The Story of How Fleetwood Mac Member Joined a Cult
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Jeremy Spencer was an original member of Fleetwood Mac from its inception in 1967 — he played rhythm guitar in the band as the great Peter Green took on lead guitar duties. That lineup recorded two albums of material that was heavily blues-based. He remained in the band until 1971 when he made an abrupt departure. By this time, Christine McVie had joined the group on keyboards.
During Spencer’s time in the band, he had a reputation for his onstage antics, which actually got the band banned from London’s Marquee Club, as Mick Fleetwood recalled in an article he wrote for the Express in 2014,
“Early Fleetwood Mac was actually banned for a time from playing the Marquee. We were opening for John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers. Jeremy Spencer and I had a running joke at every gig involving a sex toy (that we had named Harold) which would be ceremoniously hung on the top of my bass drum for the duration of the show. People loved Harold but one night, Jeremy appeared on stage with Harold dangling out of his trousers!
Suffice it to say that we were severely reprimanded, and Harold would never again make an appearance at the Marquee. (Harold’s showbiz life came to a crashing end at an American Southern Baptist college, where we were very nearly arrested for his performance. Poor Harold was too much for them and, much to my wife’s chagrin, he ended his days on show, sitting on our pine corner cabinet).”
Reportedly, Spencer’s off-stage persona was much more subdued, and he often kept to himself and read the Bible. The band was well on their way to stardom. In fact, The Beatles’ Apple Records wanted to sign them (Mick Fleetwood was George Harrison’s brother-in-law). But the drugs of the late 60s were taking their toll on the band. According to his bandmates, Peter Green had a bad acid trip and was never the same after that, the trip disrupted the mental stability he had enjoyed up until that point. He wanted Fleetwood Mac to give all the money they made to charity, of course, the band refused, and Green would ultimately quit the band in 1970.
Content retrieved from: https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/the_story_of_how_fleetwood_mac_member_joined_a_cult-155716.
