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Peel Precedent

Referring to legendary, late British radio DJ John Peel, the case of the man playing vinyl at the wrong speed (ie. 33rpm at 45rpm or vice versa). The Peel Precedent is often invoked by DJs to excuse their own mistakes. Traditionally, there were three possible outcomes of such a mishap:

1. Peelie would stop the track about 30 seconds in, fluff a jocular apology and then play the track again at the correct speed
2. Peelie would let the track run to its conclusion, then admit his error (or ignorance - a lot of his vinyl had no indication of the correct speed) while arguing that it sounded good at the wrong speed anyway
3. In rare cases, Peelie would let the track run to its conclusion, argue that it sounded great at the wrong speed anyway, and then play the whole track again at the correct rpm, inviting listeners to draw their own conclusions with regard to its quality.

I messed up while DJing last night by playing Plastikman at the wrong speed, but i invoked the Peel Precedent and got away with it. It sounded just as good anyway...

by Charlie No4 March 19, 2007