Fleetwood Mac
FORMED: 1967, London, England
While most bands undergo a number of changes over the course of their career,
few groups experienced such radical stylistic changes as Fleetwood Mac. Initially
conceived as a hard-edged British blues combo in the late '60s, the band
gradually evolved into a polished pop/rock act over the course of a decade.
Throughout all of their incarnations, the only consistent members of Fleetwood
Mac were drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie -- the rhythm section
who provided the band with its name. Ironically, they had the least influence
over the musical direction of the band. Originally, guitarists Peter Green
and Jeremy Spencer provided the band with its gutsy, neo-psychedelic blues-rock
sound, but as both guitarists descended into mental illness, the group began
moving toward pop/rock with the songwriting of pianist Christine McVie. By
the mid-'70s, Fleetwood Mac had relocated to California, where they added
the soft-rock duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to their lineup.
Obsessed with the meticulously arranged pop of the Beach Boys and the Beatles,
Buckingham helped the band become one of the most popular groups of the late
'70s. Combining soft rock with the confessional introspection of singer/songwriters,
Fleetwood Mac created a slick but emotional sound that helped 1977's Rumours
become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. The band's retained
their popularity through the early '80s, when Buckingham, Nicks, and Christine
McVie all began pursuing solo careers. The band reunited for one album, 1987's
Tango in the Night, before splintering in the late '80s. Buckingham left
the group initially, but the band decided to soldier on, releasing one other
album before Nicks and McVie left the band in the early '90s, hastening the
group's commercial decline.
The roots of Fleetwood Mac lie in John Mayall's legendary British blues outfit,
the Bluesbreakers. John McVie (bass) was one of the charter members of the
Bluesbreakers, joining the group in 1963. In 1966 Peter Green replaced Eric
Clapton and a year later, Mick Fleetwood (drums) joined. Inspired by the
success of Cream, the Yardbirds and Jimi Hendrix, the trio decided to break
away from Mayall in 1967. At their debut at the British Jazz and Blues Festival
in August, Bob Brunning was playing bass in the group, since McVie was still
under contract to Mayall. He joined the band a few weeks after their debut;
by that time, slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer had joined the band. Fleetwood
Mac soon signed with Blue Horizon, releasing their eponymous debut the following
year. Fleetwood Mac was an enormous hit in the U.K., spending over a year
in the Top 10. Despite its British success, the album was virtually ignored
in America. During 1968, the band added guitarist Danny Kirwan. The following
year, they recorded Fleetwood Mac in Chicago with a variety of bluesmen,
including Willie Dixon and Otis Spann. The set was released later that year,
after the band had left Blue Horizon for a one-album deal with Immediate
Records; in the US, they signed with Reprise/Warner Bros., and by 1970, Warner
began releasing the band's British records as well.
Fleetwood Mac released English Rose and Then Play On during 1969, which both
indicated that the band were expanding their music, moving away from their
blues-purists roots. That year, Green's "Man of the World" and "Oh Well"
were number two hits. Though his music was providing the backbone of the
group, Peter Green was growing increasingly disturbed, due to his large ingestion
of hallucinogenic drugs. After announcing that he was planning to give all
of his earnings away, Green suddenly left the band in the spring of 1970;
he released two solo albums over the course of the '70s, but he rarely performed
after leaving Fleetwood Mac. The band replaced him with Christine Perfect,
a vocalist/pianist who had earned a small but loyal following in the UK by
singing with Spencer Davis and the Chicken Shack. She had already performed
uncredited on Then Play On. Contractual difficulties prevented her from becoming
a full-fledged member of Fleetwood Mac until 1971; by that time she had married
John McVie.
Christine McVie didn't appear on 1970's Kiln House, the first album the band
recorded without Peter Green. For that album, Jeremy Spencer dominated the
band's musical direction, but he had also been undergoing mental problems
due to heavy drug use. During the band's American tour in early 1971, Spencer
disappeared; it was later discovered that he left the band to join the religious
cult the Children of God. Fleetwood Mac had already been trying to determine
the direction of their music, but Spencer's departure sent the band into
disarray. Christine McVie and Danny Kirwan began to move the band towards
mainstream rock on 1971's Future Games, but new guitarist Bob Welch exerted
a heavy influence on 1972's Bare Trees. Kirwan was fired after Bare Trees
and was replaced by guitarists Bob Weston and Dave Walker, who appeared on
1973's Penguin. Walker left after that album, and Weston departed after making
its follow-up, Mystery to Me (1973). In 1974, the group's manager Clifford
Davis formed a bogus Fleetwood Mac, and had the band tour the US. The real
Fleetwood Mac filed and won a lawsuit against the imposters -- after losing,
they began performing under the name Stretch -- but the lawsuit kept the
band off the road for most of the year. In the interim, they released Heroes
Are Hard To Find. Late in 1974, Fleetwood Mac moved to California, with hopes
of re-starting their career. Welch left the band shortly after the move to
from Paris.
