Just watch the documentary on Pete Green, a good watch, wonderful guitarist, great shame he got mixed up with drugs which seemed to trigger his mental health problems.
He was fragile before the drugs took hold. Wanted the band to give all their money away. The incident in Germany tipped him over the edge. Later diagnosed as schizophrenic and underwent painful electro convulsive treatment. My all time favourite guitarist. Amazing to think he was only really involved for 3 years and 50 years after he walked away from Fleetwood Mac he is still so well remembered and his stuff played so much. Anyone in doubt about how good he was has only to listen to what B B King said about him.
Not documentaries but binged on the Bridge reshown on BBC 4 and doing likewise with the second series.Most will have seen it but anyone who hasn't should do so. Absolutely brilliant.
Indeed, it seems that some of these super-talented musicians/writers can get tipped over the edge when using drugs, Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd was a similar case, David Gilmour is one of my favourite guitarists.
It sometimes seems that way but I think anybody can get tipped over the edge using drugs, talented or not. There are lots of super-talented artists who have survived it all. Some people just seem to be less able to handle drugs and/or alcohol. Whether it's physiological, mental or a bit of both I don't know.
Being in the limelight would be very difficult to handle in many cases, even for the most grounded of individuals. Just have to go back to Vincent V. G and George Best. please log in to view this image
in Peter Green's case, as I said, he had underlying psychological problems before he got into drugs. Others, like Keith Richards, have ingested industrial amounts of drugs and come through.
Clearly, if you already have psychological problems drugs can easily tip you over the edge. As you said, many take drugs and get through it, but it often seems to me those very creative people are always bordering on eccentric behaviour and can easily fall into black holes so to speak. I guess it is the mad professor situation.
There are many reasons for chemical imbalances in the human body...especially the brain. Having seen him play live - several times - with Mayall & obviously Fleetwood Mac - my suspicion is his problems were mainly due to drug experimentation. It may have tipped the balance with some underlying chemical fragility. Who knows - all speculation ? My favourite musician ever (well, tied with Buddy Holly). Part 1 Part 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter...y diagnosed with,David Simmons with a shotgun.
Fish & Chippendale ! Hardly anyone remembers this genius was from Yorkshire ( albeit West Yorks). Well worth a watch - BBC4 tonight (well Wednesday on t'other side of t'Atlantic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episo...odwork-1-the-extraordinary-thomas-chippendale. Higher in the historic league table than 'Arry Wilson ('Udders brand) & our Nick of Barmby no ?
I think that fame is enough in itself to tip many over the edge. A musician's passion for their craft can be severely tested by the rigours and demands it brings. The drugs (including alcohol - probably the most dangerous drug of all) are a by product that are synonymous with the scene.
Two ageing buggers relaxing with fishing rods & just talking nonsense. Fabulous stuff - very therapeutic.
'Casablanca' on now BBC 4. Every scene a gem.A genre-buster. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a5bb/db9cc1f278154be95ef000ab4bf202826482.pdf
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bq3jnv Been on before, on now, very relaxing. The Ghan - Aussie railway journey, no commentary.
please log in to view this image Storyville Today at 9:00pm on BBC FOUR 85min Reviewed by Alison Graham What a tremendous true-life mystery. It’s got everything – a parachute escape by an aeroplane hijacker, death-bed confessions, grizzled FBI agents, missing cigarette butts, buried money, prison breakouts… and no real resolution. In 1971 a man calling himself “DB Cooper” passed a note to an air stewardess on board a flight from Portland to Seattle saying if he didn’t receive a $200,000 ransom, he would detonate a bomb in his briefcase. The plane landed to pick up the money, then took off again, and he parachuted from the plane with his cash as it flew to Reno. What followed transfixed America and remains the country’s only unsolved air-crime. This terrific Storyville from John Dower picks apart what became a Robin Hood story and hears from retired FBI agents involved the in case, and the friends and family members of a handful of suspects. To this day no one knows who “DB Cooper” was (or is) and the story still exerts a powerful hold over its army of devotees.
