Legendary guitarist, songwriter, and Fleetwood Mac co-founder sadly passed away “peacefully in his sleep” this weekend at 73 years old. Peter influenced countless musicians, many of whom have been paying tribute.

Stevie Nicks, who had been reviving “Black Magic Woman” on Fleetwood Mac’s recent tours, wrote, “I am sorry to hear about the passing of Peter Green. My biggest regret is that I never got to share the stage with him. I always hoped in my heart of hearts that that would happen. When I first listened to all the Fleetwood Mac records, I was very taken with his guitar playing. It was one of the reasons I was excited to join the band. His legacy will live on forever in the history books of Rock n Roll. It was in the beginning, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and I thank you, Peter Green, for that. You changed our lives.”

Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler wrote, “Sad to hear of Peter Green passing- one of the greats. RIP.”

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett — who currently owns Green’s ‘59 Les Paul, “Greenie” — wrote, “No words can describe how I feel right now. Peter Green lives on through his music and his instrument. Our loss is total. Peter Green, Rest In Peace my friend!!!”

Kirk also covered “The Green Manalishi” with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons at Mick Fleetwood’s all-star tribute concert earlier this year (which is getting released as a live album on October 19), and he did a new version of “Man of the World” for a not-yet-officially-announced Peter Green tribute album/book project. More info here.

Peter Frampton wrote, “Most sadly have lost one of the most tasteful guitar players ever I have always been a huge admirer of the great Peter Green may he rest in peace.”

Yusuf / Cat Stevens wrote, “God bless the ineffable Peter Green, one of the unsung heroes of musical integrity, innovation and spirit. When I heard he left Fleetwood Mac in 1970 to get a real life and donate his wealth to charity, he became something of a model for me.”

David Coverdale (of Deep Purple and Whitesnake) wrote, “An artist I truly loved & admired… from the first time I heard him… I supported the original Fleetwood Mac at Redcar Jazz Club when I was in a local band… he was a breathtaking singer, guitarist & composer… I know who I will be listening to today… RIP.” Whitesnake’s Bernie Marsden also paid tribute, posted a picture of himself with Green, and called him “my hero” (see below).

Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick writes, “Sad loss: Peter Allen Greenbaum, better known as Peter Green. After Eric Clapton left John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, he was brought in and had an equal impact on guitarists at the time. When studying the giants like Clapton and his own fellow Yardbirds alum Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, you find out that Green was a name (like Mike Bloomfield) less known than those guys to the general public today, but whom all of them appreciated. Songs originally written and recorded by Peter Green include Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” and Judas Priest’s “The Green Manalishi.” His ‘59 Les Paul found its way to one of his disciples, the late great Gary Moore (who would go on to name an album after him, “Blues for Greeny”) , and is currently being well cared for by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. RIP Peter Green.”

Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett wrote, “Shocked to hear about Peter Green’s death. He was an extraordinary guitarist and a great influence.”

Steve Hackett’s former Genesis bandmate Peter Gabriel wrote, “Another great loss. Just learned of Peter Green’s death. He was my favourite of all the amazing guitarists that came through the John Mayall blues school. His sweet & sad touch was unique & his writing full of an extraordinary & soulful inventiveness.”

Kiss’ Paul Stanley wrote, “RIP Peter Green. One of the absolute hierarchy of the original British Blues Greats. Clapton, Page, Beck and Green.” Gene Simmons added, “Rest In Peace, Peter Green, CO-Founder of the original blues based Fleetwood Mac – Listen!!!”

Robyn Hitchcock wrote, “I mourn the passing and celebrate the life of Peter Green. Alumnus of John Mayall, founder of Fleetwood Mac, Green took blues guitar out of the fire and into the opaque depths of the soul. Thank you for your work, Peter – travel on.”

Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band wrote, “RIP Peter Green. One of the great guitar players of all time. The second of the three legends John Mayall featured in the Bluesbreakers. He somehow managed to follow Eric Clapton at his peak. That’s how good he was. (Mick Taylor would follow him). Started Fleetwood Mac. Big loss.”

Billy Idol wrote, “RIP Peter Green. Amazing ‘60s guitarist – BB King said out of all the British blues guitar players of the ’60s and early ’70s he was the only one who gave him chills! Praise indeed.”

Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos wrote, “Peter Green was one of my biggest inspirations when I first started playing guitar. I love the way he played and I probably play guitar now because I wanted to be like him.”