Early in 1975, Fleetwood and McVie were auditioning engineers for the band's
new album when they heard Buckingham-Nicks, an album recorded by the soft-rock
duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The duo was asked to join the group
and their addition revived the band's musical and commercial fortunes. Not
only did the pair write songs, but they brought distinctive talents the band
had been lacking. Buckingham was skilled pop craftsman, capable of arranging
a commercial song while keeping it musically adventurous. Nicks had a husky
voice and a sexy, hippie gypsy stage persona which gave the band a charismatic
frontwoman. The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac released their eponymous debut
in 1975 and it slowly became a huge hit, reaching number one in 1976 on the
strength of the singles "Over My Head," "Rhiannon," and "Say You Love Me."
The album would eventually sell over five million copies in the US alone.
While Fleetwood Mac had finally attained their long-desired commercial success,
the band was fraying apart behind the scenes. The McVies divorced in 1976,
and Buckingham and Nicks' romance ended shortly afterward. The internal tensions
formed the basis for the songs on their next album, Rumours. Released in
the spring of 1977, Rumours became a blockbuster success, topping the American
and British charts and generating the Top 10 singles "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams,"
"Don't Stop," and "You Make Loving Fun." It would eventually sell over 17
million copies in the US alone, making it the second biggest-selling album
of all-time. Fleetwood Mac supported the album with an exhaustive, lucrative
tour and then retired to the studio to record their follow-up to Rumours.
A wildly experimental double-album conceived largely by Buckingham, Tusk
(1979) didn't duplicate the enormous success of Rumours, yet it did go multi-platinum
and featured the Top 10 singles "Sara" and "Tusk." In 1980, they released
the double-album Live.
Following the Tusk tour, Fleetwood, Buckingham, and Nicks all recorded solo
albums. Of the solo projects, Stevie Nicks' Bella Donna (1981) was the most
successful, peaking at number one and featuring the hit singles "Stop Draggin'
My Heart Around," "Leather and Lace" and "Edge of Seventeen." Buckingham's
Law and Order (1981) was a moderate success, spawning the Top 10 "Trouble."
Fleetwood, for his part, made a world music album called The Visitor. Fleetwood
Mac reconvened in 1982 for Mirage. More conventional and accessible than
Tusk, Mirage reached number one and featured the hit singles "Hold Me" and
"Gypsy."
After Mirage, Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie all worked on solo albums.
The hiatus was due to a variety of reasons. Each member had their own manager,
Nicks was becoming the group's breakaway star, Buckingham was obsessive in
the studio and each member was suffering from various substance addictions.
Nicks was able to maintain her popularity, with The Wild Heart (1983) and
Rock A Little (1985) both reaching the Top 15. Christine McVie also had a
Top 10 hit with "Got A Hold On Me" in 1984. Buckingham received the strongest
reviews of all, but his 1984 album Go Insane failed to generate a hit. Fleetwood
Mac reunited to record a new album in 1985. Buckingham, who had grown increasingly
frustrated with the musical limitations of the band, decided to make it his
last project with the band. When the resulting album, Tango in the Night,
was finally released in 1987 it was greeted with mixed reviews but strong
sales, reaching the Top 10 and generating the Top 20 hits "Little Lies,"
"Seven Wonders" and "Everywhere."
Buckingham decided to leave Fleetwood Mac after completing Tango in the Night,
and the group replaced him with guitarists Billy Burnette and Rick Vito.
The new lineup of the band recorded their first album, Behind the Mask, in
1990. It became the band's first album since 1975 to not go gold. Following
its supporting tour, Nicks and Christine McVie announced they would continue
to record with the group, but not tour. Vito left the band in 1991, and the
group released the box set 25 Years -- The Chain the following year. The
classic Fleetwood Mac lineup of Fleetwood, the McVies, Buckingham and Nicks
reunited to play President Bill Clinton's inauguration in early 1993, but
the concert did not lead to a full-fledged reunion. Later that year, Nicks
left the band and was replaced by Bekka Bramlett and Dave Mason; Christine
McVie left the group shortly afterward. The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac began
touring in 1994, releasing Time the following year to little attention. While
the new version of Fleetwood Mac wasn't commercially successful, neither
were the solo careers of Buckingham, Nicks and McVie, prompting speculation
of a full-fledged reunion in 1997. The live album Shrine 69 was released
in 1999. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide