To anyone from my side
of the pond the name John Peel really needs very little introduction,
he was a near universally loved fixture on BBC Radio, honest,
intelligent, warm to audience and bands equally. For forty year he
played a eclectic mix of whatever took his fancy, championing new and
obscure artist and showing a rare genius for putting into words what
everyone felt*.
There has long been a
preoccupation in games criticism about finding a master critic to
call its own, a Robert Ebert to bring a authoritatively voice to a
highly contentious medium. I don't think the Brainy Gamer podcast's
Michael Abbott is ever going to be that sort of figure, however he
has showed signs that he shares some of the qualities that made Peel
so important to the development British music.
