Fleetwood Mac

Rumours are flying

In late 1974, Bob Welch left the band, and Mick Fleetwood needed to fill the vacancy. To show Fleetwood his recording skills, Keith Olsen played a track titled "Frozen Love", which he had mixed for Buckingham Nicks (from Buckingham Nicks, Polydor PD 5058, September 1973). Liking guitarist Lindsey Buckingham's playing, Fleetwood asked Buckingham to join the group. Buckingham agreed, on the condition that his musical partner and girlfriend Stevie Nicks also become part of the band.

Related Topics:
1974 - Lindsey Buckingham - Stevie Nicks

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In 1975, the new lineup released the eponymous Fleetwood Mac. This proved to be a breakthrough for the band and became a huge hit, and the group was catapulted into stardom. Among the hit singles from this album included Christine McVie's "Over My Head" and "Say You Love Me", and Stevie Nicks' "Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)".

Related Topics:
1975 - Fleetwood Mac

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But in 1976, with the success of the band also came the end of John and Christine McVie's marriage, as well as Buckingham and Nicks' longtime romantic relationship. Huge pressure was placed on Fleetwood Mac to release a successful follow-up album, which, when combined with their newfound wealth, led to creative and personal tensions, fuelled by large amounts of drug and alcohol consumption.

Related Topics:
1976 - John - Christine McVie - Buckingham - Nicks

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The resulting album was Rumours in 1977, in which the band laid bare the inherent emotional turmoil experienced at that time. It became the best selling album of the year, and sold over 18 million copies worldwide by 1998. The RIAA certified Rumours as a diamond album. The LP spawned more hit singles than its predecessor, including Buckingham's "Go Your Own Way", and Nick's "Dreams" which made #1 on the US singles chart and remains the only piece by the band to have achieved that particular success. Also successful was "The Chain", a song credited to the entire group, partly composed by Nicks and Buckingham, with the chorus by Christine McVie from her song "Butter Cookie (Keep Me There)". The signature bass line at the end, composed by John McVie, was used as the main theme for BBC television coverage of Formula 1 racing. The group has said that "The Chain" was very much a jumble of pieces of music slapped together, but it was enough to make it a staple of their concerts and FM radio. For Christine McVie, the album yielded two major hits, "You Make Loving Fun" and her anthemic "Don't Stop", which became the group's signature song. Also from Christine McVie came "Songbird", the song that usually closed their live concerts.

Related Topics:
Rumours - 1977 - RIAA - Diamond album - BBC - Formula 1 - FM radio

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