John Peel was the best known, most respected, and most influential radio disc-jockey in the UK. His fatal heart attack, while on holiday in Peru in October 2004, prompted an outpouring of national grief not seen in the world of popular music since the deaths of John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, or George Harrison. It was the lead item in almost every national newspaper, and both BBC and ITV chose to open their evening news bulletins with the story, temporarily curtailing their coverage of the final stages of the US Presidential election.

For many outside the UK, the reaction might be difficult to understand. For those in the UK, however, it was an entirely appropriate response to the end of a 40-year career in which his stubborn resistance to the established policies of the popular music industry and his insistent championing of new musicians marked him out as one of the few real subversives in a commercial and creative environment in which such tendencies are not easily tolerated.