FLEETWOOD MAC: The Madness Of Peter Green (The Munich Story Explained)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- Peter Green left the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac following a visit to a German commune in Munich in 1970 that has been the subject of countless rumours, legends and myths. Join me to iron out exactly what happened, and why it led to Peter Green leaving the band.
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Many thanks, JH.
Spiking is one of the most heinous things anyone can do
It's a shame how people have made Owsley Stanley into this LSD demigod. LSD isn't for everyone, just like alcohol or weed, magic mushrooms or even chocolate ice cream. Not everyone should have everything. Acid is a powerful drug. It needs to be taken with the consent of the person about to have the trip.
I've been spiked a few times. In one town, where I used to play at multiple venues, one night where the crowd pressed right up to where I was set up to play, a guy in a wheelchair kept pestering me to let him sing during my breaks. Now I'm always wary of letting anybody up to sing at my gigs because I'm not a great singer by any stretch of the imagination . . and there's a better than even chance that the interloper would be better at it than I am. Add to that the sympathy quotient of a handicapped guy in a wheelchair, and I could easily lose my crowd for the evening, and even my future bookings in the case of an able-bodied singer usurping me. So, as politely as I knew how to be, I declined the guy's request to let him get up and use my gear during my breaks. That was the last night that I had my drink of water in a regular glass. It is my belief that someone, guess who the prime suspect was in my mind, dropped something in my drink. I remember feeling strange toward the end of my gig, and that night I pissed the bed! Now that reaction to whatever whoever had put in my water made it impossible for me to ever stay the night in that town again. Word would've spread to the other motel owners not to rent me a room for the night, and even though I paid the motel owner in cash, from my earnings the night before at the pub, the price he asked to replace the mattress, from the look in his eyes I knew he'd never forgive me. So from then on I had to drive the four hours to get there, set up and play the four hour gig, dismantle and load out again, and then drive the four hours to get back home. If I had another gig in that general area . . and Australia's a VERY big place . . I'd drive out of that town and sleep in my car at whatever truck stop I could find.
@@arthurblackhistoric toss pots they are. keep on keepin on
Those cults I hate those groups and they are everywhere in America. Had it been my friend or family member I may be still in prison to say. I walk in and you have spiked his drink. Yeah ! I would black right out. 😤
@@arthurblackhistoricwow! Yeah! I know it's tough I use to go with my buddy all over he's a prominent dj and when I didn't feel like going I would emphasize to watch yourself keep your drink where nobody can get to it if it gets away from you trash it. Get another.
I'm a recovering freelance pharmaceutical stuntman, and I've seen drugs destroy far more people than help them. If you're susceptible to it, then you're in trouble. I've seen people develop psychosis from speed, weed, and acid. It's pure luck that I'm not permanently altered, but when you're young, you think you're invincible, that nothing will happen, and it's only decades later when you look back and realise it. I enjoyed every stupid, hedonistic minute of it, but I escaped unscathed. I know people who are deeply messed up who didn't dive in with both feet like I did.
Doctors are the worst case for turning patients into zombies or making them suicidal. The other problem is people self medicating. The medical profession should be targeted before any war on drugs.
I smoked extra strong hydro weed 20 years ago and have suffered from clostiphobia ever since.
@@2porangi lol, there is no such thing. hydro is just plants grown with water as a substrate, as opposed to soil. the only differences are some cultivars have varying cannabinoid concentrations. the main factor in strength is the environment and the availability of nutrients. weed from the 70s is the same as today but over time we have picked out the most vigorous ones. you have more chance of alcohol being the issue
Good testimony this, thanks for sharing and Im glad you survived.
@@rubievale I too have seen "the needle and the damage done". And it's not just by way of the needle.
I'm glad you're making videos like this. I am a music teacher, and try to convince my young students why taking drugs is not going to help anyone be a better musician.
The drugs will help you into an early grave though. Ask the 27 club.
It helps some never play again.
But don't get all moralistic.
Pot has helped a million musicians.
Spiking with strong LSD is criminal.
Coleridge and Wordsworth wrote their classic works under the influence of laudanum. Get your facts right.
The Australian military has approved the use of MDMA to treat PTSD.
Get your facts right.
Micro dosing is helping countless people.
