Fleetwood Mac

A London blues band that was rebuilt in California around Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks and made Rumours.

Origin: London, England
Years active: 1967-2022
Genres: blues rock, pop rock, soft rock
Labels: Blue Horizon, Immediate, Reprise, Warner Bros.
Also known as: Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac

Blues beginnings

Fleetwood Mac formed in London in July 1967, when Peter Green left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and started a band with the drummer Mick Fleetwood and the slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer. The name came from an instrumental Green had named after Fleetwood and the bassist John McVie, and McVie joined within weeks. They played their first show on 13 August 1967 at the National Jazz and Blues Festival.

They began as a blues band and reached number one in the UK with Green's instrumental Albatross. In 1969 they made Then Play On, a record with a broader range than their first two, and the last with Green, who played his final show with the band on 20 May 1970. Spencer left in 1971. Through the early seventies the line-up kept changing: Christine McVie became a member in 1970 and Bob Welch was hired in 1971. In 1974 a fight with their manager over who owned the band's name put them on hiatus for almost a year, and Fleetwood later said the lawsuit was the reason the band moved to California.

Buckingham, Nicks and Rumours

In autumn 1974 Fleetwood heard a track from the album Buckingham Nicks at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles and asked the guitarist Lindsey Buckingham to join. Buckingham agreed on the condition that Stevie Nicks came too, and both joined on New Year's Eve 1974. The first album with this line-up, Fleetwood Mac in 1975, reached number one in the US and included Nicks's Rhiannon.

Rumours followed in February 1977. It was recorded in 1976 while the band members dealt with breakups with one another. It spent 31 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, won the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and has sold more than 40 million copies. All four of its singles reached the US top 10, among them Buckingham's Go Your Own Way and Nicks's Dreams, which was the band's only US number one. The Chain is the one song credited to all five members.

Tusk and the eighties

For Tusk in 1979, Buckingham wanted an album that sounded nothing like Rumours. It was a 20-track double album recorded in Studio D at The Village Recorder, it cost about $1.4 million, and it sold four million copies, which the label counted as a failure. Its title track, Tusk, was recorded with the USC Trojan Marching Band at Dodger Stadium.

Mirage followed in 1982, and after a hiatus for solo albums the band made Tango in the Night in 1987. It began as a Buckingham solo project and produced four US top 20 singles. Buckingham left in August 1987, soon after its release, and Billy Burnette and Rick Vito replaced him. Behind the Mask in 1990 reached number one in the UK.

Reunions and endings

The 1975 to 1987 line-up played at Bill Clinton's first inaugural ball in 1993 and officially reformed in March 1997. A concert filmed in Burbank in 1997 became the live album The Dance, which returned the band to the top of the US album chart for the first time in ten years. In 1998 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. Christine McVie left shortly afterward, and the band made Say You Will, their final studio album, in 2003. She rejoined in 2014.

In April 2018 Buckingham left the group, and Mike Campbell and Neil Finn took his place. Danny Kirwan died on 8 June 2018 and Peter Green on 25 July 2020. In October 2020 Dreams returned to the Billboard Hot 100 after a viral video, and Rumours re-entered the top 10 of the Billboard 200. Christine McVie died on 30 November 2022. After her death Nicks said she saw no reason to continue Fleetwood Mac.

Members

Mick Fleetwood drums, percussion (1967-1995, 1997-2022)
John McVie bass (1967-1995, 1997-2022)
Christine McVie keyboards, vocals (1970-1995, 1997-1998, 2014-2022)
Stevie Nicks vocals (1974-1990, 1997-2022)
Lindsey Buckingham guitar, vocals (1974-1987, 1997-2018)
Peter Green guitar, vocals (1967-1970)
Jeremy Spencer slide guitar (1967-1971)
Danny Kirwan guitar, vocals (1968-1972)
Bob Welch guitar, vocals (1971-1974)
Mike Campbell lead guitar, vocals (2018-2022)
Neil Finn vocals, rhythm guitar (2018-2022)

Records

Then Play On 1969 · Reprise
The third album, where the blues band moved toward folk rock, hard rock and psychedelia under Peter Green and Danny Kirwan.
Fleetwood Mac 1975 · Reprise
The first album with Buckingham and Nicks, and the record that made the band a US success.
Rumours 1977 · Warner Bros.
The 1977 album built from the band's own breakups, and the one the group is still defined by.
Tusk 1979 · Warner Bros.
The 20-track double album that Buckingham wanted to sound nothing like Rumours.
Tango in the Night 1987 · Warner Bros.
The last album of the classic line-up before The Dance, begun as a Buckingham solo record.

Songs

Go Your Own Way Rumours · 1977
Buckingham's breakup song, the Rumours lead single and the band's first US top-ten hit.
Dreams Rumours · 1977
Nicks's breakup song, written in about ten minutes, and the band's only US number one.
The Chain Rumours · 1977
The only song credited to all five members, stitched together from rejected pieces.
Rhiannon Fleetwood Mac · 1975
Nicks's song about a witch from a novel, and the single that pulled the 1975 album up the US chart.
Tusk Tusk · 1979
A riff, a tape loop and a marching band: the unlikely lead single from the Tusk album.
Albatross 1968
Peter Green's guitar instrumental, the band's only UK number one single.

Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, The Beach Boys

Where to go next

Reference

Fleetwood Mac, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Hall's inductee page, with the 1998 induction, the members and the artists who cite them.
Rumours, National Recording Registry The Library of Congress registry essays, including the entry for Rumours.
Fleetwood Mac The band's full history and line-up changes.
Rumours Recording, release, reception and legacy of the 1977 album.
Tusk The making of the 1979 double album, its artwork and reception.
Fleetwood Mac (1975 album) The first album with Buckingham and Nicks.
Then Play On The 1969 album and its alternate US track listings.
Tango in the Night How the 1987 album moved from a solo project to a band record.
Go Your Own Way Writing, recording and live history of the song.
Dreams The song's recording and its 2020 resurgence.
The Chain How the song was assembled and its use as a Formula One theme.

Writing and criticism

Rumours review, Pitchfork Jessica Hopper's long review of the 2013 reissue.

Sources

Fleetwood Mac, Wikipedia
Fleetwood Mac, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Recording Registry titles with descriptions and expanded essays, Library of Congress
Rumours, Fleetwood Mac, Pitchfork (2013-02-08)
Rumours (album), Wikipedia
Tusk (album), Wikipedia