Annie Lennox of Eurythmics wrote, “Peter Green, composer of the most incredibly beautiful haunting songs has passed on from this world. He couldn’t handle the intensity of the music industry & left the band before they rocketed to global super stardom. What a beautiful legacy of songs he’s left behind.. RIP sir.”

The Pop Group’s Mark Stewart wrote, “Thank you to the unbound spirit of the incomparable Peter Green.”

Fellow Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood said in a statement to Rolling Stone, “For me, and every past and present member of Fleetwood Mac, losing Peter Green is monumental! Peter was the man who started the band Fleetwood Mac along with myself, John McVie, and Jeremy Spencer. No one has ever stepped into the ranks of Fleetwood Mac without a reverence for Peter Green and his talent, and to the fact that music should shine bright and always be delivered with uncompromising passion!!!” He also added, “Peter, I will miss you, but rest easy your music lives on. I thank you for asking me to be your drummer all those years ago. We did good, and trailblazed one hell of a musical road for so many to enjoy. God speed to you, my dearest friend.”

Tributes have also come in from Blur’s Graham Coxon, The Smiths’ Johnny Marr, Jason Isbell, The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, Taj Mahal, The Minus 5’s Scott McCaughey, Marc Maron, Ryley Walker, The Auteurs & Black Box Recordor’s Luke Haines, Primal Scream’s Simone Butler, Sleaford Mods, Guided by Voices & Nada Surf’s Doug Gillard, HEALTH, Field Music, and other musicians and members of the music and entertainment worlds. See below…

https://twitter.com/AnnieLennox/status/1287348357653037057

https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/1287066382593662976

https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/1287120908444938243

https://twitter.com/ScottMcMinus5/status/1287071444870938625

https://twitter.com/marcmaron/status/1287063800781213696

https://twitter.com/ryleywalker/status/1287065519179411456

https://twitter.com/MrWinMarshall/status/1287063057135525888

https://twitter.com/WEarlBrown/status/1287070996726345728

https://twitter.com/amoebamusic/status/1287098494906273794?s=21

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16 Essential Early Fleetwood Mac Songs

“Black Magic Woman” (1968)

The roots of this Peter Green-penned song date back to Green's "I Loved Another Woman" from the band's 1968 self-titled album, which has a similar song structure and melody, but a few months later Green fleshed it out, added in a hint of psychedelia and a slight Latin twist, and turned it from a traditional blues vamp into a timeless classic. It was released as a single and appeared on some comps the next year, but a lot of people first heard this song when Latin psychedelic rockers Santana turned it into a hit with their 1970 cover, which Peter green approved of, as evidenced when he performed the song with Santana at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Santana breathes new life into the song, but the original still stands tall. It proved how quickly Green was progressing as a songwriter from the traditional blues he had been writing just months earlier, and it remains a gem of the original psychedelic rock era.

“Albatross” (1968)

Fleetwood Mac's first chart-topping hit was, surprisingly, an instrumental. Peter Green didn't want Fleetwood Mac to be pigeonholed as a blues band, and only months after "Black Magic Woman," Green took their sound in a drastically more exploratory direction on this psychedelic, meditative single. It was the band's first recording with new guitarist Danny Kirwan, whose vibrato-ing style provided a nice complement to Green's fiery playing, and their guitars intertwine beautifully on this song. It is said to have directly inspired The Beatles' "Sun King" from Abbey Road and to have greatly inspired David Gilmour's guitar playing in Pink Floyd, and the influence didn't stop there. Comparatively modern guitar heroes Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) covered it together for the 2012 tribute album Just Tell Me That You Want Me, and it's not hard to see why those two musicians would pick this one.

“Man of the World” (1969)

As Peter Green continued to push past the barriers of blues rock (and continued to take more LSD), he began developing a knack for melancholic, psychedelic folk that he first perfected on the 1969 single "Man of the World." It's hard not to draw parallels between Peter Green and Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett (another reclusive psychedelic mastermind behind a late '60s UK rock band that got much more famous in the '70s without him), and those parallels are even more obvious on introspective songs like "Man of the World." Peter sings somberly about loneliness and depression and the instrumental backdrop is about as hushed and bare-bones as Fleetwood Mac got at that point. It's a heartbreaking masterpiece.