Back in the 50's controlled LSD use cured alcoholism. Couldn't have people stop drinking could we.
Get your facts straight.
Some people react badly to aspirin.
Get your facts straight.
What happened to Peter Green was an absolute tragedy.
32 here. I finally quit any substances (besides bud, legal state) just bc I got bored of it. Not even beer any more. In hind sight it's blatantly obvious, but got my pity party ass up and learned-
What we think the drugs are adding; it was already there.
We're just tricking ourselves, like fibbing children, that this "fun" thing will aide in it.
Shuuuuuut tf up lol i say to myself every day. Been a few months now. Longest time in bout 10 years.
I don't need a congrats. I'm just glad I am who I am and how I respond under the influence. Not many would have made it this far.
Man made poison.
Man-made poison.
THANK YOU for this. Most sources beat around the bush on this story, but you’ve really put in a simple message. This is extremely important and hit me very deeply. Thanks again
I love Peter Green and the music he gave us. A man of pure talent and those studio and live songs he did with them are hard to top.
I met Peter when we were both on Loose Ends on Radio 4. He was a sweet, gentle guy. BIll Drummond of the KLF was on the same show, we both got Peter's autograph. Thanks for another great video, always compelling.
Damn now there's a wild fucking combo, Peter Green and half of the KLF!!
I went through an LSD phase to in the early 1980s. To this day I believe you can trip 50 times and have a perfectly enlightened time. It only takes one time to accidentally take to much or get ahold of some bad acid. For around 3 years I took LSD occasionally. Then I had the most terrifying trip. It left me in a state I thought was permanent. For a week I couldn't get back to normal. My two friends who dropped cid with me had the same experience. I don't recommend anyone taking LSD even once. There's a 50/50 chance you'll stay tripping for the rest of your life. Example Syd Barrett, Peter Green
So true. Thank you for stating this.
50 50 chance? Sorry but that's utterly ridiculous.
@@joeshoe6184Yeh, it's obviously an off the cuff percentage. What would be a low enough percentage to risk the loss of your mind and life to risk it? You are gambling with your brain as collateral.
You are absolutely right. It breaks my heart when I think of the damage it caused to several of my friends.
Spot on. It's heinous that the Grateful Dead crew would spike drinks with LSD. They saw it as comedy. There's a story in Phil Lesh's book about them spiking bottles of Heineken for the security when they played in Germany. He thought it was funny that he saw a police officer with a pool of piss at his feet and scared out of his mind. There's major karmic retribution for these actions.
They had psychopaths in their "family"
@@davidcollin1436 I know that extremely well. My good friend Greg and a girl he was hanging out with were murdered in Ventura California at a Rainbow Family encampment at a park.
Timothy Leary is ultimately to blame.
@@rumpraisinhe was a government asset following others imo
They were different times if you were not there you could never understand..
My favourite era from Fleetwood Mac's career. I adore Peter Green and Danny Kirwan together and Jeremy Spencer is very talented, yet so underrated. Then Play On is one of my top favourite albums of all time. I'd also call it my favourite guitar album as it did make a very special impact on me when I was learning lead guitar. It was such a tragic shame through Peter's and Danny's mental health after the incident and their time with FM. Danny's being different to Peter's but it was still awful. Their signature, inspirational sounds of playing guitar still is mesmerising and always will be.
Even if you do take LSD illegally (not recommending it) you should at least know about it. Spiking people is disgusting. Period.
What effect did the electro shock therapy he was subjected to have on his condition? It arguably made things exponentially worse. Has there ever been any accountability or reckoning for the doctors (and the health system) who had him institutionalized and essentially ran experiments on him based on junk science that today we would consider abusive?
Electroconvulsive therapy is still usef and it is actually very effective for psychosis and depression that is refractory to medications. Today it's administered in multiple treatments at reduced voltage compared to decades ago. This drastically reduces the risk to memory and risk of inducing seizures.
Sure, it can be abused by unscrupulous psychiatrists who take a maximalist approach too quickly but that doesn't mean it isn't useful or practical when used correctly and on the right subset of patients.
CCHR is an organization that exposes psychiatric abuses like this.
@therach7841 False. Sad that you state it has such benefits. Study the Hippocratic Oath .
