Peter Green, the guitarist who founded Fleetwood Mac and was regarded as the foremost white blues guitarist of his generation has died. In 1969 his band sold more albums than the Beatles and the Stones combined, and in its first three years the group’s best-known hits were all written by Green. Then constant LSD trips turned him into an acid casualty and for 25 years Green drifted in and out of psychiatric hospitals, being treated for drug-induced schizophrenia, and outside, living destitute at times and surviving in menial jobs. He surfaced again in the mid-1990s, threw away his anti-psychotic medication and put a new band together. But the LSD had permanently damaged his mind and mood and after a few years he disappeared again.
He was born 29 October 1946 9.59pm London and had a packed 4th house with Neptune in Libra, Sun Jupiter conjunct in Scorpio and Mercury Mars conjunct also in Scorpio – private, self-protective, mega-intense. He also had the heavyweight and depressive Saturn Pluto in Leo in his 1st square his Jupiter Sun which would give him highs and lows of mood swings. His Moon in Sagittarius was in his performing 5th opposition Uranus and he also had Venus in his 5th.
It’s a curious chart with six out of the ten planets in Fixed signs and three Mutable – so he’d be contradictory and erratic, rooted and stuck at times and a wild free spirit at others. And with no Earth planets he’d be out of touch with his body and physical needs, presumably assuming it didn’t matter what drugs he threw in to his system.
When he melted down in 1970 tr Saturn was then moving through his 10th house which can be a time – for some – when chickens come home to roost rather than being successful. More significantly perhaps tr Uranus was moving across his IC upending his life from the foundations. And tr Pluto was midway through a phase of colliding with his Uranus opposition Moon – so he’d be emotionally all over the place. When he re-emerged 25 years later tr Saturn was almost a cycle further on, heading for his 10th house.
His talented and creative 5th Harmonic was strongly aspected; as was his self-defeating, rise-and-fall 10H; and his leaving-a-legacy 17H. A tragic waste.
Seeing him live at the Marquee twice, he had a messianic hold over you. With a wink, his roadie asked me back stage on two occasions. Regret that I didn’t, just too young. Then at Hyde Park, he was a very beautiful & powerful force
This is the difficulty with some very talented young men, we see their creativity briefly and than mental illness takes them in their early twenties.
The electroshock therapy was probably far more detrimental than the Acid
ECT was incredibly brutal back in the 1970s.
When I saw Peter, he was a shuffling ghost of a man. Poor chap.
I once saw Peter in Richmond High Street in the early 1980s, and he was reduced to being
an ill-dressed derelict, muttering to himself. It was heartbreaking to witness such a great
talent broken by drug abuse and long term schizophrenia.
The same lethal combination also destroyed Syd Barrett eventually.
It was heartening to learn with the help of friends, Peter managed to regain some kind of
stability in his life but he was never the same again.
For me, “Man Of The World” captures him at his most creative and his most forlorn.
Only the similarly troubled Nick Drake matched that song with “River Man”, another study
in desolate beauty.
At the very peak of his powers, he was a magnificent guitarist.
That is how I shall remember him.
Thank you, Marjorie! Great insights. His level of talent was so amazing, one can only wonder what could have been if his mind hadn’t taken a journey it couldn’t return from.