Go Your Own Way
I write entirely too much about a band I'm honestly more ambivalent about than it seems
This week’s topic is a timely one, as the band unofficially announced that they would be permanently disbanding. If you couldn’t tell by the title, first off listen to more classic rock radio, and second, this article will be about three bands in one.
Fleetwood Mac began as a standard British blues band in the mold of John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers. In fact, founder and lead guitarist Peter Green had just left the Bluesbreakers, taking with him Mick Fleetwood on drums. Jeremy Spencer (slide guitar) joined the then-nascent band, but the problem of a bass player soon emerged. The bass player for the Bluesbreakers, John McVie, was reluctant to leave the established brand for a potentially disastrous new endeavor. Green and Fleetwood enlisted Bob Brunning with the understanding that if McVie changed his mind, Brunning would step aside. Their first show as on August 13, 1967 was billed as “Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, also featuring Jeremy Spencer”. That Brunning was the only member not mentioned in the billing would prove prophetic, as McVie joined within a couple of months.
“Black Magic Woman” was the first moderate hit off of their self-titled debut in February of 1968, although the song would become more famous through Santana’s version. In August of that same year they released a follow-up, Mr. Wonderful. The album featured more straight ahead blues rock, this time incorporating both a horn section and guest keyboards from Christine Perfect of the band Chicken Shack (no, not Jimmie’s Chicken Shack).
Danny Kirwan, a then 18 year old guitar prodigy from London, was hired as the third guitarist in November. Kirwan was the first step towards broadening the band’s musical horizons, as his style lent itself to more than just the blues. “Albatross” was released that month, and became their first big hit. The success of the single led to a hybrid album (English Rose) in January of 1969 that was half greatest hits, half new material featuring Kirwan. That same month, they traveled to Chicago to record a double album at Chess Studios with some of their blues heroes: Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, and Buddy Guy. Fleetwood Mac in Chicago would be released in December of that year.
In between recording and releasing, the band had label troubles. Blue Horizon Records was explicitly a blues-only label, so the development of their style meant they no longer fit in with that image. A short-lived deal with Immaculate Records collapsed when the company went out of business. A bidding war emerged, as Mick Fleetwood’s brother-in-law wished to sign the band to his label. Normally nepotism is a bad thing, but when you’re talking George Harrison and Apple Records, you at least consider it. Instead, the band signed with Warner Bros. Records under the Reprise sub-label.
Then Play On, from September 1969, was the first album for Reprise and the first non-blues album for Fleetwood Mac. It would also prove to be the last studio album for Peter Green, who allegedly had a bad LSD experience in Munich in the fall of 1969. His personality changed drastically, with a newfound religious obsession and frequent impulses to give away all of his world wealth. The rest of the band grew uncomfortable with his insistence on donating all of their profits from their recordings and performances, and refused to follow suit. By May of 1970, he and the rest of the band had grown far apart, and he left under relatively good terms. Green’s story took a sad turn, as he spent a large portion of the seventies and eighties undergoing treatment for his mental health, and his musical career came to a halt.
Fleetwood Mac soldiered on, and this is where the second band emerges. Under the leadership of Jeremy Spencer, Kiln House was released in September 1970. After recording but prior to its release, the band added a new member to the proceedings as a pseudo-replacement: old friend (and John McVie’s new wife) Christine Perfect. The band started touring with Perfect (now McVie) in August of 1970.
In February 1971, Jeremy Spencer disappeared from the tour without warning. It emerged that he had joined the “religious group” (read: cult) the Children of God, now called The Family International. Mick Fleetwood has indicated in the past that a botched mescaline trip on the part of Spencer may have had something to do with his expedient departure, but Spencer has remained with the cult… er, religious group… ever since.
As the band still had a tour to complete, they scrambled to find a replacement on short notice. Their initial call was to someone who knew the songs by heart: Peter Green. Green was relatively lucid at the time, but was insistent that the band perform only new material, refused to play anything that he had written, and asked to be credited under the name “Peter Blue”. The arrangement lasted about a week before his erratic behavior became too much to handle.
That summer, the band hired Bob Welch to be the new rhythm guitarist, despite not having rehearsed with him prior to signing him to a contract. September saw the release of Future Games, which was a modest hit in America while stalling in their native country. It was followed in March of 1972 by Bare Trees, which was not particularly successful.
