British Blues and Fleetwood Mac

• Week 1
  Britain post-Second World War was a dull and drab place during reconstruction, and young people needed something to call their own. That thing was “the blues.” We’ll look at the father of the British Blues, John Mayall, and the members of his band that went on to form Fleetwood Mac.

• Week 2
  Fleetwood Mac began as a British Blues band, but, by 1974, the band’s star had lost its shine and a change was needed. Mick Fleetwood could always be counted on to find a way forward, and he did so by asking Americans Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham to join the group. Leaving their British Blues roots behind, the band moved to the U.S. for a fresh start. This new version of Fleetwood Mac gave us one of the most iconic albums of all time: Rumours.

• Week 3
  As hard as Mick Fleetwood tried, he could not hold the group together: there was a soap opera of excessive drug use, relationship swapping and nightmares in the recording studio. It is a story of how fame and fortune can push people to do things they might never do under normal circumstances. Their music and songwriting were amazing and hugely successful, but egos and destructive behaviour tore the band apart.

• Week 4
  John Mayall, “the father of British Blues,” not only gave Fleetwood Mac its start, but he also mentored a young man named Eric Clapton. When Clapton left Mayall’s band, The Bluesbreakers, he did so to form one of the most iconic bands of the 60s: Cream. The first album from Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker was instrumental in the development of “jam rock” and, later, heavy metal music.

• Week 5
  Graffiti on the walls in London read “Clapton is God,” a very hard title to live up to, but Clapton was, and still is, one of the greatest electric guitarists of all time. We’ll look at his life and his music and see what made him who he is.

• Week 6
  There is a “holy trinity” of blues guitarists in Britain: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin. This week we’ll examine the work and styles of Beck and Page. The blues may have begun in the Mississippi delta, but it was the boys of London who took it to the world.

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Identify the evolution of the British Blues movement
• Recognize key guitarists of the British Blues and their musical styles
• Consider the huge success of Fleetwood Mac and what lead to the band’s demise
• Appreciate the influence of British Blues on acceptance of blues music by white America, despite its origin in the American south.

• Lectures
• Participation in discussions
• Supplementary resources accessed through Canvas
• Reflective essay (applicable only to certificate students)

No textbook is required. We will provide all course materials online.