peel loved Mark E Smith

[@paulwilliams2663]

This comment aged well 😂

[@thesoundlikechameleons2082]

Don't think Smith liked him.

[@MsMRJames-ll9dh]

Smith didn't like nonces - go figure.

[@jonactiveUT]

For those who don't know, MIXCLOUD has loads of John Peel show recordings to listen to for free and boy do I love listening to them still!

[@studiomix123]

I was very lucky to have met John outside Heswall Library back in the day as being from Heswall myself, he asked me what I was listening to at the moment I said Martha and the muffins particular echo beach he said a great track a great track.

[@MartinHiggins1972]

Far away in time, now.

[@TheGenreman]

If you read Peel's autobiography he was burned by his experience with Marc Bolan so that's why he never became friends with Mark E Smith (RIP).

[@daffyduck4674]

That was mutual. Whilst I think MES admired Peel he was always keen to keep a distance. In large part because he didn’t want The Fall to be just seen as a ‘John Peel band’. Peel would also have known that Smith detested anyone by evenly vaguely sycophantic.

[@ShroudedInVeilz]

Smith's response to the first question is brilliant.

[@martinskanal]

"...for the Fall?"

[@zigzagwandrr]

Love how MES totally punctured the whole Saint John Peel vibe that the BBC was trying to force onto proceedings. If they wanted someone to sit there, smile, reel off rehearsed answers and give a nice phoney eulogy then they definitely called the wrong person. As a modest man I'm certain that John would have greatly approved.

[@keithbentley6081]

Absolutely! We need more of reality and less of sentimental brainwashing victim behaviour. That belongs to the world of Simon Crowley.

[@zetetick395]

John woulda been mortified by this whole thing, frankly. - Paradoxically Mark's the one doing the right thing by Peel here

[@lotuseater7247]

@@zetetick395copy and paste your comment

[@sootyfoot]

RIP Mark E Smith

[@sootyfoot]

Emion Vantassa I don't understand your comment...mark e smith died last night. Why's it disgusting!

[@Edward-vs4hz]

Lord Marquis sure stays true to his core brand proposition in this interview. Miss you Mark, and it's fine that you don't miss us.

[@TheIkaraCult]

Mark's contribution was entirely in the spirit of the John Peel show

[@zetetick395]

Exactly! John woulda been mortified by this whole sentimentalizing thing, frankly. - Paradoxically Mark's the one doing the right thing by Peel here

[@ai-digital-hub]

I have been back stage with MES. He often stuck his tongue out as a pre warm up vocal exersize thing

[@malcolmcog]

Mark E. Smith has joined John Peel in Valhalla

[@NxDoyle]

Mark E Smith is getting work these days as a slightly less animated version of Professor Stephen Hawking.

[@kovvvas]

@Point Venus still true, though.

[@AnthonyMonaghan]

Nice that Mark mentions John Waters, John Peels right hand man and producer. The interviewer is clearly intimidated by Mark. Mark later said that he had stage fright.

[@stuartwilliams7912]

John Peel was my saving grace I like a lot of people in Britain in the 70's couldn't stand normal chart music so tuning in with my radio under the bedcovers at 10 o clock listening to great music.Thank you John for giving me my lifelong love of music I can quite easily live with out television but not music.

[@ewanb2271]

Do you know what? John Peel would have loved this.

[@ellenmeilee]

Much as I esteem MES, he is not a good advertisement for the long term effects of speed.

[@lehliladevandria5712]

I honestly think that he was mostly a drinker.

[@dr.aisaitl7439]

@@lehliladevandria5712 No he took amphetamines for most of his life

[@1yearago491]

Age 46 here, honestly looks like he's in his 80s

[@v00n2000]

@@1yearago491 54

[@chickenbonenowison]

A drinking, smoking, phet ingesting workaholic. He could look a lot worse!

[@vole12]

John Peel changed my life . Possibly to my detriment from age 15 ,1977 and on . First beats of Neat Neat Neat , Pinhead , Spiral Scratch etc . On Medium Wave in my bedroom . Quietly .