At this point, Fleetwood Mac’s now legendary reputation for internal conflict began to emerge. The McVies had marital difficulties, spurred in large part by John’s drinking. Kirwan’s alcoholism was a larger concern, as he began verbally sparring with everyone else before, during, and after shows. Welch believed that as the most recent addition, his presence spurred feelings of resentment from Kirwan. In August of 1972, Kirwan got into a physical altercation with Welch prior to a show, eventually smashing his guitar and refusing to take the stage with the rest of the band. Mick Fleetwood fired him immediately after the show.
This led to a revolving door of guitarists and vocalists over the next two years. Bob Weston (slide guitar) and Dave Walker (vocals) were the first added. Walker lasted for one album, January 1973’s Penguin, before being fired for not fitting in with the image and sound of the rest of the band. Mystery to Me came out in October of that year, but the tour supporting it hardly began before troubles started anew. Weston was found in flagrante with Mick Fleetwood’s wife Jenny Boyd (sister of Pattie “wonderful tonight” Boyd), causing Fleetwood to have a breakdown and abandon the tour. Without him, there was no band, and Weston was fired immediately. The tour ceased and the band was considered dead for all intents and purposes.
Here begins one of the strangest turns in music history. The band’s manager Clifford Davis had all of these performances booked starting in January 1974, and substantial sums committed to the tour. None of the current members was in shape for a string of shows, though. What was he to do? In his mind, there was only one solution: send Fleetwood Mac out on the road. What he did was hire musicians who would play Fleetwood Mac songs, billed as “The New Fleetwood Mac”. The musicians (guitarists Elmer Gantry and Kirby Gregory, bassist Paul Martinez, keyboardist John Wilkinson, and drummer Craig Collinge) were allegedly told that Mick Fleetwood would be joining them on the tour “any day now”, but Mick has consistently denied any involvement whatsoever.
The tour began with decent reviews, but through word-of-mouth, promoters began cancelling dates and audiences turned their backs on the imposters. Wilkinson quit shortly into the tour, and the rest of the “band” faced increasingly hostile audiences. The tour ended in acrimony in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada when rowdy crowds threw bottles at the musicians. The remaining four refused to go back out.
The next year was filled with legal maneuvering and a complete hiatus on both touring and recording. While the legal battle was ongoing, Bob Welch moved out to Los Angeles to collaborate with Warner Bros. lawyers. He realized that working (and living) in California was advantageous for multiple reasons: close access to the label, beneficial tax savings for the British citizens of the group, and a generally more agreeable climate. Eventually, the original band members Fleetwood and McVie settled with Davis out of court, and the name was ruled the exclusive property of Mick and John.
Once the band was cleared to begin operations once more, Fleetwood Mac took up residence in Los Angeles. Heroes are Hard to Find was released in September 1974 as a quartet, without replacing Weston. It was underwhelming, but represented a fresh start. This is where the third and most fruitful era of the band begins to take shape. Bob Welch had grown disillusioned with the band and his musical career in general, and was contemplating leaving at the end of the tour.
While Mick Fleetwood was scouting out potential studios for the tenth album and waiting for Welch to decide on his future, he crossed paths with two young musicians who had just recorded a flop of an album themselves. Lindsey Buckingham (guitar, vocals) and Stevie Nicks (vocals) were asked by Fleetwood to join the group as additions rather than replacements. Buckingham was initially offered a spot, but accepted only on the condition that Nicks be allowed to join as well. Bob Welch was invited to return, but decided to pursue a solo career instead. (“Sentimental Lady” is a fine song.) Buckingham and Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac on New Year’s Eve 1974, cementing the classic lineup.
A new self-titled album emerged in July 1975. This proved to be the breakthrough that the band was waiting on for the past eight years. As sales increased, though, the tensions behind the scenes increased just as much. Buckingham and Nicks were rocky in their own relationship, the McVies were headed to a divorce, and Fleetwood was in the midst of divorcing Jenny Boyd, while also entangling himself with Nicks under Buckingham’s nose. Both alcohol and cocaine became de rigueur for the majority of the band.
In February 1977, Rumours came out. It’s the quintessential album of seventies excess, fueled by sex, substance abuse, and secrets galore. The success of their previous album meant that Warner Bros. wrote a blank check for the recording process, and Buckingham in particular took full advantage of the facilities at the Record Plant in Sausalito. In general, Christine and Lindsey would begin jamming at opposite ends of the studio, while John and Mick would set up close to Lindsey in baffled enclosures to isolate their instruments, with Stevie would work independently throughout the place. Sessions would ostensibly begin at seven in the evening, but the nights were devoted almost entirely to food, drugs, and alcohol. It wasn’t until the wee hours once all of the substances had kicked in that recording actually started.
