Quote:
Originally Posted by mzero
i agree completely w/ wouter on this. the idea that fleetwood mac would have been as successful and influential as led zep is a crazy dream of mick fleetwood's. if pete had stayed its likely they would have made records that resembled end of the game more than then play on. then play on was mighty strange already - rattlesnake shake being an exception rather than representative.
it couldn't have happened that way and it wasn't meant to be. zero
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I'm sorry, I'm a sucker for "what if" threads.
You, and Wouter are probably correct. It's always been a pipe dream that Peter would've stayed drugs, or not. He told Jeremy Spencer in 1967 that he gave the name of the band to Mick and John. Peter knew he was leaving eventually, for which had more in common with Eric Clapton, than Jimmy Page. The shame of it all is that Peter Green, and Danny Kirwan could've been a songwriting force. Peter was breaking away from the blues structure with "Then Play On". Danny was more a Brian Wilson/Lennon/McCartney songwriter, with a blues feel. They would've been perfect together. Wasn't there a British music paper interview in early 1970 that Peter claimed he and Danny had already written a lot of songs yet to be recorded? With Peter Green as the attraction, FM would not have gone underground for five years. Now on to reality:
The what if scenario that made Peter Green a guitar fan cult icon, instead of a household name was his timing in leaving. Had he stayed through the end of 1970, the Boston Tea Party shows would've been released through Warner Brothers with strong publicity. FM were supposed to do a four month U.S. summer tour beginning in June that would've expanded their audience beyond the hippie ballrooms. At least giving six more months of his time would've solidified Green's reputation as a guitarist alongside Duane Allman who died a year later. The U.S. audience didn't get the same exposure the U.K., and the rest of Europe had. At least Rick Vito saw Green in his prime the one time they played in Philadelphia.
Who knows, maybe one of the concerts that never took place would've been filmed by Bill Graham. Maybe they open for the Who at Tanglewood, MA 7/7/70, instead of Jethro Tull. The entire concert was filmed. Six more months, that's all they needed. People today would still be talking about the Boston Tea Party shows along with the Allmans at the Fillmore East.