[@bobdobalina838]

Legend. His influence reached all the way to rural America where we would do anything to get a hold of one of his sessions. Or even to get a hold of an NME to find out what he was into, so then we could start the arduous process of finding it here in the States ( in the days before the internet - 80s 90s). RIP buddy.

[@pena.3302]

Your comment reminded me if living in (Dunedin Nil Ziland!)as we would go to Riy Colbert's "Record's Records Shop scouring for Same You felt John Peel Wouldn't be behind any hoeky stuff!.sure miss him (+a few others too )

[@colinanthony2011]

Great comment, totally agreed. As a kid growing up in the 90’s in California, John Peel opened my eyes to so much great older music and especially British music that I wouldn’t have known otherwise (including the mighty Fall)

[@mattmacneil3424]

haha mark is so god damn funny

[@liberalmind8680]

He didn't look after himself .. he wasn't cut out for cocoa and slippers

[@atarirob]

Mark E. Smith; The Human Cigarette. (no hate, I love the guy)

[@davis7099]

Esler was a great straight foil to Mark , it must be said. Great interview

[@MrGraphis]

Mark E Smith is like John Lydon: every journalist must shit their pants when they find out they've got to interview him.

[@Andy-fr2im]

John Lydon could not lace Mark E Smiths shoes IMO

[@calumproctor981]

Except Mark E. Smith was never in a manufactured boy band.

[@blanksy_-]

thinking of John today .. my fave band too .. RIP .. MES ..

[@noeljohnson868]

Peel was a unique broadcaster and these two interviewees just about sum up the panoramic expanse that he embraced...and, of course, there's been no-one with that influence since...

[@IslamicRageBoy]

What a man and what an interviewer this is great

[@Lindsay211251]

Bravo Mark. You refuse to play the game.

[@Liofa73]

Lindsay Fulcher -- Play the game? All he was asked to do was talk about the man who made his band popular... And he couldn't even do that with respect. He was drunk no doubt.

[@chriszanf]

There is a disgusting rumour going around since Marks death that at one point in his life he was sober.

[@scrumpymanjack]

Your comment ranks as one of the most stupid I have ever read on youtube. Congratulations, Lindsay.

[@Rufusdos]

Well put.

[@Davidnumber23]

Mark E Smith, unique as ever including the face pulls

[@InstallaFriend]

I see the media training paid off.

[@Sparkey]

TV gold! Thanks for sharing :) Diane Morgan Adam Buxton brought me here!

[@HandleGF]

Why was the Wealdstone Raider on Newsnight?

[@NxDoyle]

The fact that John Peel's near worship of Teenage Kicks makes no sense to me makes sense to me.

[@joe_chill1060]

Its an amazing song, that struck a certain cord in him.

[@kelvinrichardson8582]

Totally agree - it's just a good pop song.

[@ericrhodes5174]

For real. It's not even that memorable of a song.

[@MrHairyNeck]

Died far too soon and so suddenly. Scary.

[@edgeyt1]

RIP Mark E Smith.

[@BillOdyssey]

God I miss John Peel

[@MsMRJames-ll9dh]

he was nonce

[@tnimbus]

It's like pulling teeth interviewing MES

[@TheRooneyTune]

That's the enigma of MES

[@MothraBlues]

Christopher Kavanagh As well as the orthodontics...

[@nobbynoris]

Ha ha! Good luck with that! You'd have to find a tooth first (either that he hadn't lost to speed and general negligence, or that he hadn't had kicked out of his head . . . Because it transpires that MES did occasionally mix it with people who were bigger and nastier than himself, and on those occasions, up against people who weren't holding back because they were overawed by his public image, he generally lost the fights he started; he lost his front teeth because he got openly and aggressively racist with a hiphop band at a festival in Denmark and they taught him a lesson). . . . Don't take speed kids. It fucks your teeth. And it makes you act like a cunt. I honestly feel Mark E Smith's ravaged face should be on a poster campaign on buses and tubes to educate kids about the consequences of certain drug habits. I did like some of The Fall's music - I'm not a fan or a fanatic (yes, such people as myself DO exist) - but I really feel that he was a world-class bully and as such was no loss to the human race. He should not be eulogised.

[@carvid-2238]

It wasn't a situation to his liking I'd imagine. A one to one interview would have been better without people muttering his ear. I've heard some great interviews with Mark.