ECT fcuked me up in 1981. Never fully recovered from that evil shit
@madamkir It was the only thing that helped my auntie back in the 50s. They had tried everything else over a period of nearly two years to no avail. It was pretty much a last resort to help her especially as she had three little children .
She went on to live a remarkably healthy life both mentally and physically. She lived to the age of 87. As an aunt she was very much the one we went to with things you didn't want to talk about with your parents.
So it worked for her , she talked about it openly .
Great video as usual. Often bring up Peter's story on a Friday night down the pub. Generally no one is interested and just go back to discussing the footy but at least I try! Stellar video and well researched
A few similarities between Peter Green and Syd Barrett here. So creative, so fluid, so in the zone and so not needing LSD to open them up any more.
Yeah I agree
um, the English doctors also were inept at treating them.
Good Day. Excellent & Sad. So many "great ones" have come and gone. I was born in 1952, and lived a time of wonderful musical happenings. I started playing drums in 1963 and music has always been a central part of my life.
Thank You & Best Regards 🎶
Thanks James. This is the most insightful analysis of what happened to Peter that I've seen so far. For background, I turned 18 in in 1970, and being an aspiring Brit blues guitarist (still am) was a huge fan, had their first two albums. I had a similar experience with psychedelics after a horrendous trip almost destroyed my ego for a couple of years. Long story short, I made it out the other end, older and somewhat wiser. I dropped acid one more time after that just to see what would happen; maybe I wasn't that much wiser after all! Things to mention: I don't think you put enough emphasis on the part that money and success played. In my case, if I hadn't had to pull something together due to having to make some kind of living I'd have been on that same, long hard road downhill. Thanks again , Mark.
Amazing player. Amazing singer and songwriter. He wrote Green manalishi, rattlesnake shake, albatross, oh well...masterpieces.
I was playing in San Francisco 1966 to 69 acid was legal. People thought they could fly were jumping out of windows and there was all kinds of bad trips. This is I feel what happened to Peter Green absolutely one of the greatest blues guitar players ever and definitely the first in the UK. I spoke with jimmy page once and he had a great amount of respect for Peter green. His singing was also something that was spectacular complementing his musicality as a guitar player. I saw the band in maybe 67 at the shrine auditorium. It’s always been a heartbreaking Riddle what happened to Peter Green
It was the STP that was the culprit..
And LSD became a federally-prohibited, publicly-illegal Schedule I narcotic with no legitimate medical use or purpose according to the then-BNDD (future: DEA) in San Francisco & the rest of California, as well as the entirety of the United States, on 10/6/1966.
DEFINITELY STP.
LSD was made illegal in Califorin November of '66.
@@joeshoe6184October 66. I knew it was way before 1969 so I looked it up. Peter was not the first great blue's guitar player in the UK. Clapton preceded him in J Mayall & BB for one and he had been playing blues in the Yardbirds previously. He left when they wanted to go commercial. Not sure who would have been the first, but it definitely wasn't Peter.
I have always liked blues but never really found one band that I could listen too for hours on end. This was until I recently stumbled upon the earliest Fleetwood Mac albums on Spotify. Absolutely incredible.
Always be humble and grateful ❤
Thank you for telling this story. It needs to be told over and over again. Peter Green was absolutely one of the best guitar players ever. And then it all was interrupted.
Peter Green had such perfect tone and was a brilliant song writer
Great video as a young kid learning to play guitar I loved Peter green. I still think he is one of the most soulful guitar players I’ve heard. I romanticised the drug side of the band but as I got older I realised creativity has nothing to do with drugs. Living clean and facing your own problems and enjoying the act of creation is the best place. The great work Peter green did was there regardless of the drugs. The thing that was magic was him expressing himself so well through his guitar and voice.
I grew up in the SF Bay area in the 70s, you need your head to be in a good place before dropping acid.
Wow, I always enjoy your content but this one was something else. I play guitar and sing in a blues band. Peter Green has been a prime influence for me. I could'nt help but feel sad and emotional about this episode. Peter really was the man of the world.
Keep up the great work James, many thanks.
Great video. These stories are always so sad and too common from this era, Skip Spence. Roky Erikson and, of course, Syd Barrett
I will always remember going camping with my mates back in the late 90s with my ghetto blaster listening to albatross. Great times.
MK Ultra-esque, they sure destroyed that people's movement with those chems.
