(Credits: Far Out / Raph Pour-Hashemi)
Mon 9 March 2026 2:00, UK
Across the course of the 1970s, there were plenty of ‘what if’ stories, sparked by a catalogue of drug-using rock stars who let their hedonism get the best of their careers. But there aren’t many as tragic as Peter Green, the prodigal son of Fleetwood Mac, who almost became the biggest rock star on the planet.
Before the days of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac was spearheaded by this charismatic English blues guitarist, who moulded Mick Fleetwood’s beloved musical project into an entirely different entity. With Green at the helm, the band were raucous, captivating and compositionally ambitious, as they rivalled Led Zeppelin’s in the battle for the rock throne at the tail end of the ‘60s.
So bands who rubbed shoulders with the blues-addled Mac of the ‘60s all watched from the side of the stage, and marvelled at this virtuosic frontman that Mick Fleetwood had landed on. But while many, and quite rightly so, paid initial attention to the wild guitar solos and rangy vocal takes that Green lead for the band, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry was more impressed with his ability to adapt and consistently serve the wider aim of the song and band.
In explaining his love for Green, he explained that “he seemed very unlike a lot of the other guitar players. He wasn’t all wrapped up in himself. They played like a band. They were all equal, so to speak. Granted, he was the main songwriter and the main singer, but he would stand back and let one of the other guitar players play three or four songs and sing lead and just play backup, you know. So I learned a lot watching him play.”
After Perry had commended Green’s ability to perfect his nuts and bolts, he couldn’t help but eulogise over his ability to transcend through his music. He said, “Then when he cut loose, he had as much style and as much to say as any of the other so-called guitar heroes from that era, only his was a little more influenced by the blues guys that played.”
Adding, “It was just so free, and you could tell when he played it came from his soul, it came from his heart, and it was very sparse, his playing, but he said so much with very few notes. I learned a lot from him, you know, and I still listen to the recordings, especially the bootleg recordings of that band in that era.”
There’s a whole host of tracks that the uninitiated could rattle through in a bid to understand just what Perry is referring to. In those early albums that preceded the global domination of a Fleetwood Mac led by Buckingham and Nicks, Green’s genius is oozing out on both vocals and guitar.
Whether it was the turbocharged bravado of blues classic ‘Oh Well, Part 1’, the soulfully crafted artistry of ‘Albatross’ or the astounding songwriting of ‘Man of the World’, which encapsulates his prowess as both a guitarist and vocalist, there is plenty of evidence to prove that Green was truly one of the greats.