In between the direct production of music, the interpersonal relationships among Fleetwood Mac flourished and fractured in strange and terrible combinations. John and Lindsey in particular frequently clashed about musical direction, with debates threatening to turn physical at times. Nearly every heterosexual pairing in the band was consummated at one point or another, with acrimony usually following close behind. On a personal level, they were a broken group of people.
Commercially, though, it was a smash success of the kind every band dreams of. Rumours is the eighth biggest selling album of all time. It’s a critical masterpiece. Every song was written with the aim of becoming a hit single. There’s not a single piece of filler on the album. It’s a marvel of modern music production.
The Rumours tour lasted for most of that year, and the band was more successful than ever. The pressure to produce a follow-up was overwhelming. After more than ten months in the studio, surrounded by even more cocaine and all the money Warner Bros. could provide, Tusk came out in October 1979. It was a grandiose double album that was seen as a commercial and critical failure, or as much of a failure that selling four million albums can be. Buckingham in particular was angered that radio stations played the entire album, leading it to be widely taped at home rather than purchased at retail. It might be the most bootlegged album of all time.
1980 was taken up by a global tour (and their first live album), while 1981 saw Mick, Stevie, and Lindsey all release solo material. Of the three, Stevie was by far the most successful, on the strength of “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, “Leather and Lace”, and “Edge of Seventeen”. When they reconvened in November of 1981, Mirage was the result, released in June of next year. It was a return to a more mainstream sound than Tusk’s experimentalism, and the results were impressive. “Hold Me”, “Oh Diane”, and a song named after a racial slur that I won’t be repeating were all hits with the listening public.
A short tour followed, lasting only eighteen shows (one of which was recorded and released as a home video). A smattering of festival appearances also occurred before the band went on hiatus once more. Another handful of solo albums were released, and again Stevie’s were the most successful. Unfortunately for her, her drug problem rose to the level of medical intervention, and a stint in Betty Ford. She wasn’t alone in having a worsening substance abuse issue, as John suffered a seizure due to his alcoholism while Mick went entirely bankrupt thanks to his addictions.
Lindsey started recording a second solo album in 1985 after 1984’s Go Insane, but it metamorphized into a full band production that took up most of the next two years. Tango in the Night was less than the sum of its parts; during the entire recording time, Stevie spent about two weeks actually participating in the process, leaving Lindsey to assemble bits and pieces of her vocals with a Fairlight synthesizer due to her inability to perform consistently. The rest of the band was at each others’ throats constantly, peaking once the album actually released.
At a meeting at Christine’s house to determine plans for a tour, a physical altercation broke out between Stevie and Lindsey. Sources do not agree if contact was made, but the end result was that Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac. With a ten week tour in the offing, two hired guns were conscripted to fill his shoes, Billy Burnette and Rick Vito. The album was their best-selling release since Rumours, and the tour made money hand over fist. Critics were divided, with some saying it was a hollow imitation of the band at its peak, while others said that Vito and Burnette injected much-needed novelty to the proceedings.
A Greatest Hits compilation with two new songs was released in 1988, without Lindsey’s input. He had made amends with the band in the intervening year, and the liner notes were dedicated to him. Behind the Mask in 1990 was ostensibly the first Buckingham-free album since 1975, but in fact he played on the title track alongside Vito and Burnette. The album was a commercial disappointment but the tour did reasonably well, including infrequent appearances by Lindsey as a special guest.
At the end of the tour, Christine and Stevie announced that they would no longer tour with the band, but wanted to contribute to any future studio recordings. Shortly thereafter, Stevie changed her mind and left entirely, taking Vito with her. A contributing factor was that Mick put together a four-album box set of hits, b-sides, and rarities. Mick refused to let Stevie use “Silver Springs” for her own greatest hits album, causing press coverage and increased dissension.
In 1993, Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States, and he used “Don’t Stop” as his campaign theme. For his inauguration, he asked that the classic lineup reform for a one-off. The members acquiesced, but remained separate for the time being. The attention given to the band and their music did lead to the McVies, Fleetwood, and Burnette entering the studio with the intention of recording a new album under the Fleetwood Mac name. However, Burnette left to pursue a solo career, being replaced by Bekka Bramlett (daughter of Delaney and Bonnie) and Dave Mason (formerly of Traffic). By the time the recording finished though, Burnette had returned to the fold, leaving the band as a sextet.
