DAVID PEEL

The King of Street Rock · 1942–2017

"The street is the real venue. Clubs and stadiums are corporate. The street is where the people are."

April 19 — A 420 Tribute to David Peel. SoHo, NYC. Nine years dead and somebody's putting my name on a flyer. Details →

The Arkestra played TV Eye, Brooklyn — March 11. Marshall Allen. 101 years old. Still blowing. I wrote him a letter from the corner. Sun Ra wrote him forty-five columns from Saturn. Sinclair was there last time. Three voices. One concert. We were there.

FROM BROOKLYN TO THE WORLD

1942 David Michael Rosario born August 3 in New York City. Brooklyn kid. The streets raised him.

1960–62 U.S. Army service. Two years. Got out and tried Alaska, tried Wall Street — none of it fit.

1965 Found the Greenwich Village folk scene. Changed his name to Peel — supposedly after the rumor that smoking banana peels could get you high.

                    1968
                    "Have a Marijuana" released on Elektra Records. Raw acoustic street rock. The first rock album about pot.
                

1970 "The American Revolution" on Elektra. The hippie manifesto gets louder.

                    1971
                    John Lennon and Yoko Ono discover Peel in Washington Square Park. Jerry Rubin and Howard Smith brought them. Everything changes.
                

                    Dec 10, 1971
                    John Sinclair Freedom Rally in Ann Arbor. Peel performs with Lennon to 15,000 people. "Free John Now!"
                

Jan 13, 1972 David Frost Show — Peel appears with Lennon, Yoko, and Jerry Rubin. Lennon's first live US TV appearance as a solo performer.

                    1972
                    "The Pope Smokes Dope" released on Apple Records. Produced by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The most controversial album of its time.
                

1974 Founded Orange Records. His own label, his own rules. DIY before punk made it a movement.

1977 "Bring Back the Beatles" released. Released GG Allin's debut album on Orange Records.

1980 "John Lennon for President" released. Days before Lennon's assassination.

2011 Occupy Wall Street. Peel performs in Zuccotti Park. "Up Against the Wall Street." Still fighting at 69.

2015 "Give Hemp a Chance" — final studio album. 50 years of street rock.

                    April 6, 2017
                    Died at the Manhattan VA Hospital after three heart attacks. The King of Street Rock returns to the street from which he came.
                

THE MUSIC

"I've been doing this since before punk was punk!"

Have a Marijuana (1968)

The album that started it all. Recorded live on the streets with The Lower East Side band. Raw, acoustic, revolutionary. Elektra Records didn't know what hit them. The first rock album openly celebrating marijuana.

The American Revolution (1970)

Second Elektra album. "Hippie From New York City," "Up Against the Wall," "Lower East Side." The sound of the counterculture before it got commercialized.

The Pope Smokes Dope (1972)

Apple Records. Produced by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The title track was banned everywhere. Radio stations wouldn't touch it. Perfect.

Orange Records Era (1974–2017)

His own label. No corporate interference. Released "Bring Back the Beatles," "John Lennon for President," and dozens more. Gave GG Allin his first record deal. First person to use "motherf*cker" in a song title.

Have a Marijuana

1968 · Elektra

The American Revolution

1970 · Elektra

The Pope Smokes Dope

1972 · Apple

Bring Back the Beatles

1977 · Orange

John Lennon for President

1980 · Orange

Give Hemp a Chance

2015 · Orange

THE STREET

"We are from the Lower East Side. We don't give a damn if we live or die."

Washington Square Park

The cathedral of street rock. Every Sunday, Peel set up with his guitar and whoever would join him. No permits. No stages. No rules. Just music and people. The tourists took photos. The locals knew the words.

The Lower East Side

His band wasn't named after a concept — it was named after a neighborhood. The Lower East Side was home. The tenements, the bodegas, the street corners where music happened. Before it became the "East Village" and got expensive.

Street Rock Philosophy

You don't need a record deal. You don't need a venue. You don't need permission. You need a guitar and something to say. The street is the most democratic stage in the world. Everyone can hear. No one pays cover.

"I'm proud to be a New York City hippie. I'm proud of dirty feet and dirty hair. I'm proud of living with the cockroaches. I'm proud of living in a garbage can."

THE LENNON CONNECTION

"He can't sing, or he can't really play."

— John Lennon (who also compared Peel to Picasso. It was a compliment.)

The Discovery (1971)

Jerry Rubin and Howard Smith brought John and Yoko to Washington Square Park. They watched Peel perform on the sidewalk with his band. Lennon saw something the industry couldn't — "the whole underground/anti-corporate/street poet/boho rock counterculture embodied."

Apple Records

Lennon signed Peel to Apple and produced "The Pope Smokes Dope" himself. The most famous Beatle making the most banned album with the most underground artist. The industry didn't know what to do with it.

John Sinclair Freedom Rally

December 10, 1971. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 15,000 people. Peel performed alongside Lennon, Yoko, Stevie Wonder, and others demanding John Sinclair's release from prison (10 years for two joints). Three days later, Sinclair was released.

David Frost Show

January 13, 1972. Peel appeared with Lennon, Yoko, and Jerry Rubin. It was Lennon's first live television appearance in the US as a solo performer. Street rock on national TV.

FROM BROOKLYN TO THE WORLD

THE MUSIC

Have a Marijuana (1968)

The American Revolution (1970)

The Pope Smokes Dope (1972)

Orange Records Era (1974–2017)

Have a Marijuana

The American Revolution

The Pope Smokes Dope

Bring Back the Beatles

John Lennon for President

Give Hemp a Chance

THE STREET

Washington Square Park

The Lower East Side

Street Rock Philosophy

THE LENNON CONNECTION

The Discovery (1971)

Apple Records

John Sinclair Freedom Rally

David Frost Show

LYRICS & WORDS

I Like Marijuana

The Pope Smokes Dope

The Lower East Side

Hippie From NYC

Occupy Wall Street

AUDIO RANTS

Transmissions

YOU CAN'T KILL ROCK AND ROLL