Highly placed Bavarians, stately homes, cults and military/secret service grade drugs… sounds likely.
I’ve started to lean toward the Mk ultra hypothesis is recent times as well.
Check out the book weird scenes in the canyon, goes in depth on the MK Ultra stuff going on in the LA scene in the 60s hugely eye opening with so much facts backed up, a lot of weird cult stuff going on surrounding bands in the 60s and 70s, Bowie had a similar experience with these kinds of people
@@simonwebster1148Excellent book! The Bavaria/Nazi connection is very real. I’m sure James will eventually debunk it.. not the first time I’ve had a comment on one of his videos removed after touching on these kind of topics.
@@ianlewis777 yeah that book blew my mind right open, can’t see how any one could deny all the connections after reading it, there’s no getting out the rabbit hole after that. You may be interested in listening to this guy Thomas Sheridan talking about the music scene back then where he makes a link that the process church of the final Judgement may have been/still are doing things around bands and artists th-cam.com/video/DRVlWyDKrYg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Ioh1fbJKQqgwzsqr
Had the pleasure of seeing Peter in the lakes playing live thanks to good mates getting me a ticket
My god wtf was Peter given in Munich.
One of the best gigs I've seen no wonder people feel robbed of such a guitarist
Depends on the dosage .I took my first and only microdot and it was so strong I j shut down internally and no memory at all of what was going on for about 5 hrs then I started to come back and was so disappointed I couldnt recall anything.Luckily the friends I was with steered and directed me in the right direction otherwise anything could have happened.I would do it again but the rule of thumb is take less as you can always take more but if you take too much you cant take less and may well regret it.Agreed ; spiking is a terrible trick to play on anyone.
RIP Peter Green
I think Peter Green had the genes for schizophrenia, the drugs just flicked those genes on like a switch. Anyone can succumb to drug induced psychosis but the majority with the correct care and environment come back down to earth. I think too much emphasis is put on the Munich incident, often by the band. Everybody in the group was great in their own right but, Peter was the 'golden goose' i think the emphasis on Munich is to kinda absolve their guilt of not seeing Peter's problems sooner and sending him home to rest and recuperate. That being said he was his own man and probably couldnt have been told otherwise.
One of the only sensible takes I've read in these comments
@SpartanDragonDXD I love him and it genuinely saddens me when I think of the downward trajectory he took after shining so brightly ....but every member of the band has a different account of what went down and it kinda reeks of 'pouring it on a bit too thick'. Just my two cents
Same unfortunately occured with Syd Barrett .
@ralphjones9903 prior to acid and a life in music, Syd as a teen was talking about being able to telepathically communicate with aliens. So yeah the seeds where already there and drugs and a lifestyle made it come to life
You might be right. Just like Brian Wilson, and Sid Barrett.
Peter Green has, and always will be one of the greatest guitarists this country has ever produced. His effortless vibrato, the slides, the note choices, everything about his playing was magnificent. And Oh Well Part two is just off the scale for me, so personal, so bluesy, so painful also. Doesn't Kirk Hammett have Peter's famous Les Paul with the inverted neck humbucker?
He sold his Les Paul to Gary Moore around 1972. Gary played it until he sold it in 2006, due to financial difficulties. A few dealers had the guitar until Hammett bought it from a dealer in 2014.
I totally agree with what you say about drugs pushing someone past the point of madness. We grew up in the 90s, past the days of LSD but mushrooms were very popular. I had a cousin who grew them, and his were the absolute best. I'd get them for everyone in my school, and eventually stopped when I'd see some kids having almost permanent effects. I'm sober 5yrs now, but between weed and mushrooms, years of coke and heroin plus whatever pills, I only now feel like I'm starting to return to my normal self.
11/10 I worked in addiction services as a volunteer. Long term drug abuse can begin as a kind of self medication to escape the trauma of being raised in a hostile environment, but it all comes at a price and with a sting in the tail. One of the things you see is grown adults acting like teenagers. The drugs destroy their inhibitions and they don't know the difference between what's safe or dangerous, help or harm or being in or out of trouble. They don't do it deliberately or with any malice, they just walk blindly into situations others would avoid or safeguard themselves against. They don't mean to cause harm but they're drawn to it like a magnet, because of the damage the drugs have done to their minds.
I don't think it's creative at all. It's destructive. I play the guitar a bit. I tried to get a wee band going with them. Me and just one of them did one gig. The rest of them were out of it. If there was the least way to screw up they found it. But we had a good recovery rate and about 60% became drug free after a year or two.
Great video, so well put together and with an absolutely spot-on assessment of the dangers of LSD outside clinical settings
Did the scary Peter Green lsd recordings ever get released?
I believe ‘I got a mind to give up living’ was the last recorded song prior to the psych ward
Excellent documentary , thanks, so sad, i always wondered what happened.
spiking someone with an hallucinogen is a terrible prank and can be quite harmful. that's how 3 of the beatles first experienced Lsd. they were at a dinner party at their dentist's home and he put it in their coffee. but in my experience (and the beatles') most people who voluntarily take Lsd have a wondrous & harmless experience. not that i still do it- that was the '60's...
Thanks for doing this video. Really great message here.
The part from 17:10 onwards reminds me of John Frusciante's solo work during his heroin addiction - he was convinced it was beautiful, spiritual music and whilst there are parts that are intriguing musically, it does sound like a mental breakdown put onto tape.
Interesting, something that PG would never really admit, but what I had long suspected is that he was a frequent user of LSD, as opposed to what he said about taking it 6-7 times.
You do realize that when they’re talking about a 2nd person at the party locked in a trip with PG and also severely mentally damaged thereafter, they’re not talking about Dennis Keane, they’re talking about Danny Kirwan, the other Guitar player.
In the same way as Jimi Hendrix and countless others, the Industry fucked them over, they needed a long break with no drugs and good people around them, unfortunately, they never got that chance.
Yeah there seems to be a constant mix up over who was actually there, but the vast majority of people seem to say it was Peter and Dennis not Peter and Danny, so I have assumed people have got Dennis mixed up with Danny in certain places
Very well presented and just so sad.
I recall watching the BBC4 doc that featured this Munich incident. That, after watching your superb video was just a fraction of the story. Thank you for making this and, again painting the FULL picture. 👍👍
You're right James, someone with an already fragile sense of self being spiked is the worst thing that could've happened. Jim Morrison was another who nonchalantly experimented with LSD and I think never recovered.
LSD didn't affect Jim Morrison like it did Peter Green, Syd Barrett, and Brian Wilson. He never went into constant freak out mode, or had mental problems becauseof it. Alcohol was what got Jim in trouble, and caused him to do stupid stuff. But Jim remained perfectly aware, intelligent, and alert up until his death.
It's conjecture. He had mental problems either way.
@@Iondeen I've never heard a single person say, or even hint that Jim had mental problems. None of the doors, friends of Jim, nor any of the biographers ever mentioned anything about him having mental problems. You're the only person I've ever heard even bring it up. Did he do crazy stuff while drunk? Yes, but everyone that drinks does crazy things. Jim didn't have mental problems. If someone were to make a diagnosis from watching the doors movie they might come to that conclusion, but the movie wasn't an accurate portrayal of Jim. Ray Manzarek said he wouldn't have hung out with the Jim in that movie.
@@michaelharrington75 There's countless examples of his core instability
The book 'Fleetwood' covers this era of the band. Cults, LSD, and mental illness was suddenly a staple issue for the band for a few years. Its a miracle they endured long enough as a band to hire Lindsay and Stevie.
I saw PG in Birmingham, England, in the early 90's, with the late Cozy Powell on the drums, at Ronny Scotts. It blew my mind. The skill of PG and the relentlessness of CP, and I do remember the base player, also relentless. It is a kodak moment for me
Green and Clapton, in that order, are, IMHO, the 2 most important Rock/Blues guitarists to study for how to create melodic solo "phrasing". They took BB Kings' style to another level. Such a shame we didn't get 50 more years of that "Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac".
This post directed to me by YT algorithm. I'd heard the story, but this exploration was interesting. I believe that the spiking may have been STP - but it doesn't really matter. The similarity to Brian Wilson is well made. Peter was obviously away in his own world for a very long time. His Splinter Group stuff is still so good - his Robert Johnson covers are excellent. Regards to all.
It’s funny that you would mention STP. I had a close friend who was given STP at an Emerson, Lake and Palmer concert and she wound up permanently psychotic.
@@RickCarter-o7w Yes - Being an oldie, I was a young man in 1974. During the Spring of that year, STP spiked Columbian appeared in London and wreaked havoc. Ridiculously powerful stuff - think Carlos Castenada (Now there's a blast from the past).
He really was the best of the best, such a sad story.
Great post James thank you 👍
Glad you enjoyed it
Great details and solid delivery, Mr. Hargreaves. Consider me a new subscriber. Cheers!
Thanks and welcome
He was such an awesome guy in such an awesome personality it's a shame that what happened to that happen to him
I grew up in the sixties as was a real fan of British rock music. I thought that the Peter Green version of Fleetwood Mac was the best version. Unfortunately, I spent a few wasted years using various hallucinogenics including LSD 25. After a very bad trip I realized that it was a bad drug. I mean an evil drug. I lost a number of friends who, like Peter, never came back. Whenever I hear the psychological world talking about the possibilities of using it for therapeutic treatment it saddens my heart.
A friend of my used it once. He told me the same things, and years later he still got flashbacks. The Drug was a experiment from the government.
I really loved Peter. Green's muic and while searching for "Oh well", I ran across this video and the words "Owsley Stanley... the sound engineer of the Greatful Dead" jumped out at me.
In 1968, my best friend from high school who I hadn't seen since I had moved away two years before after my sophomore year of high school... by chance had a happy reunion at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. He was dealing a bit and he fronted me the best 4-way LSD tablets and hashish. It was far better than anything I had or any of my friends that had before or after. The LSD was incredible beyond description and I was told that it was "White Owsley" made by the chemist for the Grateful Dead. We did some of it together and we wound up at a bizarre high School graduation pool party at my friend's house who is the class president... and later also the Glass View diner.The first experience was amazingly, but the repetition burried me. I apparently did too much of it and I lost my way. I don't know if my severe childhood ADHD and dyslexia had something to do with it but I became perma-spaced and got so wrecked at a party that I wound up at a bizarre commune where I lived for several years. I lost touch with reality so badly that I could not understand what people were saying to me. I also couldn't keep track of what I was saying to other people. I was also suffering a major broken heart at the end of my first true love. In everyday conversations, I would nod my head affirmatively like I understood...but when people realized that I didn't, they would lose patience and walk away. It was terrifying to be trapped inside my incapacitation for 3 or 4 years till I began to come out of it. I wanted to die but I couldn't force myself to do that. It probably took another several decades to recover.
I still owe my best friend the money. There are a few mistakes in life that I really regretted and revisited in my thoughts hundreds of times that I still feel awful beyond description about....that I never paid my friend and I lost touch with him are among them.
Thank you for this, Green is right behind Syd Barrett as one of my favorite guitarist and tragic what-could-have-been figures. I actually really enjoy his instrumental END OF THE GAME album which he made after he left FLEETWOOD MAC, It's fascinating he joined the MAC for a little your of the States 1971 as an emergency replacement for Jeremy Spencer.
Although less known this could also be about Skip Spence of Moby Grape.
I Prayed during this. Really he comes for himself and moved away from it. I hope he found himself and God collected him.
I was lucky to see Peter Green live with band in Melbourne 14 years ago.I recorded the whole concert and is available on you tube. It was great evening .Day before in the same place played John Mayall, shaked his hand and get autograph on his CD.After "In the Sky" and "Little Dreamer" I waited with hope for some new music from him. Sad that his life gone so wrong.
I came of age in the 1970's and 80's Unlike my friends and peers, I always avoided LSD use. I knew a once talented musician in the 70's who went on a 6 month road tour with his rock band. After an hardcore LSD incident in Los Angeles California he returned home a completely changed person. You could tell, just driving by him on the roadside, eyes looking like pool Cue-balls . all he did was just walk aimlessly down the road. sometimes in his retro 70's rock star clothes back in the 1980's and 90's. He was diagnosed as schitzofrenic. very tragic.
Very well done and important video. Drugs, sex, and rock and roll has been a mantra for decades, half a century or more. But, there are casualties of war. A life without drugs and alcohol, in balance, and with a strong God connection, is the key to positive creativity without losing yourself or your soul. Avoid drugs and cults. Manson and his family destroyed the Laurel Canyon scene and all its creativity. Some survived and thrived, but some did not.
