Credit: Far Out / Columbia Records
Thu 3 September 2026 3:00, UK
As for many then-soon-to-be musicians from his generation, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry credited the moment he watched The Beatles play The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on February 9th, 1964, as a significant shift in how he perceived music.
“I had already heard some of their songs on the radio, but I wasn’t prepared by how powerful and totally mesmerising they were to watch,” he recalled to CBS in 2014, “It changed me completely. I knew something was different in the world that night.”
A young Perry had first picked up a guitar at the age of ten, 13 years old, when he watched The Beatles, and he became fixated on honing his craft once he was introduced to the array of musicians and genres that his classmates were consuming in school. He would attempt to play in sync with the given record on his turntable, sitting in his room and lifting the needle to coincide with the riff. It was at Vermont Academy, an all-boys preparatory school, that Perry’s world expanded even further.
He was introduced to writings in The Village Voice, and the discographies of Jimi Hendrix, The Who and The Yardbirds. Soon, he began to envision himself as a musician, too, and one musician, in particular, stood at the forefront as an exemplary pillar: Peter Green. Speaking to Guitar World in 2020, in remembrance of the guitarist’s passing, Perry highlighted ‘Black Magic Woman’, saying, “The song was such a huge hit for Santana that most people don’t know it was written by him, and he’s never gotten the credit he’s due.”
“Though Peter wrote and sang most of the Mac’s songs, he didn’t fit into the classic ‘front man’ slot,” Perry continued, “They were a true jam band, and you definitely got the ‘all for one, one for all’ vibe watching them live.” Such was the live energy that Perry recalled sticking with him from early on, as he thought to himself that it was the kind of band he wanted to be a part of: “For me, that was the template for Aerosmith”.
“For guitar purists, there are some standout recordings from his blues years as John Mayall’s latest ‘find,’” Perry noted, referring to Green’s early years as the guitarist for the English blues-rock band, when he was brought in as Eric Clapton’s replacement in 1966. But after just one album, he left the group, displeased with the shift from the blues music the Bluesbreakers were entertaining. In turn, he formed Fleetwood Mac with two other former Bluesbreakers members: Mick Fleetwood and, later, John McVie, in 1967.
For Perry, it was Fleetwood Mac’s third album, 1969’s Then Play On, in particular, that heard Green reach his full potential as a musician. He described the album as “filled with vehicles for Peter finally turning the corner,” he explained, “Combining his blues chops with his songwriting”. This album would, however, be his last with his band before his departure in May 1970.
Further reading: From The Vault
“If he hadn’t decided, for whatever reason, to leave his guitar and the band behind,” Perry reasoned, “Fleetwood Mac was on the verge of making the jump from the Boston Tea Party, the Fillmore and the Fox Theatre in Atlanta to arenas like Led Zeppelin, The Who, etc.”
Green would continue to record music and perform live subsequently, once reuniting with John Mayall while working with the likes of Gass and Peter Bardens, but his personal struggles began to consume his work, and while he resumed making music once he received the help and guidance that he needed, his life would not be the same.
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