The British blues boom of the 1960s owed everything to Black American musicians, but bands like the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones helped bring the music to a wider audience in the U.K. Some added a flashier edge to the sound. For ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, however, Peter Green captured the spirit of Chicago blues with an authenticity and economy of style that could have fooled listeners into thinking he was a native of the Windy City.
Green, who was born in London on this day in 1946, became a driving force behind Fleetwood Mac’s early success after leaving John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Mayall had even likened him to Eric Clapton during Green’s spell in the band.
Green is best known for songs such as the raucous blues rocker “Oh Well,” the darkly atmospheric “The Green Manalishi (with the Two Prong Crown)” and the dreamy instrumental “Albatross.” But for Gibbons, one less celebrated track stands out as an especially convincing demonstration of Green’s abilities.
“‘Stop Messin’ Round’ is as rock-solid a British take on down-home Chicago-style 12-bar blues as ever there was,” he once told Guitar World. “The six-string guitar work from Señor Green dispenses with frills and reminds me somewhat of the late, great Freddie King in terms of tone and approach.”
During his Fleetwood Mac years, Green played a 1959 Gibson Les Paul that has since become one of the most coveted instruments in guitar history. Now known as one of the Holy Grails of the electric guitar, it passed from Green to Gary Moore after Green’s struggles with drugs brought his time in the band to an end. After years away from the spotlight, Green eventually saw his former instrument become famous in its own right. Metallica’s Kirk Hammett is its third high-profile owner.
Dubbed Greeny, the guitar is renowned for its distinctive out-of-phase tone, a result of the unusual magnetic polarity of its neck pickup. Gibbons appreciates that character, too.
“Greeny took on a distinctive out-of-phase sound,” he says, “with that mysterious, magic something that deepened the undeniable appeal of the Fleetwood Mac sonic experience.”
But that tonal quirk isn’t what makes “Stop Messin’ Round” such a standout for Gibbons. He’s equally impressed by the song’s vocals, guitar playing and overall feel.
“Green’s stunning vocal and ferocious guitar work, the Fleetwood Mac studio thrust, [they] all have the kind of grit that makes the song as convincing as anything heard in Chicago’s Checkerboard or Pepper’s or Theresa’s back in the day,” Gibbons says. “It’s long been my go-to Peter Green exemplar. The feel is real and the playing is just what the material demands.”
Hammett has also helped extend Greeny’s legacy well beyond its original owner. The guitar regularly appears on Metallica’s stages, and he has shared it with a number of notable players. Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith, Al Di Meola and Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr are among those who have had the opportunity to play the storied Les Paul.
Even Joe Bonamassa, one of the world’s most avid guitar collectors, once passed up the opportunity to buy Greeny. He believes the instrument is in the right hands with Hammett.
