Classic Rock and Cheap Wine: Fleetwood Mac – Many Memories and Some Rumours
In 1972 (or what I like to refer to as “prehistoric times” before cell phones, internet or cable) I was a junior at Needham High School in Needham, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.
In homeroom, my assigned seat was next to a student named Peter, who my friends had designated “most likely to die of a drug overdose.” But Peter, despite “having issues,” had cultivated a reputation for being on the cutting edge of rock music hip-ness.
So one day during homeroom “quiet time,” I passed Peter a note asking what bands he was currently listening to and he wrote back Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and Fleetwood Mac.
These names fascinated me because I had yet to hear of any of them.
Why do I even remember this note passing incident from 40 years ago?
Two reasons: first, as predicted, not long after high school Peter tragically died of a drug overdose. And second, the music of the bands named in Peter’s note formed a prophetic soundtrack for my life in the years ahead.
Starting in September of 1973, Pink Floyd and I had a monumental first meeting during my freshman year at Ohio State University. The experience resulted in lifelong friendship bonds chronicled here a few months ago.
Then there is Black Sabbath, or rather Ozzy Osbourne. Although I was never a big fan of his, the lyrics, “I am going off the rails of the crazy train” is a favorite phrase that occasionally pops up in my writing, but more often in conversation when I am describing the current state of our nation.
But most prophetic was Fleetwood Mac, a band with whom I had a love affair which lasted years. Later in 1972 a friend introduced me to their new album called Bare Trees. A good album I thought, but not life altering.
But in 1977, during my senior year in college, Fleetwood Mac released the album Rumours and that was life altering. Songs from Rumours were always playing in the background as I transitioned from college to Washington D.C with first jobs and first marriage.
I will not bore you with all the tawdry details of why I am so emotionally tied to this album, but please do write some comments about yours! For if you are about my age I know you have some, because this album greatly impacted millions of baby boomers.
Especially one 1946 “first crop” baby boomer by the name of Bill Clinton, who in 1992 revived the popularity of Rumours and Fleetwood Mac by choosing Don’t Stop Thinking about Tomorrow as his presidential campaign theme song.
President Clinton even convinced the band to get back together to play at his 1993 inaugural ball.
Back in the late 70’s, due to the popularity of Rumours, I discovered the first and only album by Lindsey Buckingham and Steve Nicks entitled Buckingham Nicks. This spectacular album, largely forgotten and never released on CD, was a foreshadowing of this duo’s future greatness. Here is the entire album if you have never heard it.
So in honor of Rumours, Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey, Stevie and Peter (may he rest in peace) what shall we drink?
Absolutely nothing but spring water! Because this morning I am sitting in Manitou Springs, Colorado elevation 6,412 feet with a pounding headache that started last night after I imbibed three glasses of Pinot Noir with my dinner of wild boar spare ribs and a few bites of my husband’s antelope.
Apparently, since I now live at sea level (literally next to the sea), an elevation of 6,412 feet and wine do not make beautiful music together for this aging baby boomer.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone and may I recommend that your family along with ours sing this really classic song before dinner.
And will someone please try that “favorite rock song conversation game” I wrote about recently over the long holiday weekend when gossiping about other family members finally runs dry?
1972. Peter. Peter was referring to the earlier incarnations of Fleetwood Mac.
There was/is another Peter, guitarist etc. Peter Green, who basically founded Fleetwood Mac. One of the best ever. Check out their first releases with Greenie. One of the top bands in the late ’60′s.
Some of the guitarists in the band during that period seemed to have developed a penchant for riding the rails on Ozzy’s train… somewhat… before.
Not that all that followed wasn’t excellent.
Well Myra, I never actually liked Rumours – very polished & competent, sounding very 1977, but it left me a bit chilly. But before that one, I did own Bare Tree and Heroes are Hard to Find – two excellent Fleetwood Mac albums from the pre Buckingham-Nicks era. I also met them once, fleetingly (please excuse the pun), after a concert in Wilson, NC in 1975, when they were touring the new album with the brand new line-up. Just hanging around backstage, trying to get some fresh air, when the show ended and they came walking up. Before their huge explosion of fame, and in those innocent rock and roll days.
Glad you’re enjoying Manitou Springs. Here’s my rock and roll connection for you. It was June 1971, I was 15 years old, and we we’re staying in Manitou Springs for my older brother’s graduation from the Air Force Academy. I walked downtown to get away from the folks and went into a cafe/drugstore and the jukebox was playing Honky Tonk Women by the Stones. Having been raised in rural NC on AM radio, my reaction was “whoa, who the hell is that?” The rest is, as one says, history.
Thanks for the memories and this really fun series.
Thanks so much for your comment. It is for readers like you that I am writing this series.
Read about how Bob Welch saved Fleetwood Mac.
OTOH, you are forgetting several albums that rise way above anything FM could possibly do: Steely Dan’s Aja and Gaucho; both technically perfect. Santana’s Moonflower; their best. The Eagle’s On the Border and Desperado. Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Court and Spark, Hejira, and Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter; DJRC has the most sophisticated guitar compositions available in rock music – and is Jaco Pastorious’ master work. Pretty much anything by any combination of CSNY. I can go on.
Rumours was not a bad album; I listened to it a lot while in college; but then I grew up. Never listen to FM at all any more. And the Bob Welch era Hypnotized is by far their best song.
I’m a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors,” and even though I’m not an aging baby boomer, I do proudly own a vinyl edition of “Buckingham Nicks” … their album “Tusk” is my favorite overall, however, as Buckingham started to experiment more and push what Fleetwood Mac could do.