Time is a bad album. There’s no getting around it. It was a critical and commercial failure. Most of the songs from it have never been played in concert, as the band did not tour after its release. Bramlett, Burnette, and Mason all left, and Christine McVie announced she would no longer participate in any further new material. Fleetwood Mac was in a nadir. What were they (John and Mick) to do?
To paraphrase the Blues Brothers, they got the band back together. Mick began recording one-off with Lindsey, then John got involved. This led to Christine tagging along, and soon spitballed into Stevie meeting up with the rest of them as she had just recorded a single with Lindsey and Mick for the Twister soundtrack. Shortly after, the McVies, Mick, and Stevie joined up with Steve Winwood to play a private gig at the Kentucky Derby (and if anyone has a recording, hook me up).
In March of 1997, the classic lineup reformed. Rather than a promise of artistic loftiness, the reunion was almost entirely motivated by the fact that they could make more money together than apart. May saw Fleetwood Mac record a live album and a television special shown on MTV. The Dance proved to be the most successful project of the band since Rumours, and revitalized their career once more. Their run was capped by induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where both the initial lineup of McVie, Fleetwood, Kirwan, Green, and Spencer and the Rumours era lineup of McVie, McVie, Fleetwood, Nicks, and Buckingham were honored. (Bob Welch was left out, causing much consternation on his part.) This was the last hurrah for Christine McVie, who made good on her promise to leave the band thanks to her growing disdain for travel.
Fleetwood Mac continued sporadically, intermingling solo projects with tours until 2003’s Say You Will, which proved to be their last studio album. Christine did contribute on a few tracks for old times’ sake. Every few years after was another tour, marketed on nostalgia rather than new material. This status quo continued until 2014, when Christine was convinced to return for a short run of dates that quickly expanded to a global tour. (When the money’s good, the money’s good.) Intimations of new albums were floated, but Stevie in particular was opposed to spending time in the studio.
"Is it possible that Fleetwood Mac might do another record? I can never tell you yes or no, because I don't know. I honestly don't know. It's like, do you want to take a chance of going in and setting up in a room for like a year [to record an album] and having a bunch of arguing people? And then not wanting to go on tour because you just spent a year arguing?"
2017 saw an unofficial Fleetwood Mac album (sans Stevie) under the title Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie. In April 2018, a viral tweet led “Dreams” to chart again, once more reigniting interest in the band that seemingly wouldn’t die.
That same month, things changed dramatically. Lindsey Buckingham was fired from Fleetwood Mac ostensibly for refusing to go on a tour and questioning the split of proceeds. Realistically, he was fired for forty years of grievances requited and otherwise. In October, he sued the band and received a settlement; by that time the band had gone on tour once more. Buckingham’s replacements were Mike Campbell (of Heartbreakers fame) and Neil Finn (from Crowded House). A tour began that fall, continuing intermittently over the next two years. Another viral video in 2020 led to even more interest in the band.
In November of 2022, Christine McVie passed away after a short illness, causing Mick Fleetwood to say publicly this month that he believed the band had played their final shows. This brings to an end one of the most convoluted, contentious, and exceptional legacies in musical history. The highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and the most mediocre of mediocrity have followed as a result of the interpersonal drama of Fleetwood Mac.
Now after that long-windedness on my part, I present to you my personal top ten Fleetwood Mac songs. These are my opinions and my opinions only. If you don’t like it, get your own mildly successful media criticism newsletter.
I welcome any and all comments, even if you just want to try to steal my cryptocurrency or convince me to subscribe to your OnlyFans. (Good luck on both accounts.)
Due to the length of the above narrative, I’ll try to keep my own commentary about each song brief. No promises, though.
10. Hold Me
The lead single from Mirage, “Hold Me” was explicitly commercial in contrast to Tusk’s eccentricity. It went to number four on the charts and was seen as a return to form. The music video was fraught with peril, though, as the band members refused to be in the same place at the same time for any length of time. John even took a drunken swing at the video’s producer for good measure.