“Coming Your Way” (1969)

Peter Green's growing interest in psychedelia and folk music and the increased singing and songwriting input from Danny Kirwan -- whose contributions were praised and encouraged by Peter -- led to Fleetwood Mac's third full-length and first timeless album, Then Play On. It's a masterpiece that blends blues, rock, psychedelia, folk, flamenco, classical, and more (and has stunning artwork), and it's as essential as anything Fleetwood Mac released in the Buckingham/Nicks era but for entirely different reasons. "Coming Your Way," the Kirwan composition that opens the album, sets the tone for it perfectly. The song uses blues rock as a starting point, but it goes in all kinds of other directions from there. Kirwan and Green's guitars are in constant conversation with each other, Mick Fleetwood's polyrhythmic percussion livens things up and never relies on a traditional blues beat, and the song eventually evolves into a doomy coda that qualifies as proto-metal. It's a leap from anything Fleetwood Mac had released before it, and once hard rock and progressive rock became popular in the 1970s, this song would prove to be ahead of its time.

“Closing My Eyes” (1969)

Going further in the direction of "Man of the World," Peter Green contributed this lonely, sorrowful, psychedelic folk song to Then Play On. He's frequently celebrated as a guitarist, but it's songs like this that really show how innovative of a songwriter he was, and how much untapped potential he had in this realm. His debut solo album, 1970's The End of the Game, is a jammy, psychedelic, instrumental album, but had he instead chosen to release a singer/songwriter album, we'd be talking about Peter Green the way we talk about Nick Drake and Vashti Bunyan. This song proves it.

“When You Say” (1969)

Peter Green wasn't the only Fleetwood Mac member developing an ahead-of-his-time psychedelic folk songwriting style on Then Play On. Danny Kirwan was emerging as a crucial contributor in that same department, as evidenced by such songs as "Although the Sun Is Shining" and "When You Say." The latter is a hauntingly beautiful song that helped introduce vocal harmonies to Fleetwood Mac, and which gained the approval of Christine Perfect -- later known as Christine McVie -- who was a Fleetwood Mac contributor at the time, soon to be an official member, and who did her own great version of this song on her debut 1970 solo album.

“Oh Well” (1969)

There are a lot of great songs on Then Play On, but its crowning achievement was a song that was initially left off the album but then added to revised versions after becoming a successful non-album single, "Oh Well." It's an eight-minute song made up of two parts, and it's Peter Green's masterpiece. Almost every side of his songwriting was represented on this song and then some: fiery blues riffs backed by Mick Fleetwwood's increasingly atypical drumming, somber folky passages, baroque pop instrumentation, flamenco-inspired guitar, and more, and it was all tied together by some of Green's most commanding singing and songwriting. It's clearly a huge inspiration on progressive rock, and it's as successfully ambitious as other 1969 triumphs like Abbey Road, Tommy, and In the Court of the Crimson King. The song unfortunately tends to overshadow much of Peter Green's other fantastic material, but that's bound to happen when a song is this close to perfect.

“The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)” (1970)

Fleetwood Mac hinted at a doomy direction towards the end of Then Play On opener "Coming Your Way," but they went full proto-metal on the last song Peter Green contributed to Fleetwood Mac before his departure, 1970's "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)." It became a popular song for Judas Priest years later and there are also well-known covers of it by Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity, and it's not hard to see why metal bands took to this one. It's as crucial to the development of heavy metal as anything Black Sabbath released that same year. It's as psychedelic and ahead-of-its-time as any of Green's best songs, but darker and heavier than all of them. Neither he nor Fleetwood Mac ever released anything quite like it ever again.

“Dragonfly” (1971)

As we all know, Fleetwood Mac eventually recovered from Peter Green's departure, but it didn't happen quickly or immediately. Their first album without him, 1970's Kiln House, saw the return of early guitarist/vocalist/pianist Jeremy Spencer (who was on Fleetwood Mac's first two albums but sat out of much of Then Play On and other singles from the era), and Spencer's Kiln House contributions were often 1950s parodies that sounded regressive compared to the forward-thinking Then Play On. Danny Kirwan's contributions underwhelmed compared to the music he had written for Then Play On, but he would get his groove back on the 1971 single "Dragonfly," which sounded like the true successor to his Then Play On contributions and which Peter Green is said to have called "the best thing [Kirwan] ever wrote." It's right up there with "When You Say" and "Although the Sun Is Shining" as a hazy, hypnotic, psychedelic folk song and it's a shame that it became such an obscurity. (It's currently not on streaming services, but the upcoming Fleetwood Mac: 1969 - 1974 will finally change that.) Kirwan, perhaps the most underrated member in Fleetwood Mac history, would prove to be the bridge between the Peter Green era and the poppier '70s era, though he'd part ways with the band before their massive breakthrough (and then led a good but often-ignored solo career). Many of the best early '70s Mac compositions were his.

