Radiohead, Lily Allen, David Bowie Speak Out On BBC 6 Music Shutdown

We previously brought you the sad news of BBC 6 Music shutting down. Since its launch in 2002, it has become one of the most popular programs from the British Broadcasting Company for its “cutting edge music of today, the iconic and groundbreaking music of the past 40 years and unlimited access to the BBC’s wonderful music archive.” Much to listeners’ dismay, the end of BBC 6 Music means the end of the best show for the best indie tunes.

They weren’t the only ones who were disappointed. British musicians such as Radiohead, Lily Allen, and David Bowie have spoken out against the shutdown and urge people to continue and sign the online petition.

According to Reuters (via Pitchfork), the one and only Ziggy Stardust aka David Bowie was quick to let his fans know what he thought about the program ending on his website when he said:

“6music keeps the spirit of broadcasters like John Peel alive and for new artists to lose this station would be a great shame.”

Lily Allen who has tried to keep her outbursts on the down low by leaving the music industry and opening up a fashion shop even took the time to state the following in her editorial piece for The Guardian:

“What is happening now reflects a huge, politically motivated reshuffle … Closing BBC 6 Music is bad news for unsigned acts and new British music.”

Superstar rock band, Radiohead, of course also had something to say about losing one of their beloved British radio programs when guitarist, Ed O’Brien, posted the following open letter on their blog, Dead Air Space:

“It literally is the radio lifeblood for music outside of the mainstream. Not to denigrate Radio’s 1 and 2, but it really is the only station that puts music first, and that’s from a punters point of view and not some bloke in a band … What you have with 6 Music is a gem of a radio station, it is doing what no other station in the world does or can possibly do.”

Even though we here at BeatCrave are State side, we do encourage everyone to sign the online petition. There is hope. How do we know? Well, we did previously mention a rumor of Absolute Radio buying the program so they could “run it more efficiently than they’ve been doing.”

Also, since there has been such a public interest in losing something important to the British culture, very much in a familiar way to the selling of Abbey Road Studios, the BBC Trust Fund is now looking into what they can do for the program as well. Sir Micahel Lyons made this point by sharing, “If we find that there’s massive public concern that we need to take account of, then we will go back to the director general to rethink the strategy before it’s approved,” as reported by Billboard (via Pitchfork).

We hope that all this news stops abruptly as it did for Abbey Road so another great indie station isn’t lost in between all the mainstream masses.

What do you think of what Radiohead, Lily Allen, and David Bowie had to say about saving BBC 6 Music?