In 1977 when his business manager tried to give him a royalty check for 30,000 pounds, Green threatened him with an unloaded rifle, demanding that the royalty checks stop. Following his arrest, he was sentenced to a psychiatric hospital in London. By the fall of that year, Green had been released and was back in the studio. However, it did not last. By 1979 with a failed marriage adding to his demons, Green stopped taking his medications and opted out of a recording deal that Mick Fleetwood had arranged for him with Warner Brothers.
Through a concerted effort of his brother, Green bounced from deal to deal, recording the occasional solo effort. In 1983, he released Kolors which was a collection of some rarities of B-sides. In 1984, Green worked with a band named Katmandu but retired again shortly thereafter. He spent the next six years as a hermit, hiding in his home and battling the voices in his head.
By 1991, his older brother and his wife had managed to get Peter to move into their home and Green began the long road to recovery once again. In 1995, he and Nigel Watson formed the band Peter Green's Splinter Group which toured heavily, recording occasionally, throughout Europe from 1997 through 2004, proving to be a big draw with old school blues fans everywhere.
In 1998 Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in one of those rare perfect moments; Green unexpectedly appeared on stage with Fleetwood, John and Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham. To open the show, Green and Carlos Santana jammed to the Green penned track "Black Magic Woman" in a moment that no one who saw it will ever forget.
Despite having recurring moments of intense emotional difficulties, Green has again hit the road with Peter Green and Friends, playing a series of dates in Europe. Aside from his exceptional tone (B.B. King is quoted as having said "Peter Green had the sweetest tone I have ever heard") and his true blues touch, one of the more persistent stories revolves around the "out of phase" tone to his 1959 Les Paul.
In a 1995 interview with Guitarist magazine, Green finally settled the argument regarding the now famous puzzle. When asked if the guitar had been re-wired to gain that exceptionally expressive sound, Green replied "I didn't have it rewired. It's just backwards, that's all. I didn't use the neck pickup very much, and so for some reason, I just took it off. I can't remember why. I played it that way for a while with just one pickup, but when I put it back on; I just put it on backwards with the screws pointing towards the tailpiece instead of the neck." (This particular guitar is currently owned by another British blues slinger, Gary Moore.)
When you read through the puzzling career of Peter Green, it really makes you take pause. Was it an altruistic sense that caused him to walk away at his peak; when he was on the cusp of a career that could have paralleled, or even eclipsed, Eric Clapton's? Was it drug use or the mental illness? Maybe it was a combination of all three.
I suppose in the end, the reason why doesn't really matter. History is history and no matter how one may wish it may have been different, it remains constant. But for a time, Peter Green was one of the finest blues guitarists to come out of the U.K. and the music he created has had a major impact on rock and blues since.
Even hearing him now, you can gain a sense of the genius of the young Peter Green hidden in amongst the mature and mellowed master he has become.
[FONT=Tahoma]"All I can do is be me ... whoever that is". Bob Dylan [/FONT]
