Peel recalled, "I was one of the first lot on Radio 1 and I think it was mainly because ... Radio 1 had no real idea what they were doing so they had to take people off the pirate ships because there wasn't anybody else.
Вскоре в Top Gear прозвучала «живая» музыка в исполнении Pink Floyd, Дэвид Боуи, Captain Beefheart, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band и многих других исполнителей, которым прежде путь на радио был заказан.