John Peel: Better Off Dead?

Published Oct 28 2005, 03:04 PM by webteam

La Peste photo linked from Boston Rock Storybook.

Before the advent of iPods, early man was forced to store his music on seven-inch die-cut vinyl spheres, which were sometimes stored in boxes. John Peel, a 20th century British "disc jockey" -- a species of creature now extinct on the planet, which chose his own records from his own boxes and then played them for other people to listen to on the public airwaves -- left such a box behind after his death. Inside were 142 seven-inch singles. (143 if you count both copies of Sheena Easton's "9 to 5.") Only one of them was from a Boston band:

53. La Peste - Black b/w Better off dead (BLACK RECORDS) 1978

That's song's long been a local treasure and a line-item on many a record-collector's want list, but it seems to be inching towards renewed apprecation. The new Death from Above 1979 remix album kicks off with -- you guessed it -- a cover of "Better Off Dead." It's OK, though not as good as the version done a number of years back by Kustomized, Mission of Burma drummer Peter Prescott's group with pre-Konks, ex-Bullet LaVolta leader Kurt "Yukki Gipe" Davis.