My brother was forever mentally ill from alcohol and drugs. He never had a happy life, he was my only sibling, and I am heartbroken, a brilliant life destroyed and wasted. My heart will always be sad of a brother lost! Ut I believe God takes care of those who once knew him and then their minds are forver damaged and Lord only knows if I am right on that!? 🙏🏻
Man, what a crying shame. My wife had a great uncle who passed several years ago. He was a casualty of LSD. He was a bright young man who ended up with the mental capacity of a young child, who could not hold a coherent conversation and had no idea what was going on around him. He had to live with his parents until they passed, then was at a mental health facility for the rest of his life as he was left unable to care for himself. He was brought to a couple family gatherings, people were happy to see him, but then grew uncomfortable around him pretty quickly. He just was not really there. Sad to say, but the family was almost relieved when he passed.
I experimented with LSD starting in 1966. My first trip took place at a most unopportune time, at least for me. I took it with a friend during a teen demonstration in front of the "Pandora's Box" nightclub on the Sunset Strip in LA, the same protest that the Buffalo Springfield wrote a song about called, "For What It's Worth" (remember the verse, "Some people carryin' signs mostly saying hooray for our side"?? One of them was me).
When a bunch of us were rounded up by the riot police for being out after 10PM while under the age of 18, I found myself being interrogated by an overly zealous LA County Sheriff Department leiutenant while hallucinating on my very first trip, but luckily he just thought my extreme nervousness was just because I was 16 and in a police station, but I will never, ever forget the singular insanity of that horrible hour of terror and fear. After that, several of my school chums started taking acid, and a few flipped out and were never the same, especially my best friend. After a few bad trips he totally changed and was never the same again. He started acting strangely, never left his apartment, and I never saw him again. So when I heard about Peter Green, I knew exactly what had happened to him in an instant. LSD when used intelligently was an amazing drug, but when used improperly, and especially during a difficult emotional time, can lead to permanent personality changes, as so obviously seen in the tragedy of one of the greatest blues guitarists who ever lived. I only hope he eventually grew out of the mental damage that this experience had caused him.
I loved listening to Peter Green and Danny Kirwin's guitars with that first Fleetwood Mac iteration. So sad to have lost them through those years.
Among the hundreds of people I know have done plenty of lsd I've known no one that suffered permanent trauma from LSD. A bad trip can be quite dangerous but they pass.
Truth
I did acid a bunch in the 70s but spiking is a criminal offence.
If a person wants to use any drug, that is their choice, but dosing someone without their knowledge is assault. I’ve never used drugs, my grandmother was an addict and it frightened me and my brother away from drugs except alcohol, which I walked away from 14 years ago. Dosing someone is playing Russian roulette with another person’s psyche, and no one has the right to do that.
I have C-PTSD and ive always been an open minded creative person
Lsd has always been great for me.
Its like anything from coffee to heroin, some people can't take any some people can have it everyday for years.
Survivorship bias also plays a lot in to peoples minds when considering trying drugs recreational or otherwise
Well Pete wasn't wrong when he said : "Money is the problem ", ... of course the others were pissed, Pete wrote the genious songs and was the star ....
Poor Syd comes to mind..
This is just sad. I loved Peter Green's guitar work. Perversely I suppose, I absolutely loved Green Manalishi.
LSD is so dangerous, a schedule 1 substance since 1968; no one can know how the drug will effect any one person, they can only guess ('predict'?). It is not even known exactly how this stuff "works it's magic"...anyone spiking a drink, etc. with LSD to give to someone else, is just so whacked!! I purely love the music PG gave us, I ditto the comment B.B, King made of the great "Green Machine"... "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." RIP Peter Green!
Hallucinogenic substances can be very good. They should be used carefully, not abused. And no matter how great you think they are you should NEVER give them to someone without their knowledge.
If taken in the right settings and with experienced, good people around, a Trip can be a highly enlightening, spiritual experience.
His son interviewed the guy (John Lennon clone guy with glasses in the photo) he said only Peter and the roadie was only at the tripping place !And his son be lives him over the band
I drive by that mansion on my way to work and always think about Peter Green when I look at it.
Poor guy.
I have a friend with serious mental health issues and it’s devastating and very sad.
