Fleetwood Mac —the new lineup's 1975 debut LP—became the group's biggest hit record to date, eventually landing at #1 on the strength of an impressive series of Top 20 singles, "Rhiannon," "Over My Head," and "Say You Love Me."
This left-field triumph would be dwarfed by the runaway success of the group's 1977 effort, Rumours, a revelatory album that saw the band coming together artistically as they were tearing apart personally. Almost from the start, members of the group famously started going their own ways. John and Christine McVie divorced, and Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham broke up—yet this musical house divided somehow stood taller than ever. Paradoxically, such troubles only seemed to make the music more powerful and deeply felt.
Success came like a landslide. Rumours spent 31 weeks at #1, selling more than 17 million copies in America, thanks in part to the Top 10 singles "Go Your Own Way," "Don't Stop," "Dreams," and "You Make Loving Fun." Today Rumours has passed the 30-million sales mark worldwide and remains with good reason one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Released in 1979, the boldly ambitious and expansive Tusk was another creative masterpiece. Yet because it followed in the tremendous wake of Rumours, it was harshly judged by some to be a commercial disappointment. That sort of naysaying continued despite the album selling millions of copies, earning decades of critical raves, and containing hits like "Sara," "Think About Me," and the album's utterly unique title track, quite likely the only tribal chant with cryptic lyrics and a marching band to ever find its way onto the Billboard Top 10.
After taking a breather for some solo work, Fleetwood Mac reunited in 1982 for the more polished but still charming Mirage, which launched the hits "Gypsy," "Hold Me," and "Love In Store." Still, it was not until 1987 that Fleetwood Mac would again put aside individual projects and come together to record Tango In The Night This stirring set—featuring some adventurous yet accessible production work by Buckingham—yielded four Top 20 hits: "Big Love," "Everywhere," "Seven Wonders," and "Little Lies." Despite such significant commercial success, band tensions remained at a high point, and Lindsey Buckingham opted to leave the group before a planned tour to support Tango In The Night The band soldiered on, touring successfully with Billy Burnette and Rick Vito filling in for Buckingham.
This incarnation of Fleetwood Mac recorded 1990's Behind The Mask, but reinventing the band with new personnel proved problematic. For millions of fans, it seemed as though Fleetwood Mac's chain should remain unbroken. The group reunited eventually to record four new songs for 25 Years—The Chain, a 1992 boxed set, commemorating the group's 25th anniversary. And the classic lineup put their own internal political problems aside long enough to perform "Don't Stop" for the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, who used the Rumours gem as his 1992 campaign theme song.
In 1996 Fleetwood Mac fans were thrilled when the word got out that the Rumours-era version of the band was reuniting for a new album and tour. The Dance—a live album and television special featuring both new and classic material—was released in August 1997 and found the band in remarkably fine and friendly form. A wildly successful tour followed, ending only when Christine McVie announced her intentions to step away from the demands of the rock 'n' roll life.
Perhaps the fact that Fleetwood Mac has long featured women and men playing together may help explain how this unusual group produced some of the most romantic pop music ever made. The songs on The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac are a large part of rock's most gripping and long-running passion play. It's been a big love, a resoundingly successful romance with music lovers everywhere. The songs collected here offer us scenes from a musical marriage—a highly charged and productive partnership full of real harmony and real hurt.
As these words are being written, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham are chained together, sequestered in a West Coast recording studio working on a brand-new album that will bring Fleetwood Mac to life once again. At a time of such uncertainty in our culture, this news seems comforting and well worth celebrating. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and take the time to revisit these songs, some of the best from a band that still keeps our world turning.
—David Wild
David Wild is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and the host of Bravo's Musicians.
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