John Mayall was a lightning rod for the blues who changed the course of British music |

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"Out of Korner’s Blues Incorporated and Mayall’s Bluesbreakers flowed a stream of prodigies who were soon ready to head off in their own directions. When Clapton left Mayall after a year – and one hugely influential album, Blues Breakers – to form Cream, he was replaced by the 19-year-old Peter Green. When Green left a year later, taking the group’s drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and bassist, John McVie, with him to form the first version of Fleetwood Mac, his place was taken by the 17-year-old Mick Taylor. Two years later Taylor would accept an offer from the Rolling Stones.

While they were with Mayall, they became the young gods of the club scene: a new generation of note-bending guitar heroes, beautiful long-haired boys whose skills had been attained through long hours of bedroom practice and were now delivered to audiences mesmerised by their virtuosity and the intensity of their demeanour. Thousands of miles and a universe in social conditions away from the land where the blues was born, young adherents in London, Manchester or Newcastle, musicians and fans alike, were adopting a cause, a mission."

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 John Mayall was a lightning rod for the blues who changed the course of British music | Music | The Guardian