The unexpected beneficiary of all this was Gary Moore who ended up with Peters '59 Burst for practically free.
Love early Fleetwood Mac, sad to hear the more in depth explanation of Peter's crisis.
However with respect to LSD.... quality, quantity, attitude, and environment are major factors in how the trip goes down. It's not a party drug, more like a mirror to your inner self, I've also found the beauty of nature overwhelming when on it ...., I consider it spiritual. Haven't done it for many years but the insights still ring true. If you do it, treat it with respect, it's doesn't make you more creative, it will open your perspective, or at least it did mine.
Spiking is poisoning and a crime....very bad karma.
What a waste. All that talent wasted. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, You got more information outin 30 mins than all the other docs out there, even a pic of the weird Germans. I guess the other docs go on to long about the green dog dream and you have focused on the people and situations. Then the interview of Peter at the end was very cool. Its great to see He got to enjoy music again before he passed. He was right though, then world was full of starving people back then and I think he said what he makes from one show could feed village and Ive heard he fed alot of people
Interesting theory about the difference in the effect of LSD on highly creatives vs most other folks.
Hi James, great documentary. I would love to see you dive into Brian Wilson’s relationship with Dr Eugene Landy and how that changed him mentally and physically over the years as well as his relationship with members of the beach boys. It’s such a fascinating story that I would love to hear you talk about. Thanks.
James can you make oasis iceberg explained, i found that iceberg in reddit forum.
Great guitarist, pity about his downfall.
Went to a number of rock venues in Munich in 1970.All the bands at the top of the heap performed there and other German cities.Drugs of all types were everywhere and very affordable.Owsley’s laboratory acid was very clean and in high demand.Purple and green were common colors,one was 300mic and the other 500mic.
Original Mac is best Mac. By far.
I saw them live in June 1968 in San Francisco at the West Coast Fillmore. Alvin Lee's Ten Years After was on the bill that night too. I had never heard of wither of them.
Very well documented ❤
a beautiful soul who could not handle fame and success
San Francisco is great, there are so many great people down there. But there are so many, you know, bums, too, spoiling the great idea. It’s lovely but it’s going bad because a lot of people there believe the answer is to take drugs and drop out. And they drop out on to the pavement, hoping God’s going to manifest himself and take them off with him. Well, he’s not. That’s not being hip. Anything further from hip, in fact, I’ve never seen, because they’re just fooling themselves. I mean, even if they just worked chopping wood, they’re nearer to God than by dropping on to the pavement. You don’t need drugs, you see. The first trip you see that you don’t need acid. At least, that’s how it was with me. There’s high, and there’s high, and to get really high - I mean, so high that you can walk on the water, that high - that’s where I’m going. The answer isn’t pot and it isn’t acid. It’s yoga and meditation and working and discipline, working out your karma.
- George Harrison
Amazingly talented guitarist.
Mental illness can be triggered by drug use, but the underlying propensity is there regardless of drug use.
I agree with much of your assessment, but I would suggest that neither Green, Barrett or Wilson were victims - other than perhaps being victims of the time, their own youth and perhaps their genes and unique brain chemistry. A few spiking incidents aside, they made choices that others around them did not. All three are certainly tragedies, but as Storm Thurgeson said, we always to shift blame from our very human heroes to others.
Jeez!! Sounds exactly what happened to Syd Barrett 😮
I would love to hear that music though
The story the roadie gave about him getting “spiked” and then the nurse giving him a bunch of glasses of orange juice seems suspicious. Citrus juice makes the effects of LSD more intense.
I always thought Danny Kirwan was with Green at the Munich Incident.
The people is that mansion had no bad intent, they were just too much over the top in all regards. This was the commune no 1, still famous today. The guys Peter played with were mostly the members of the band Amon Düül. I believe it was the "standard stuf, but really too much of it.
But yeah, this is really tragic by all accounts and spiking someone is defenitly a "no go". This stuff can screw up your mind in a wink of an eye...
Mick Fleetwood ended up donating his profits to the coke on the cane. Luckily for him the band under the yanks has had longevity keeping the royalties coming in.
Drugs affect people differently according to their body, mindset and personality. A friend of mine took acid many years ago and went fully schizophrenic as a result. I suspect Peter and Danny Kirwan were deeply affected as well.