Music_Legends_-_The_Queen_Special_Edition_2019

This may or may not have been a good
philosophy to have, depending on where
a person stood in the lifeline of Stevie
Nicks. With her relationship to Lindsey
still hanging precariously in the balance,
we can bet that most of her love songs on
Rumours concern their past, particularly
Dreams. In a reflection of this from the
other side of the mirror, Lindsey’s Go
Your Own Way was a none-too-subtle
clap back on how he felt about the
situation. Ironically, when the powers
that be at Warner finally demanded to
hear a preview of the album, that was the
track that Fleetwood offered up. As the
song finished there was a stunned silence
from the thoroughly impressed record
company, and the project was left to
develop unmolested.
On the strength of that one track
it was clear Fleetwood Mac were onto
something really special. All in all, it
took fourteen months to complete the
recording of Rumours, plus a further
five months just to mix it, and Warner
Brothers were not able to release the
album until February 1977.
Go Your Own Way had been released
as a single just before Christmas 1976, as
a taster of the forthcoming album for the
fans, and also to assuage the concerns of
the increasingly desperate record label.
The single nudged its way swiftly into

the Top 10 and was a portent of the

gold mine that was to come when the

album hit the charts –Fleetwood Mac

could practically have paved the streets

with gold blocks from the incredible

sales this album netted them. Within

a year, Fleetwood Mac had managed

the amazing feat of having sold nearly

ten million copies of Rumours, with the

album sitting pretty at the No. 1 slot

for over six months. At the height of the

fans’ feeding frenzy, up to a quarter of

a million copies were being sold every

week.

It is difficult to imagine such

impressive sales figures, however to give

some scope, any band that sells 100,000

copies of an album in total is usually

moderately satisfied with that as a result.

Considering that some of Fleetwood

Mac’s earlier albums were only shifting

a maximum of 10,000 copies in the

UK, it’s easy to see what an achievement

Rumours really was. The period

surrounding the album’s release was an

incredible time for the band, with each

of them rushing out to buy mansions

and fleets of top-of-the-range sports cars,

or vintage cars, which were Fleetwood’s

particular weakness. Christine summed

up the wealth issue and how it had

affected the band by saying, ‘It’s enabled

all of us to realise a few dreams that

we never thought would happen, but I

haven’t ego-ed out. I’m pretty much of

a recluse, as it happens. What has this

done, though? Well, the doors have just

opened. Now I have the money to get my

studio sculpture together, and the whole

way of looking at my life has expanded

over the last six months.’

This article is an extract from Rumour, Tango

& Mask, the Fleetwood Mac Special Edition of

Music Legends. Available now at issuu.com.

John McVie and Lindsey Buckingham during Fleetwood Mac’s performace at

the US Festival, in San Bernardino, California, on 5 September 1982.

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