The 1977 Fleetwood Mac song thanking Mick Fleetwood for keeping them together
Fleetwood Mac have long been hailed as one of the most significant groups of all time, and duly, they come with a backstory worthy of the old epics.
The band were formed in London in 1967 by frontman and guitarist Peter Green, guitarist Jeremy Spencer and drummer Mick Fleetwood before they hired bassist John McVie for their 1968 self-titled debut album.
A rabble of different personalities, the young prodigy Danny Kirwan joined as the third guitarist in 1968, adding an extra edge to the band’s pioneering interpretation of British blues rock. Scoring hits such as ‘Albatross’, ‘Oh Well’ and ‘The Green Manalishi’, the band quickly became one of the most successful of the day, and in 1970, Christine McVie, John’s wife, joined as keyboardist and vocalist, which again shook up the band’s sound.
Due to their increasing hedonism and the many difficulties this brought, all three guitarists quit during the earliest days of the 1970s. Then, the group went through a transitional era that saw the outgoing members replaced by Bob Welch, Bob Weston and frontman Dave Walker, but this was not to last either. The new trio had been fired or quit by 1974, leaving the group in dire existential straits.
Then, Fleetwood Mac got what they were looking for via a stroke of pure providence. When Mick Fleetwood was looking for a suitable Los Angeles recording studio in 1974, he came across the folk-rock couple – Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. Blown away by what he heard, he asked Buckingham if he wanted to join the band as their new lead guitarist, and he accepted, only on the proviso that Nicks could also join.
The duo’s introduction helped the band refine their sound, creating an intoxicating form of pop rock that blew listeners away with their 1975 self-titled opus, Fleetwood Mac. Featuring timeless cuts such as ‘Rhiannon’, it confirmed to everyone that the new-look Fleetwood Mac was here to stay and were a completely different beast from the Peter Green-led iteration.
What followed was their masterpiece. 1977’s Rumours is not only the most riveting body of work that the group released, but it is also their most important, steeped in lore that is as perplexing today as it was back then. At the time, the band had reached a crossroads, with the relationship of Nicks and Buckingham falling apart, the McVies getting divorced, and Fleetwood going through his own marriage turmoil.
At the time, Fleetwood Mac were barely holding themselves together. Romantic relationships within the band were collapsing in real time, with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks separating, John and Christine McVie divorcing, and Mick Fleetwood dealing with his own marital breakdown. These fractures were compounded by heavy drug use and an atmosphere of emotional volatility that made the recording process as chaotic as it was productive.
Rather than derail the project, however, that tension became the album’s defining strength. The band channelled their personal turmoil directly into the music, using songs as a means of communication when conversation had broken down. The result was a record that feels brutally honest and emotionally exposed, capturing heartbreak, resentment and fleeting optimism in equal measure, and ultimately cementing Rumours as the definitive breakup album.
Compounding the situation was rampant drug use and a host of sexual flings between the band and their peers, culminating in one of the most authentic records ever made. It was complete with regret, shame, heartbreak and optimism for the future. In many ways, it is the ultimate breakup album and always will be.
Although there are many stellar moments on the record, such as ‘Go Your Own Way’ and ‘Dreams’, one of the most cherished is ‘Oh Daddy’. Another autobiographical piece, it was written by Christine McVie about Mick Fleetwood, who, throughout this period of immense inner turmoil, had been the glue that held the band together.
Proceedings were incredibly strained at that point, so the band used their songs to communicate with each other, and it was through this heartfelt piece that McVie said thank you to the band’s father figure, without whom we would not be discussing them today.