[@edwingilson992]

I think the criticism toward Mark E Smith regarding this video is reasonable yet a little surprising. The thing that John Peel (and indeed most people) admire about The Fall is Mark's punk attitude; I'm sure Peel wouldn't have wanted Mark to change his whole outlook and demeanour because of his own death. I'm not being disrespectful or condoning Smith's behaviour here, I just think you can't really expect people to change; nor would you particularly want them to.

[@zetetick395]

Yeah - John woulda been mortified by this whole thing, frankly. - Paradoxically Mark's the one doing the right thing by Peel here

[@derekabbott8704]

John Peel first heard Teenage Kicks on the radio, played by Peter Powell.

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

We were lucky to grow up listening to him.

[@derekabbott8704]

It was Ray Jackson from Lindisfarne who played mandolin on Maggie May, he didn't even get credit for it on the sleeve.

[@krisscanlon4051]

Ironically

[@genki2genki]

Good God, MES, your charisma is endless.

[@redlady935]

John and Mark both shared the common factor of not wanting to get caught up in the glam facade of celebrity. Despite their fame they both remained authentic and grounded. Mark's occasional arrogance wasn't a product of his fame (unlike many successful pop stars) he was just had uncompromising conviction in his creativity that is common to many genius musicians such as Zappa etc.... xx

[@ryanv3015]

Yeah Mark behaved on tv exactly how he does off screen haha, he was admirable in that sense given the amount of people who were arses in real life but behaved very well in front of the screen.

[@calumproctor981]

What instrument did he play?

[@filled_soda]

"Am I allowed to speak now?" I could be wrong but i think i read somewhere that Mark couldn't hear anything in his earpiece. That could explain that comment. Or, i could be completely mistaken.

[@shaungreer3350]

God bless john peel. Where would bands like joy division and new order be without him!

[@keithbentley6081]

He had nothing to do with discovering Joy Division.

[@zetetick395]

On old demo tapes with 228 views on KZbin, most likely.

[@ubellubo]

@@keithbentley6081 John Peel promoted Joy Division on his show many times. This was a band did almost nothing for their self-promotion. I think it is fair to say John Peel helped Joy Division. Joy Division played on his show before Unknown Pleasures was released, paving the way the album's (modest) commercial success. And he played them frequently including their first EP An Ideal For Living.

[@timchadwick2074]

The story I heard about John Peel when he first saw The Fall live in the late -70s was he said "You are the worst band I have ever heard. You are worse than Siouxie and the Banshees. Will you come on the show?".

[@JoshuaRoss2]

That was his producer - I wanna say John Walters??? The one peel played when an old cricket leaves the crease by Roy Harper for when he died

[@OldSethOnetooth]

That was John Walters.

[@stuartcarswell2815]

Mark was doing really good there... The speed took over a tad at the end though....just a bit of jesting to be fair.. Rip MES

[@emile235]

MES'S totally cranky incomprehensible interjection. John would've been chuckling down from on high over that

[@Seabird41]

He would have handle it at least. That guy was too scared to speak to him again. Radio 1 was the only slightly ballsy side of the BBC..apart from BBC 4 which was the visual side of it. Best not to let ot be destroyed under the current breed of Tories.

[@OllyBockus]

Just watched this for the first time since the original broadcast..I loved Peel AND I loved The Fall and clearly remember Peel playing them for the first time and countless times since. It was absolutely right that Newsnight honour Peel, nothing 'smarmy' or 'sycophantic' about that, he was a huge, important cultural figure. MES' performance was not as disrespectful as I'd remembered, especially nearer the beginning, but he should have acknowledged the IMMENSE ongoing support Peel gave to the Fall over nearly thirty years, when few other broadcasters would even play them.

[@craskpillord]

Peel would’ve loved this, this is pure MES

[@johnreynolds6369]

I’m confused. HIs Wikipedia entry quotes him as saying? “Girls used to queue up outside. By and large not usually for shagging. Oral sex they were particularly keen on, I remember. [...] One of my, er, regular customers, as it were, turned out to be 13, though she looked older.” He jokingly added that he "didn't ask for ID". If this is correct, why is he not spoken of in the same terms as Rolf Harris and Max Clifford etc?

