Psychedelic Rock

Welcome to our “Psychedelic Lunch” series where we find out how deep the rabbit hole really goes and explore music from the 60’s to today. Weekdays At Noon EST. Enjoy the trip!

Like many British bands in the ’60s, Fleetwood Mac started as a blues group that paid tribute to the American bluesmen they loved. Fronted by drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, the band went through several lineup changes over the years before two Los Angeles singer-songwriters, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, joined in 1975 and made Fleetwood Mac one of the biggest bands on the planet. For the next dozen years, they dominated the charts with their blend of classic rock and SoCal pop. Their 1977 blockbuster ‘Rumours’ remains one of the best and bestselling albums ever made, a breakup record informed by real-life tension among the band’s five members (singer-songwriter Christine McVie rounded out the group). Buckingham and Nicks’ solo careers eventually led to the split of the classic lineup, although they’ve occasionally reunited over the years for tours and records.

Fleetwood Mac co-founder and influential blues rock guitarist Peter Green has died at the age of 73, his family’s legal representatives confirmed on Saturday.

The English singer-songwriter and guitarist, from Bethnal Green in East London, formed Fleetwood Mac with drummer Mick Fleetwood in 1967.

In 1965, Green filled in for Eric Clapton in the band John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers — in which Fleetwood played the drums. Two years later, Green and Fleetwood left the band to form Fleetwood Mac, later convincing Bluesbreakers bassist John McVie to join them. 

Green wrote some of the band’s most notable hits, including “Albatross,” “Black Woman Magic,” and “Man of the World.”

He left the band in 1970, after it had released three albums. Fleetwood Mac eventually expanded to include Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and others.

Green and the other members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Fleetwood posted a tribute to Green on Facebook on Saturday, calling his former bandmate “my dearest friend.”