9. Oh Well
This is the only entry on the list from the Peter Green era, and I believe it to be the finest example of that style. “Oh Well” is a call and response blues rock song that served as an inspiration for Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” among other groove-based pieces. It reached number 55 on the US charts, and is the only pre-Buckingham-Nicks song to chart in America.
8. Dreams
Rolling Stone says that this is the ninth greatest song of all time by any artist ever. I think that’s overselling it by quite a bit, but it’s still pretty good. The single from Rumours has charted multiple times since its release in 1977, across different sub-genres. It’s credited to Stevie alone, but Lindsey has said that he had to do a large amount of arranging and orchestrating to make the song what it became, with ample resentment emanating from him as a result. These folks just cannot get along with one another.
7. Little Lies
One of Christine’s finest lead vocal moments, the third single from Tango in the Night hit the top ten, and is the last new Fleetwood Mac song to do so. The music video is the most adorable boho-chic / cottagecore mashup you’ve ever seen, but with truly dangerous amounts of hairspray and product in everyone’s hair. It was the Eighties after all. Bonus link: haven’t you always wanted to hear Hilary Duff do an EDM remix of this song? Here’s your chance:
6. Rhiannon
For those unfamiliar with Welsh mythology (though I know that most of you are well-cultured), Rhiannon is the name of a character from the Mabinogion, the oldest extant Welsh prose collection. Stevie wrote the song based on the novel Triad by Mary Bartlet Leader, which played fast and loose with the original concepts. It was a moderate hit when originally released, but has been a radio staple ever since. My preferred version, though, is from The Dance. The studio versions do not compare to the live recordings. See for yourself:
5. Landslide
Stevie’s finest moment. It’s a truly powerful song, built around the tension between her and Lindsey. She wrote the song right after her first album with him bombed, wondering what her next move was. This song helped her decide to continue on her path, which in turn led to meeting Mick. The rest is history. I don’t think she did the best version of “Landslide”, by the way. That honor goes, of course, to Billy Corgan.
Just kidding. It’s the Chicks in a… er… landslide.
Remind me to do an article on them at some point in the future.
Miley’s a solid runner-up, for the record. People forget that she can sing sometimes.
4. Don’t Stop
The song we can point to as the reason we had eight years of Clinton in the White House, and the impetus for their most successful performances. Ironically, it has nothing to do with politics or anything deep for that matter; it’s a meditation on finally moving on from a failed relationship. Does the first Bush administration qualify? I don’t know, I wasn’t a political science major. (Liberal arts 4 life! Like my friend Kendall says, all I need to know are which poems are good.)
3. Say You Love Me
One of the best interplays between bass and keyboards in their history, which is fitting as it was written by Christine about her relationship with John. It was introduced by her at the very first rehearsal of the newly reconfigured band in 1974, and set the tone for the rest of their career. It combines three lead voices with powerful guitarwork over the top of an impeccably tight rhythm section. The second in a six-strong chain of untouchable singles, it’s one of their most enduring hits.
2. The Chain
“The Chain” is the only song in the Fleetwood Mac catalogue credited to all five members, and it represents the band at its peak. It’s a perfect synthesis of their influences: folky guitar, thunderous bass (John’s best performance by far), shimmering percussion, haunting vocals, and lyrics that encapsulate people at their breaking points. There’s an underlying aggression that sneaks out and grabs unwary listeners by the throat. Even in versions recorded twenty or more years after its debut, the song has an edge that slices through the tension within it.
Bonus link: of course I love the Highwomen, because I love Brandi Carlile so much. (Don’t worry, she’s in the queue.) Listen to their take (and get goosebumps) here:
1. Go Your Own Way
I just realized that this is the only solely Lindsey Buckingham written song on the list, but it’s the best one of all. It’s also one that is the most difficult to perform in concert for the band, and Stevie in particular. How do you sing harmony on a song telling you specifically to get lost? She manages, though. Mick Fleetwood’s best drumming happens here, and in a completely idiosyncratic way. For my fellow drummers out there, try to find the “one” before the chorus. It shifts, despite being in standard time. It’s Lindsey’s best solo, and you can tell he enjoys it viscerally. Stevie claims that the whole song is one long dig at her, and that Lindsey intentionally left in the most hurtful lyrics, looking at her the whole time. That much psychic energy can’t help but infuse a track with something special, and “Go Your Own Way” is incredibly special.
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…and now for no reason, have a video of Thorgy Thor. Stevie Nicks is indeed a gay icon.
Good shit, Larry.