[@calumproctor981]

You could ask the same about David Bowie.

[@jesseemullen]

7:16 Never ceases to make me laugh. Mark knew exactly how to make these media types squirm 🤣

[@harrytighe5194]

Rip mark e smith will be missed

[@pippipster6767]

Mark E Smith uninterviewable 🤪

[@andrewmair7371]

Nonsense - 😁

[@robertbaker5156]

He introduced me to Sonic Youth, in 1988, when he played Silver Rocket!

[@Spectrescup]

You were slow off the mark

[@robertbaker5156]

@@Spectrescup pathetic reply

[@Spectrescup]

​@@robertbaker5156ahaha. Depends how old you were to be fair.

[@ichhasseamerika]

Cud MES be taking the piss a bit here? ;) regarding John Peel, his influence reached all the way to small-town America. Me And My Gang loved him, would do whatever we could to get a hold of one of his sessions. He broke so many bands even stateside, rest in peace buddy

[@savedfaves]

To think the narrator said John came along when music was becoming compartmentalised. Well it's more than compartmentalised now-the album is dead, many popular singers sound the same and it's difficult to distinguish female pop stars from porn stars.

[@deanjmitchell5431]

I still miss him

[@SeattleSpursFan1882]

Mark E Smith is the hero in this video

[@nath909]

Beeb hanger-on: "Mr Smih, please stop slouching. Please, Mr Smith dont slur and sit up, Mr Smith"

[@klax001]

7:17 well that was awkward lol

[@TheFpCassini]

3:00 Peel as little girl.

[@lastschicker]

can I talk now?

[@neilwilson5785]

Wow was music compartmentalised and homogenised in 2011? 2000% more now.

[@ethanblackhurst8593]

Whats going on with The Fall guys gob?

[@JoshuaRoss2]

ARE YOU THE NEW DJ?

[@slimplim]

MES is great - John would know

[@stellaboulton9531]

Nicely put.

[@IrishBog]

Just saw The Fall last night....... MES not looking too good to be honest.... spent the last half singing from the dressing room :-)

[@MrPoupard]

Gone too soon. I still miss Home Truths. I'm curious 'bout something … he was from Liverpool but had a Brummie accent?

[@JMBluecoat8289]

He was a Liverpool FC fan but actually from Cheshire and went to Shrewsbury School as a boarder. In the old days, you would occasionally meet some people who liked to big up a Liverpool connection but it often turned out to be tenuous. We had a guy at university who had a put-on accent like he’d just walked off the set of the TV series Bread, and he would play a kind of Liverpudlian clown that the posh kids would enjoy, but I found out he was from some leafy Cheshire middle class enclave. Having grown up in Liverpool myself, I can tell you that genuine Liverpudlians from ordinary backgrounds who get up to university and move to London can’t afford to do the “professional scouser” act as it doesn’t go down well. Best to leave that sort of thing to former public schoolboys like Mr Peel.

[@jasongray4517]

​@JMBluecoat8289 That's a very convoluted way of saying he was putting it on. He was once interviewed in Q magazine and admitted that he first faked a Liverpool accent while in Texas as a very young man. The radio station wanted a supposed Liverpudlian to explain Beatlemania to the locals and he was the man. It was also a way of meeting girls. In actual fact, during his youth he sounded like a minor member of the Royal Family.

[@philipswain4122]

A top bloke. Loved his show.

[@juliaaldersley7301]

I thought the interviewer of Smith and Bradley was brilliant. Deliberately tried to wind Smith up, obviously Smith knew it, then he just said f_ck you and left him alone.

[@NewRootsHairUK]

+Julia Aldersley Humour mixed with embarrassment

[@zetetick395]

MES The only legend to never 'play the game' - A whoredom-free hero! (it's not like JP would enjoy this attempt at saccharine tripe anyway 😨 - RIP fellas)

[@superbug1977]

Peel had good taste. The Undertones are amazing.

[@danw1374]

I went to see them at chelsea fcs under the bridge club back in 2011. They were brilliant although Fergal Sharkey had long left the band by this time.