“Woman of 1000 Years” (1971)

"Dragonfly" brings us to "Woman of 1000 Years," the Kirwan composition that opened 1971's Future Games, the first album to feature Christine McVie as an official member, first album to feature Bob Welch, and an improvement upon Kiln House in every way. With McVie, Welch, and Kirwan, Fleetwood Mac could now really start developing the harmony style that McVie, Buckingham, and Nicks would make famous, and that was heard right away on "Woman of 1000 Years." Like many of Kirwan's best songs, it's hazy psychedelic folk, with gentle acoustic guitar, barely-there production, and an ethereal atmosphere in the background. It's a progression from Then Play On but not yet in the California pop rock territory that Bob Welch would take Fleetwood Mac in. It's a gem.

“Sands of Time” (1971)

"Woman of 1000 Years" is one of two genuinely brilliant songs that Danny Kirwan contributed to Future Games, the other being the 7+ minute "Sands of Time." It gets more into upbeat rock territory than "Woman of 1000 Years" and it features Kirwan and Welch facing off in its lengthy guitar-heavy mid-section, but it's still fueled by a gentle acoustic jangle, soaring harmonies, and some of Kirwan's finest songwriting.

“Remember Me” (1973)

Following one more album with Danny Kirwan (1972's Bare Trees, which featured underrated Kirwan gem "Dust" and early Bob Welch fan fave "Sentimental Lady"), Fleetwood Mac said goodbye to Kirwan and hello to guitarist Bob Weston and vocalist Dave Walker on 1973's Penguin. With Bob Welch and Christine McVie emerging as the band's new leaders, Fleetwood Mac started to perfect the pop rock style that would make them famous and the McVie-penned album opener "Remember Me" is one of the finest examples of this. It's the kind of breezy folk rock that would typify so many of Fleetwood Mac's beloved late '70s songs, and it comes with plenty of the band's soon-to-be-trademark harmonies as well as some searing lead guitar work. It's too bad this one didn't get carried over into the Buckingham/Nicks era; it would've fit right in.

“Hypnotized” (1973)

Bob Welch started to solidify his position as the band's new leader on their second album of 1973, Mystery To Me, and one of his contributions was a song that would become a minor hit, remain a live staple into the Buckingham/Nicks era (and then get revisited for the first time in 41 years on the band's 2018 tour), and help set the tone for the dreamier side that Stevie Nicks would bring to the band, "Hypnotized." It has the pop appeal that many of Bob Welch's songs did, but it's hazy in a way that recalls the band's psychedelic era, and when Welch and McVie harmonize on the chorus, it's genuinely, uh, hypnotic.

“Why” (1973)

As long as we're making puns, it's a "mystery to me" that Mystery To Me closer "Why" isn't a more well-known song. It's written and sung by Christine McVie and features lovely slide guitar by Bob Weston, and it's an earthy, folky, string-laden ballad that recalls the '71/'72 era of Fleetwood Mac while hinting towards the hit-making band of the later '70s. If you love later Christine McVie songs like "Over My Head" and "Songbird," you need "Why" in your life too.

“Come A Little Bit Closer” (1974)

Even more so than "Why" and "Remember Me," the early Christine McVie song that most foreshadowed the songs she'd write in the Buckingham/Nicks era was "Come A Little Bit Closer" from 1974's Heroes Are Hard to Find, the last album with Bob Welch before he was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. It's a glistening, mid-tempo piano pop song that rivals McVie's biggest songs in terms of her deft melodicism and powerful vocals. It's pure bliss.

“Bad Loser” (1974)

"Come A Little Bit Closer" would've fit snugly on Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self-titled album without anyone batting an eye, but here's a Christine McVie song that's more of an oddity in her oeuvre. It has a dark, propulsive feel that's like the missing link between Then Play On and Tusk, and McVie manages to turn the brooding song into something that sounds bright and uplifting on the chorus. It's an eccentric, timeless song that would've stood out in any Fleetwood Mac era.