(Credits: Alamy)
Sun 14 September 2025 22:00, UK
Put simply, there would be no Fleetwood Mac without Peter Green – but he is undeniably the one out of the entire band who gets the most criminally overlooked.
Long before Stevie Nicks or Rumours or any of the drama came in to steal the show, Green was at the helm of a band who would, eventually, spurn into an entirely different creation once the years had worn by. In reality, he was an absolute blues pioneer that the scene and the band would be nothing without. He deserves far more credit for that fact.
A lot of this misguided perception perhaps comes from the sense that Green was a lot less of a formidable presence than many of the rest, almost like The Wizard of Oz in being an indomitable force but often preferring to pull the levers from behind the curtain. As such, when he left Fleetwood Mac in 1970, it wasn’t with much of a flourish – not only because the band would indisputably eclipse all his successes soon after but because, in certain respects, that was following his wishes.
However, this is not to say that among the ranks of Fleetwood Mac themselves, his efforts and legacy were not appreciated – especially to those who were there to witness the rise from the very beginning, such as Mick Fleetwood. Of all people, the man whom Green had decided to name the band after must have always felt indebted to his brother in arms, not only for the life and career he gifted for him, but for allowing him the closest insight on his inner workings, when others had the chance to pull away.
To this end, Fleetwood holds the most intimate view and the sharpest mind when it comes to knowing everything about Green, whether it was in terms of how he worked as a person or how this translated into his sonic back catalogue. Appropriately, in his eyes, there is one song that epitomises this story and life perfectly – ‘Love That Burns’.
“It is so pregnant with his story, it’s certainly what appealed to all of us wanting to play blues and finding a simple format to express and plug into passion. I think we didn’t really know,” Fleetwood later mused.
Yet as time moved on and retrospection came into view, this also meant being gifted a new perspective on a song he already loved. Fleetwood added: “But looking back, that’s what it would be – it certainly was for me, going along for the ride. It just pushes those buttons, that song, and for sure pushes the button for what I think of Peter.”
Sometimes, when you read about figures like Green and all they did in creating something that would transform to be so seismic like Fleetwood Mac, it’s easy to shroud them in a sense of untouchability and elusiveness. But the point that Fleetwood illustrates is that he was still as human as the rest of us – with quirks, idiosyncrasies, and an imagination that would run wild within the blues sphere. That doesn’t seem so unattainable as the average person, but like Green, you just have to possess the grit to take the leap.
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