[@Servoboy]

Mark taking interview advice from Lou Reed I suspect

[@v00n2000]

Accurate, in so many ways

[@Servoboy]

Mark didn't mellow with the years did he. Both him and Lou shared a Drink Problem as well. Another connection or perhaps one you figured anyway. I saw the Fall (first time) in 1978 at Belvue in Manchester. They supported the Buzzcocks and the only tune I knew was Bingo Masters Breakout. Because I'd heard it on Peel. How many of us went to sleep transistorised Radio muffled under the pillow listening to John. There's a story to that gig that involves my mum and a Riot in the que waiting to get in. We waited and waited. Me in my white Jeans and White Kickers with Red Stitching and Dentist Shirt. Dyed Blonde hair. Means nothing now a days, but a lad with dyed hair...wow.. that was something. We were up the front and we had tickets. My mum goes and finds out that if you had tickets you could just walk in. So she shouts from way down the que if you have tickets you can go straight in. It appears most of the que had tickets as they surged forward and people started to run. People fell over. The NME the following week had a picture of punks running and 'rioting' with the caption RIOT at Buzzcocks concert. Amazing. My mum did that. Of course she was in the Car with Dad. He had ran us over and we told them they were stay in the car. Its not really the Punk story to be run to the concert in Dads Family Saloon. I wasn't at the Free Trade Hall for 'the' concert. but I very nearly was. If only. I'd been there. True story. We formed a Band called Warsaw and we had to change the name because someone else had it. They were also much better. Warsaw ( Joy Division). Our second name ' Skates Plonkers' assured oblivion and being forgotten before we were even a memory..

[@TheFpCassini]

fascinating (i`m a yank)

[@TheFpCassini]

8:55 also delivers

[@musicwithmorals]

John Peel shows why YT algorithms are dumb. Everybody wants to just hear what they know they like.

[@sourjellybaby4286]

Never seen this before. Mark is probably just being Mark. A bit spikey and challenging.

[@whywhywhy9659]

From the White Stripes to Black Styles...

[@gregfox8132]

... goodnight and good riddance... classic.

[@HDSPKSRecords-gi1ob]

Mark E Smith rips the living piss out of the interviewer. Glorious.

[@S7EVE_P]

The noisey interview is better

[@youandwhosearmy6339]

3:10- Absolute legend but let's face it, he took a fucking shit corner.

[@calumproctor981]

The term "world music" was coined in the early 1960s and popularised in the 1980s, so that guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

Remember John Peel received Order of the British Empire. And though apreciate his John Peel Sessions, don´t forget of sexual abuse in his career still is a shame. To The Guardian in 1975, Peel said of young women, "All they wanted me to do was abuse them, sexually, which, of course, I was only too happy to do".

[@nath909]

...Mist... Mr Smith please don't gurn like that.

[@jacob7207]

That was fucking awesome.

[@gregfox8132]

An absolute one off, got so many bands signed. When the smiths released their first album, it was badly produced, when they released hatful of hollow, with peel sessions in it, it was far superior to the first album. That was peel being a better than most dj and music entrepreneur. He couldn't take a corner though. Ynwa.

[@steve-bk1qd]

The greatest.

[@zaphyra-]

RIP

[@angrypossumsx1259]

Am I allowed to speak now? ... Yea right whatever ... What was the question? (Scintillating repartee there Mark) Are you the new DJ?

[@SODNEYTROTTER]

my m8s band back in the day.. mike malignants and the parasites.sent him a 7 inch.. he didnt play it..then a bit later ant bumped into mr peel at south parade pier... ant said why didnt you play our single.. mr peel told him to f**k off lol... ants still proud of that moment ;)

[@mrubbish1]

'the black styles' ?

[@Lyeekha]

Oh my gawd Mark. :'D

[@theonlyantony]

Ahh, health or self abuse. Such a choice. Same age - different diets. Brain bright - brain irreparably damaged.

[@stellaboulton9531]

they are different people

[@Warp75]

The brain damaged one done a bit more than the healthy one though didn’t he.

[@eughrologh]

I don't think Peel championed the Libertines!

[@johnroberts3723]

Was mark being rude?.