After a whopping twelve years at Radio 1 (man, this makes me feel old), pioneer of British new music, Zane Lowe, is moving onto greener pastures at Apple.
Whether you love him or hate him, we can surely all agree that these five moments are pretty legendary. He’s changed a lot of people’s lives for the better through a relentless passion for music and we doubt anyone will fill his boots anytime soon.
1. He saved Ryan Jarman‘s (The Cribs) life.
This story will be forever etched in indie music history. After leaping on a table at the NME Awards 2007, Ryan Jarman of The Cribs impaled himself on broken glass, narrowly missing his vital organs. He was sent to hospital but later returned to the ceremony to continue the festivities. Zane Lowe later found him bleeding and “looking green” and called him an ambulance. So at the end of the day, we can sort of say that Zane Lowe saved music.
2. He introduced the world to Arctic Monkeys, Ed Sheeran, Adele & Foals.
Zane Lowe is credited as introducing tons of new bands into the music world. Hell, it’d be a little weird if he wasn’t after twelve years. But when you’re credited with introducing acts like Arctic Monkeys, Adele, Foals and Ed Sheeran, you must be doing something right… right? Without Zane, we’d probably all be listening to Beyonce, which conveniently leads us to our next point…
3. He was kicked off live TV at Glastonbury.
In 2011, Zane Lowe completely zoned out on live TV whilst Lauren Laverne was bigging up Beyonce. He eventually burst out laughing as soon as she finished speaking, much to our delight. You’ll have to watch the hilarious proceedings unfold for yourself below, but it’s no coincidence that he later conveniently had “race home and see the bubbas”, only to be replaced by Jo WIley. Totally worth it. We salute you Zane.
4. He re-scored the soundtrack to Drive.
Most Radio DJs rarely show the ambition (or even get the opportunity) to take on a project outside of their comfort zone. However, in 2014, Zane Lowe re-scored the film ‘Drive’, starring Ryan Gosling, with his own personal playlist. It featured the likes of Banks, Baauer, Jon Hopkins, SBTRKT, The 1975, Bastille, Bring Me The Horizon, CHVRCHES, Eric Prydz, Foals, Laura Mvula and The Neighbourhood. Whilst distilling a somewhat ‘marmite’ effect amongst fans as a final outcome, ‘Drive’ was re-aired with Zane Lowe’s soundtrack on Halloween 2014.
5. He helped get ‘Killing In The Name Of‘ to UK Christmas #1.
2009 marked the first year that the British public finally grew tiresome of Simon Cowell’s domination over the Christmas #1 single slot. Numerous Facebook petitions emerged to elect Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name Of’ as Christmas #1 over 2009 X-Factor Winner Joe McElderry‘s cover of Miley Cyrus’ ‘The Climb’. Zane Lowe gave guitarist Tom Morello of RATM crucial airtime on his show where he announced a free UK show, should ‘Killing In The Name Of’ reach UK Christmas #1. He also supported the campaign himself with a satirical remix of the song, dubbed with audio from Simon Cowell’s press conference on the matter, as well as prompting people to buy the single live on air.
What did you make of Zane Lowe’s departure from Radio 1? Will Annie Mac be able to fill his boots? Let us know your thoughts on Twitter & Facebook.
5 Awesome Zane Lowe Moments
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