I never really got into FM. By ’77 the second generation of that earlier harder and more thoughtful rock from the late sixties was well underway. There was and would still be some brilliant music but that school of music from ’66-’71 that had a commonality to it even while it was eccentric was dead and would never come back. What I missed most was the sense of emotion and almost improvisation laid down in a studio.
FM wrote some very clever songs but I never saw them as innovative because they had a kinda, sorta band style but were not part of a larger movement. The unevenness of the songs on Rumours speaks to this. It was hit or miss. They didn’t really follow any one and no one followed them.
What I partially mean by this is like comparing Amy Winehouse to Adele. Both are assigned to retro-’60s. Winehouse was a true inheritor of that tradition and understood the music and redefined it for today. Adele is fakery. I’m not saying Rumours is fakery but to perhaps imperfectly illustrate a point. Rumours never intended to be other than what it was and I see the music as honest and straightforward, unlike Adele, whose music at best is uninformed. In fact Adele’s music is also stand alone, the difference being it is bad while Rumours is good.
But what was really missing from this era, for me, was that hard-edged search to capture some real emotion. Music was increasingly over-produced and no matter how clever just seemed to sit on the surface. It moved me the way good music does but not the way good music plus real emotion does.
Punk was underway by ’77 and it was raw and hard-edged but rather than being a true musical style it was more an expression of a kind of sarcastic energy and fashion, not true emotion. Real, consistent song-writing talent was non-existent. There was a lot of flailing about of arms and attitude but little else. I never understood the appeal of The Ramones for example. I wanted a little more than just saying ‘eff you’ with basic chords.
There are an absolute ton of albums as good as Rumours. I never saw it as a game-changer because for me there is a difference between being clever and inheriting and building on a tradition. It’s pop music. Maybe very good but that’s all it is. Rumours aspired to nothing but itself.
True art can repeat itself at will even while it evolves into something completely different. The Beatles were probably the only band that could completely change but always sound like The Beatles and never break stride with good song after good song. That’s a tough act to follow. The irony there is The Beatles themselves made albums that were highly produced and with little raw emotion to them, but we were dazzled by their pure artistry and what seemed like endless creativity.
That shows I’m nitpicking I guess. We’ve had an embarrasment of riches in America with good music. Competition for attention is stiff and the standard whereby true art is achieved probably as high as any pop art form we’ve had.
By today’s standards, with not a band or album in sight that can match FM in terms of them as individual artists or the album Rumours itself, it’s not at all hard to see Rumours as a classic.
Mr. Fail:
Thank you for writing the equivalent of a music dissertation every week. I enjoy reading what you have to say and respect your obvious knowledge of music and culture. Just curious how old you are what is your line of work?
I much prefer “Fleetwood Mac” to “Rumors”, which followed it. I was in the U of Michigan bookstore where they were playing “Rhiannon” and I had to track the album down. Indeed, when I had some of my students over (I was a Teaching Assistant for the Arab-Israeli Conflict course), I advertised it as a night of “Felafel and Fleetwood Mac”. (We also played Jethro Tull’s “Minstrel in the Gallery”.) It was only later that I discovered the earlier “Buckingham Nicks”, which I still on occasion spin up on the old Thorens.
I’ll second others’ comments that, for my taste, Peter Green and Bob Welch were significant contributors. How many remember Mick Fleetwood appearing as, what else, a rock star in the tv series “Wise Guy”? Although I preferred their earlier period, I felt glad for Mick and John when their years of endless touring finally paid off big.
Rumors was made while FM was going through all kinds of soap opera episodes. Classic albums had a great episode chronicling its production.
By the way, Lindsey Buckingham is a true guitar god. Great live performer.
“Peter (may he rest in peace)”
Well, this sent me scurrying to Wikipedia. Fortunately, the great Peter Green is still alive. Too bad about Bob.
Listen to the album “Fleetwood Mac: The Vintage Years.” It’s a live recording of a concert by the original manifestation (more or less) of Fleetwood Mac. As vibrant as any album ever made.
By ’77, I was knee-deep in punk: Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Clash, The Damned, The Jam, et al. Still, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the ubiquitous strains of the Rumors album…Songbird is my favorite track.
For those of us boomers wanting to recapture memories, buy Fleetwood Mac , The Dance, music DVD. I happened to walk into the home entertainment section of a Sony store, and they had that DVD playing. I went home with a home entertainment setup, and that DVD. The quality of sound and video is like sitting on stage at a concert. Try it.
Greetings:
At the risk of appearing impertinent, I was never swept up in the Fleetwood Mac re-incarnation. Admittedly, it was a really good band with some really wonderful songs, but my personal affiliation was with Christine McVie. While Buckingham and Nicks seemed to be the foci of most fans and Fleetwood and Mac stayed well in the background, I found Christine’s songs to be the most soulful and interesting. Personally, and female-wise, I always found the less “show” the more “go”.
I’m reluctant to admit it, but my favorite track on Rumours is “Second Hand News,” one of the great dirty songs of all time. Just TRY to improve on a couplet like “When times go bad, when times get rough / Won’t you lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff”!
But even that comes in second to the greatest dirty song of all, “Hotel Chambermaid” by Graham Parker and the Rumour.
Thanks, Myra.
I’m in my mid 30′s and love the album. In spite of seemingly easy-listening vibe (to my generational ears anyways) it has excellent guitar, vocal and lyrics. Imo one of the best albums of the 70′s. My favorite song is “Go your own way” which is, I think, one of the best “revenge” songs ever alongside with “I will survive”. *sigh* They don’t make such music these days, just repetitive crap on-a-beat, which by the way it is still entertaining to some degree but not exactly remarkable. Quite the opposite – UNremarkable. A 3 minute song with so may notes is hard to find these days, let alone to sound this good. Call me second hand news.